Tag Archives: Christianity

Wife Addition

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Are you an addition or a subtraction? If you are an addition, what do you add? If you are a subtraction, what do you subtract? These are questions we need to ask ourselves when we are involved with any relationship, but I want to focus first on family relationships, particularly with the husband. Single ladies, don’t stop reading; this is for you, too. You need to know whether you would be an addition or subtraction to your husband. So many wives are subtractions to their husbands—emasculating and dehumanizing them—because they didn’t know what God had called a wife to be. I’ll give you some of what Scripture says about being an addition to your spouse—a nurturer, if you will, and in following posts I will help you to understand the impact of a nurturer and help you to be one.

The Call for Addition

“The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18).

Someone who adds to something so that it grows, becomes better, is a nurturer. This is the role of a wife for her husband, a helper, doing what’s necessary to encourage him to grow. I think women have been so brainwashed into believing that encouraging a husband to grow only involves the wife cooking, cleaning, and having sex so that the husband is free to flourish at work. This is the objection I hear to being a Proverbs 31 woman. Rarely do I hear anyone focus on the emotional care that wives are called to.

“The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life” (Proverbs 31:11-12).

If you only focus on spoil, which means gain, you could believe that this scripture is only speaking about physical gain. If that was the case, the writer simply could have said, “Her husband doth safely trust in her” instead of “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her.” But when a husband trusts a wife with his heart—the seat of his emotions, he trusts that she will not trample it: No name calling, illicit affairs, double-talk, withholding sex or anything else done to mess with his mind and damage his heart. When considering a husband’s heart and his having “no need of spoil,” this means he has no need to seek emotional comfort elsewhere—in his job, recreation or in the arms of another woman. You provide him good and not evil until you die because you are an addition to his life, and, because of you, he should have no need to add anything or anyone else to satisfy him.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith

How to Use Time Wisely

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Thousands of books are sold annually to help people discover their purpose, which, in essence, tell them how they should be spending their time. As I wrote earlier this week, Christians should spend our time giving God glory, which means focusing our efforts to display that we belong to God and so that others will come to know Him. This is our purpose. But because each of us is unique, this purpose—how we spend our time—will look different from person to person. This time spent is based on our gifts and talents and God’s timing of when He wants us to use them for Him.

Even if you know that you were created to worship God, you may not know how you were created to do so or how to allocate your time to worship Him fully. So to help us ascertain how to spend our time wisely, I want you to always ask yourself three questions: “What are my gifts and talents?” “How do you, God, want me to use my gifts and talents?” And, “What difference will it make if I do this right now?”

What are my gifts and talents? A gift is something that God supernaturally gives to Christians to accomplish His work—which is making Him known, reflecting God in your life and sharing Him with others. While people use Holy Spirit-endowed gifts for their personal benefit, God didn’t give them for personal use. Whether you are on your job, walking down the street, in the mall or at the hair salon, your gifts should always reflect that you’re using them to glorify Jesus Christ. See 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4:11-12. If looking at these scriptures doesn’t give you a clue about your gifts, there are a number of gifts tests you can take. Team Ministry has one that’s pretty basic at www.churchgrowth.org.

Talents are those activities that you come natural to you and you excel in. Singing, dancing, writing, carpentry, sports, or any other skill apart from those listed in the above scriptures fall in this category.

How do you, God, want me to use my gifts and talents? Just because you know your gifts and talents doesn’t mean you can use them for whatever comes your way. You must seek God to find out how He wants you to use your gifts and talents. I hear so many people say that they don’t hear from God or don’t know how to hear from God. Well, John 10:27 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. . .” Jesus says because you are His you hear His voice. The assumption is that 1) you belong to God and 2) you do what’s necessary to hear His voice. You must seek to get close to Him so you can hear Him. You do this through studying His word and constantly communing with Him through prayer, not just a daily set aside time but talking to Him throughout the day.

What difference will it make if I do this right now? Sometimes we are clear about our gifts and talents and how God wants us to use them, but our timing is off. I know at times I don’t properly prioritize; I take care of something that God has told me to do, but it is not the most pressing issue. I have forced myself to ask, “What difference will it make if I do this right now?” If I find that I will only feel good about it being done or that it will set my schedule back then I shouldn’t be engaged in it right then. And, of course, the opposite is true: I do it right then if I know God will be pleased and I will be on target with my schedule.
Always seeking God with these questions ensures the right path for our lives and that we will be using our time wisely to accomplish God’s will.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith

Redeem Your Time

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“She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls” (Proverbs 31:15).

This scripture has always fascinated many Christian women because they were expected to wake up early on top of handling all the other responsibilities of a so-called Proverbs 31 woman. I have always been an early riser, so that part doesn’t fascinate me like the fact that she had servants, but I digress and will get back to that point in the next post, Lord willing. But even though I rise early and find it beneficial to my day, I think there is a larger principle at work in this scripture. The Proverbs 31 woman rose early so she could begin to handle her business and the business of her family before having to interact with her family. She used the time of day best for her to be singularly focused on family business and not on family members themselves.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17).

