Mother's Day?

I'm not a wife. I'm not a mother. In fact, looking around my life right now the thought of me being a wife and mother is frankly a bit laughable. But since I love torture, I went to church this morning. I'm always a bit fascinated to see how churches acknowledge Mother's Day. I've gone to services where mothers were applauded and cheered, or where every female of appropriate age received a flower as a "future mother." Today books were handed out. And the topic of the sermon was being a Godly woman. Which leads to being a Godly wife, which leads to being a Godly mother. (A few red flags go off in my head at that line of thinking, but I'll save it for another blog...)

As the sermon went today, Abigail was a picture of a Godly woman. She was "intelligent", "beautiful", and married to a jerk named Nabal. Ok, the Bible didn't say he was a jerk, but it did say she was intelligent, beautiful and married to a "fool." The story goes that Nabal's men were well cared for in an area that David was staying in. Basically, he protected Nabal's men and flocks, and when David came to Nabal's property, asked for the same in return. David sends his servants to ask Nabal for common courtesy and Nabal makes fun of him. His men go back to tell David that Nabal as mocked him. David gets ticked and decides that no male will survive his revenge. In the meantime, Abigail hears about what has happened. She gathers food, gifts, etc. and takes them to David. She didn't have to. Nabal was a jerk, and she could've gotten out of her bad marriage by just waiting, but she didn't. She took the initiative and took action.

She meets David on the road to Nabal's home to exact his revenge. She pleads with him for mercy, and tells him that she sees God's favor on him and that he will be king one day. David sees the wisdom in her words and actions and tells her to go in peace and that he won't kill every man. Abigail goes back home and there's Nabal, getting drunk with his buddies. She waits to tell him of her actions until the morning. When she does, he essentially has a stroke, and ten days later, dies. David hears of this and promptly asks Abigail to be his wife. She humbly accepts and becomes the "intelligent, beautiful" wife of a future King of Israel.

Now I'm not a wife, nor a mother. But one of these days, I'd like to think I will be. I'd also like to think that I'm not going to be married to a jerk. I'm certainly no Abigail. But I'm doing my darndest to be a Godly woman.

(By the way, the Bible certainly tells this story better. Check it out here.)