A Wife's Words

"... And his wives led him astray." 1 Kings 11:3b

I learned very early in my marriage that a wife holds the power to breathe life into her husband or suck it all out.

When I was first married I had a bad habit of mentally keeping score with my husband. Every task I performed during the day, I'd make a mental tick mark in my head. At the end of the day, if my husband dared breathe one sigh or mention how tired he was I'd pull out my score sheet! If his tick marks didn't add up to mine or exceed them, then I'd let him know in no uncertain terms that he had no reason to be tired! In fact, I had EVERY reason to be more tired than he felt and I'd proceed to name off everything I did! Pronouncing myself the winner, my husband would promptly hand me his pulverized heart as my prize.

That was such a hurtful game to play. I don't know why I even played it. Maybe I felt the need to compete for sympathy? I don't really know.

Like the first woman, Eve, every woman holds the power to create at the tip of her tongue. Unlike the words from his mother that slide of his back into rebellion, the words of a wife sink deep into her husband's skin and soon become the definition of his form.

King Solomon was known as the wisest king that ever was and no other man has been made wiser since. He held the entire future success of Israel in his hands as long as he sought after God with all of his heart and kept God's laws. But, Solomon had an insatiable craving for women...women who worshiped gods...not God. We're told in 1 Kings 11:4 "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David is father had been." With his change of heart, God tore the kingdom away from him.

If the wisest king who ever lived can be transformed by the words of his wives, how much more the lives of our husbands by the words we deliver or the scores we keep? I don't know about you, but I want to be a wife who breathes words of life into my husband.