Ephesians tells us to use our time wisely, or as some translations say “redeem the time,” “because the days are evil.” This phrase suggests that there is so much turmoil in the world that it can be easy for the Christian to focus on their pain and suffering, whether that pain comes from attacks against Christianity, the work that goes into keeping a daily routine or physical ailments that we are all prone to. But our focusing on our pain should not be all-consuming because we miss the ability to make “the best use of the time.” Our time is supposed to be used to accomplish “the will of the Lord.”

“For everything comes from him; everything exists by his power and is intended for his glory. To him be glory evermore. Amen” (Romans 11:36 NLT).

Because we were created for God’s glory, we must spend our time giving him glory, which means focusing our efforts to display that we belong to God and so that others will come to know Him. Each of us is called to do this but in different ways, according to our gifts and talents. So if we are spending time to accomplish anything other than giving God glory, we are not being wise; we need to seek the Lord to understand not His will, because I’ve told you that, but how He wants us to accomplish His will. Knowing how to accomplish God’s will helps us to be that Proverbs 31 woman, and doing God’s will is the only way to use our time wisely.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith

Watch Your Time

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Years ago I remember reading the story of a black woman executive who served everyone: friends, family, colleagues, and community. She was a strong black woman, a superwoman who seemed to have it all together until she was found dead, a victim of suicide to escape a world where time was her enemy, willingly taking her hostage and bounding her to destruction. Perhaps she was a people pleaser, wanting everyone to like her for what she did for them. Maybe she needed to feel needed so she responded to every beck and call. Whatever the underlying issue for this troubled woman, I know that above all she was not prudent with her time.

Some people may think that this is an unfair statement, saying that not budgeting her time wisely is ultimately what killed her. But when you look at anyone who is overwhelmed, whether to the point of death or not, nine times out of ten the issue is using time unwisely. You don’t use time wisely when you spend time doing something you shouldn’t be doing. This could mean that you give time to projects, pleasures and people where your efforts should be focused elsewhere. You could be altogether engaged in something that you shouldn’t or engaged in something that you should but just spending too much or too little time with it.

For instance, you may have a beautiful voice and decide to sing in your church choir when God wants you to pursue being a recording artist instead. Or you may have a beautiful voice and should sing in a choir, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that you should teach voice lessons to choir members, sing every solo that’s offered to you and direct the choir. In both instances, time is not being used wisely. We have all decided to watch TV, go shopping or talk on the phone instead of doing some work. And with people, we may see a need and decide we should meet it even though we know that need doesn’t fall within our calling. Or we might have to call to ask someone a question to meet a deadline, but we end up handling that person’s issue for 45 minutes. All these are instances of time spent unwisely, even doing some good but not doing our good.

Above all, I think the ultimate waste of time is focusing on projects, pleasures and people instead of giving appropriate intimate time to God. Ephesians 5:15-17 says, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Focusing on God first and fully helps to ensure that we are prudent with our time, not just doing good but doing the good that God would have us to do.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith

Be Resourceful

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If you wanted to know what was going on around town, I was the one to ask. In my on the go days I knew of the latest happenings, not because I was in the in crowd but I would keep up with newspaper articles, look at every flier that came my way, remember conversations and just ask questions. I think this curiosity may be the journalist in me or it may just be that I truly am “Little Verlenia,” a young version of my very resourceful grandmother.

My Grandma Thomas, like many grandmothers, was the go to person in our family. She always had food, a comfortable place to stay and money, even for us, her educated children with the good jobs but mismanaged funds. I learned a lot for this woman, whose highest level of education was a high school diploma that she obtained by attending night school as an adult. Most of her jobs were as a domestic or a cook, but her work always provided what they needed and even more to share. It still amazes me that her household never lacked any needs, and she and my grandfather (a local truck driver) sent two of their three children (the third didn’t want to go) to college on their salaries. But like many in their era, they knew what to do so their household didn’t lack, and everyone felt the love behind their efforts. So the following are some tips I learned from my grandmother, who was the ultimate Proverbs 31 woman:

Recycle:

    Use a deep freezer to save large quantities of food that would be otherwise thrown out after a few days. On days when you don’t feel like cooking or lack the time, pull out different items to create a new meal.
    Reuse aluminum foil and plastic bags. Even though my grandmother would wash aluminum foil and storage bags that had greasy items in them, I don’t recommend that. But you can reuse these if you previously stored dried items, like bread or fruit. Just shake and wipe them out, and they should be good for at least two more uses.
    Use household products in more than one way. For instance, you can use baking soda for cooking and cleaning. Clean your teeth, your food (fruit and veggies, including greens), your kitchen and bathroom. Vinegar works to clean food surfaces, like wooden chopping boards, floors and sinks, and disinfects garbage disposals. Another good product to try is food grade hydrogen peroxide. Stronger than regular peroxide, this kills E. Coli and other bacteria, fungi and pesticides. It can be used to decontaminate food and used for personal hygiene.

Next Friday I plan to have more tips for you. As I look at the need for women to be prudent with their time, there are more resourceful tips I have that will help in that way. As always, I look forward to hearing from you. And by all means, share some ways that you have been able to be resourceful to provide for your family’s needs.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith