"Be Excellent to Each Other"

Okay...what movie is that quote from?  No cheating Amy! You can't ask Brian since he knows all quotes from every movie. =)

Even though it's from a silly movie, it kind of sums up much of the wisdom found in Proverbs.  But it particularly describes the way a wife should be towards her husband, her family, her neighbors, the poor, and anyone else she comes in contact with. 

As I was reading the introduction to Proverbs in my study Bible, I came across the fact that no author is named for the song in praise of the excellent wife that ends the book.  My first thought was "Well, whoever it was obviously wasn't married because they still had unrealistic expectations!" haha =)

I joke about it but the truth is we women do sometimes use these high standards as an excuse to brush over Proverbs 31 and not even try.  When the reality is, we may not be excellent to our husbands all the time but this description is the ideal model that we should strive for everyday.  Single women also need to be excellent to their future husbands in the same way found in these verses (actions, thoughts, words, etc) even as a young girl.  And if you never marry then by practicing these proverbs you will still be an excellent woman which is equally as valuable.

One of the reoccurring ways we can be excellent to each other is by not being quarrelsome.

Proverbs 25:24 "It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife."

Proverbs 27:15-16 "A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike; to retrain her is to retrain the wind or to grasp oil in one's right hand."

Throughout Proverbs we are warned over and over again about what we as wives should not be.
Proverbs 31 spells out for us how we should be - figuratively and literally as this poem is an acrostic in which each verse begins with the successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

So I challenge you to go back through Proverbs 31 and other parts of the book (particularly those pertaining to wives/women) and ask yourself just how excellent you are in each one those areas right now in your life.  Are you excellent to your husband by not being quarrelsome? Are you excellent to him by doing good to him and not harm all the days of your life?  Are you so excellent to him enough that his heart trusts in you? 

You could even make a chart.  Or use a scale from 1-5.  Be creative.  One of the goals of this exercise is to find areas you are struggling with so you know how to pray.  Another end result is so you will be encouraged as you begin to see ways that you are excellent to your husband, your family, and each other.  I have a feeling that I will have a lot of praying to do once I finish my list.

God is telling us to be excellent to each other (I doubt he's playing the air guitar as he says it though.) so have you and your spouse begun your excellent adventures together?

Come on...those are some big movie hints! =)