A Heart of Goodness

"She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life." Proverbs 31:12

Today we learn the reason for yesterday's lesson of trust-the goodness of the wife's heart. She brings him good all the days of her life. She gives goodness and kindness- regardless of the circumstances. This is very reminiscent of the story of in the Bible of Abigail. We find her in 1 Samuel 25, Abigail is married to a difficult and unpleasant man, Nabal, yet she still treats her husband with goodness and kindness. David had asked Nabal if he would share some of his provisions with David and his men. Nabal turned them away with scorn and unfriendly words, and in return, David had planned to attack Nabal and kill him and all his men. Abigail heard of this and hurried to intercede on behalf of her husband. She packed up provisions of food and wine and set out to meet David with her gift. David accepted her interference and praised God for preventing him from murdering. In the end, Nabal died anyways of a stroke, and then David asked Abigail to be his wife- he simply couldn't pass up such a good and kind woman.

Then in Acts 10:38 we see that the mark of Jesus' life was his goodness.

"And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him." Acts 10:38

It's pretty amazing to me that goodness is used to describe both Jesus, and the Godly woman. That by being good and kind to my husband, not only am I striving to be a more Godly woman, but I'm striving to be more like Jesus himself. Wow. Something to remember too, is that goodness starts at home. I can't show goodness outside the home until I am well-practiced with it under my own roof, and with those around me every day. I think that this trait is a good one for me to reflect on, because I do think that for the most part, I exhibit some goodness. But there could certainly be more. I know that sometimes, while I exhibit goodness on the outside, on the inside I'm not thinking so good. That I need to work on, because it's not true goodness unless it is from the heart.

And something else to keep in mind is that there is no time like the present. No day like today to begin displaying goodness. I pray that I am able to display goodness today, and not just for myself, but for the people I might touch with my goodness. May that leave a lasting mark that could touch a life in a positive way.