June 1 - Happy Wife

 Read today’s texts first: Proverbs 19-21; Romans 13

MAXIMize YOUR DAY
 The right spouse transforms our perspective
from tunnel vision to Panavision!

A more obscure theme arises out of our readings today. Solomon had a unique perspective on marriage, likely because he did it 700 times! At first he was positive. Yesterday we read that he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the Lord (18:22). So far so good. But today we read that a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping (19:13); better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife (21:9); or better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife (21:19).

I’ve heard it said many times, mostly from my own lips: “happy wife, happy life!” Solomon is basically saying the same thing but from the negative side and with much more descriptive language. Keeping one wife happy is a challenge (or so I’ve heard!), but pleasing or at least appeasing 700 is the definition of impossible! Solomon, despite his beautiful palaces and summer estates, at times preferred the corner of his roof or the backside of the Judaean Desert. For one of his wives, he had his local plumber on speed dial (to fix the “constant dripping” - for those who need the joke explained).

Women - you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. That may not be a proverb but it’s close. I agree more strongly with the second part. My beautiful wife has completely complemented my life (no misspelling, I don’t mean complimented - she does the opposite to keep me humble, or so she says). She has strengths where I am weak. She has insight where I have blind spots. She has emotional depth while I tread on the surface. And she widens my perspective to see things I would normally never notice.

The job I have today she found. She thought I would enjoy it when I had no interest. After prayer, God told me she was right (I hate it when He does that, and it happens far too often). It turns out they were both right - I love my new job! And I love my wife for encouraging me to think outside my own limitations. I agree with Solomon: he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the Lord (he may also be right about the quarrelsome wife but I wouldn’t know!).

“Lord, thank you for the wife of my youth who is a source of refreshing water for my soul (5:18), not a dripping faucet!”