Today’s Scattered Seeds
Any mom who cares for a growing child knows the importance of praise in their children’s life. Not only does it help to build a healthy sense of self-esteem, it also reminds a child that he or she is loved. In the same way, any wife who cares for her husband will also know the importance of praise in a marriage. It’s vital to a growing relationship.
What is praise exactly? It’s a positive expression we offer another that shows our admiration and approval of who they are.
Do you realize that there are four verses in Proverbs alone that talk about nagging wives? When I realized that Solomon wrote these verses and that he also had 700 wives (1 Kings 11:3), it made sense that he’d want to address this.
They’re referred to as quarrelsome, fretful, and a continual dripping. If you’ve ever experienced a leaky roof, you’ll know how annoying that is. We experienced one about 20 years ago in our back porch, and regardless of how many times I emptied the pail, it would only fill up again. That’s the danger of nagging. It can become a never-ending habit if left unchecked, and unfortunately, it fosters resentment.
Praise, on the other hand, has the reverse effect. It builds the bond of marriage and draws couples closer together.
Of course, this applies to men too–that goes without saying, but instead of pointing our fingers at each other, let’s see what changes we can make in our own hearts today. Let’s see what happens when we put nitpicking aside and replace it with praise.
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Tilling the Soil
Take opportunities to build up the people around you this week. Avoid the urge to nag and nitpick. You might also want to highlight the following verses in your Bible:
Proverbs 15:1
Proverbs 25:15
Proverbs 31:26
Proverbs 12:25
And, if you’re wanting to dig a little further, see if you can find the 4 verses that address nagging wives.
Planting Hope
Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. (Proverbs 16:24, NIV)
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Free Printable – Proverbs 31:26
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Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
Facebook: @timewarpwife
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Twitter: @timewarpwife
You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife