Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
7 Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
8 Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man – Proverbs 6:6-11.
Natalie was watching TV while her mother was busy cleaning the house. It was the weekend and Natalie wanted to relax. She had had a busy week at school. She needed a break. She sat on the sofa with her feet on the coffee table flipping channels with one hand while the other reached into the bowl on her lap to stuff her mouth with popcorn. It occurred to her that she should be helping her mother but she didn’t feel like getting up. She was quite comfortable where she was.
The phone rang but Natalie didn’t stir. The call is probably for Mom anyway, she thought. She heard her mother rush from the kitchen where she was mopping the floor to answer the phone. Twenty minutes later, the annoying drone of the vacuum was heard. Natalie turned up the volume to drown it out.
“Natalie!” her mother marched into the room and grabbed the remote. Natalie jolted upright on the sofa. She hadn’t heard her mother come into the room, of course. “Turn that thing off and get up off that sofa and help me around this house.”
“But, Mom–” she started to protest, but was cut off. Her mother was incensed. Her face was red.
“I’m tired of you doing nothing around this house. You are twelve years old now. It’s time you started to take on some responsibilities. As of today, you will not be a loafer, lounging about the place while I do all of the work. Someday you will be some poor man’s wife and you will have to learn how to take care of him and your home. No daughter of mine is going to be a lazy good for nothing who can’t be of any use to herself or anyone else. Men don’t like lazy women. If you want to be a wife and a mother, you have to learn to do things–starting now.” She grabbed her arm and pulled up. “I have a list of things for you to do, starting with cleaning up your room.”
Natalie grudgingly did what she was told. For twelve years her mother had done everything around the house and she had liked it like that but now she was forced to do things now. She had never cleaned her room. A heavy sigh left her lips as she thought of the mess waiting for her. She always depended on her mother to clean her room, cook, and take care of her and her Dad. She didn’t like having to do household chores. Her friends didn’t do household chores. They would laugh if they knew or worse–feel sorry for her. She felt like getting out of there and going to the mall but she knew that was a bad idea. She would be grounded for sure and her mother might dump even more work on her.
As she climbed the stairs, she thought, “This stinks. I’m going to marry a rich man so I won’t have to do any of this stuff.”
Twenty years later, Natalie smiled as she remembered her foolish dream. She was married now but not to a rich man. He was a manager at a small trucking company and they had two children. Believe it or not, Natalie was a housewife. She loved taking care of her family. She was a terrific cook and was always looking for new recipes. She loved to bake. Just the other day she baked some brownies which were all gone now.
As she took a breather from her chores, she took up her Bible and sat down at the kitchen table. She opened it to Proverbs 6. She read it slowly. She could relate to it. The writer compared the ant, who was hardworking and industrious to the sluggard. She had been the sluggard. Lazy and idle–always making excuses. She hated work. When she wasn’t at school, she like to spend most of the day watching TV or hanging out at the mall with her friends. If it hadn’t been for her parents she would not have done well in school. Her father had always pushed her to study and work hard. If she had her way, she would have preferred to skip school but that was definitely not an option. Now she was encouraging her children to work hard and bring home the good grades.
She was especially thankful to her mother who transformed her from a sluggard into an ant. It hadn’t been easy at all. It was hard to go from being lazy to being hardworking. There were quarrels, lots of tears but neither she nor her mother gave up. Thanks to her mother, she learned the valuable lesson that a girl had to become a woman first before she could be a wife and mother. She had to learn how to be responsible. After reading Proverbs 31, it had become Natalie’s quest to become like the woman mentioned in it.
Just the other day her mother had said to her, “Nat, you have done very well for yourself.” She could see the pride in her mother’s face and that meant the world to her. “Thanks, Mom,” she replied, giving her a hug. “I learned from the best.”
Natalie is teaching her daughter how to be a woman so that one day she will be a wife and a mother just as her mother taught her.
She watches over the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many daughters have done well,
But you excel them all” – Proverbs 31:27-29
Mothers, it is very important that you teach your daughters and sons how to be responsible. Girls, at an early age, should learn how to cook and clean. One of my co-workers knew how to keep a home as early as nine years old. I personally regret not learning how to cook when I was growing up. My mother did not teach me and I didn’t take any interest in learning. I am in my forties and I am still learning my way in the kitchen and how to keep a home. Mothers, you will be helping your daughters when you teach them how to take care of themselves and the families they will someday have. Don’t wait for them to show an interest–they might never do that. You take charge and do what you need to do. One day they will thank you.
Notes to Women 