Guest post By Carolyn Pierpont
On a recent shopping trip, I was perusing the card selection trying to find the perfect card for my husband’s birthday. What I found were many cards that were meant to be light-hearted and funny but struck me as just the opposite. I didn’t want a card that was funny at my husband’s expense but one that conveyed my love and appreciation for him.
Looking at the cards reminded me of how easy it is for us as women to have a good laugh at our husband’s expense. Sometimes we share one of our husband’s inadequacies and get an understanding laugh from other women. Humor may not always be the objective when we share our husband’s faults with others. At times we do it just to “vent” or complain or whine about how mistreated we are. There are times when we share his weaknesses disguised as a “prayer request.”
Other times under the guise of getting advice, we share private details indiscreetly.
What’s really disturbing is when the information about to be shared about a husband is prefaced by the remark, “my husband would die if he knew I was saying this?”
Proverbs 31:11 comes to mind when I think about our tendency as women to talk to others about our husbands and maybe not in the most flattering way.
Proverbs 31:11 – Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. (NIV)
If I am seeking to be a Godly woman shouldn’t my husband have this kind of confidence in me that I’m not going to talk about him behind his back? I like Matthew Henry’s comment on this verse:
“He trusts in her conduct, that she will speak in all companies, and act in all affairs, with prudence and discretion, so as not to occasion him either damage or reproach.” (Matthew Henry)
My prayer is that I will be the kind of wife that my husband can be fully confident in knowing that I’ll be discreet and loving in my speech even when he isn’t there.