How does your husband think of you? Sour like lemon juice or sweet like honey? What about your children?
Don’t you think we should be like honey in our homes? That’s a big challenge, isn’t it?
I have always been challenged by a little passage in the Song of Solomon. This book is a picture of the relationship of a husband and wife. In the Song of Songs 4:10, 11 (NET), the husband says: “ How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine . . . Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride, honey and milk are under your tongue.” Oh wow. Can our husbands say thse words about us?
What kind of words do we drip from our mouths? Complaints, arguments, resistance, or even bitterness? Or do we drip words of sweetness and love?
If we are not doing this, we can cultivate it. We can make a deliberate effort to speak sweetly. We’ll keep failing, but we don’t give up. We seek to make it a habit of our lives. As you know, you have to work on things. You may not feel like doing a certain thing, but you do it because you know it is the most powerful thing to do.
Think of yourself as a honeycomb in the midst of your home, dripping words of sweetness to your husband and to your children.
Proverbs 16:24 says: “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul; and health to the bones.” The word pleasant in the Hebrew means to speak “agreeable words, delightful words, and beautiful words.” We’ve got a long way to go, haven’t we? But just imagine what would happen to the atmosphere of our homes when we speak agreeable, delightful, and beautiful words to our children and husbands. These words will change the atmosphere of our homes. The behavior of our children. And our own character!
Let’s be dripping honeycombs today.
Love from Nancy Campbell
An Above rubies reader, Cathrine Rose from Canada, found this drawing of her seven-year-old describing how many children she would like to have! Children love to have another sibling, don’t they? We buy them materials gifts and they break or are lost shortly after. But when they get a new sister or brother, they have a friend for life. 
Do you sometimes feel disheartened, weary, and unappreciated? Be encouraged. The word for good in this scripture is “kalos” and It means “beautiful, lovely, valuable, virtuous.” It is the same word that is used in Titus 2:3-5 about the good works we as wives and mothers do in the home. The world may look upon them as insignificant but God says they are BEAUTIFUL. Yes, they are beautiful in His sight. Even when you are discouraged, hang in there. Keep on plodding on. DON’T GIVE UP. Your reward is coming. 
Have you ever felt offended when trying to help someone and they don’t want your help? Perhaps you feel discouraged because you ask people to your home and they don’t want to come. Or you feel worthless and unappreciated as you mother in your home. It is easy to get these negative feelings. But God always has a word for us.
Motherhood is beautiful, wonderful, and vital to the health of families, children, and the future of a stable and flourishing nation. No amount of cold, hard, plastic toys will replace the warm, human touch of a mother. No amount of staring into a screen will replace the loving gaze of a mother’s eyes. No amount of material things will replace the art of “being there.” Our children, communities, and nations are starving for the presence of the maternal, nurturing heart.
Do you want to be strong in character? Do you want your children to have strong character? How do we get it? Romans 5:3-5 (NLT) says: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”
When Jesus came into a village between Galilee and Samaria, he met ten men with leprosy. They stood at a distance, as all lepers had to do, and cried out to Jesus to have mercy on them. Of course, Jesus responded with compassion and said to them: “Go and show yourselves to the priests And as they went they were healed!” How amazing this must have been—to suddenly look down and see all their leprosy disappearing.
As I write this, I am expecting our fifth child. I have learned something from each one of my natural births and I wanted to share in case it can be helpful to other preparing for their natural birth.
“A woman can do most things a man can do. A man can do many things a woman can do. But some things only a woman can do. A man cannot become pregnant, form life in a womb, give birth to a new human being and nurture the soul of that human being. It takes a woman to be a mother. Her gaze, her touch, her eyes, the nurture of her breast are uniquely and powerfully female.”
Psalm 127 reminds us that we are raising children to speak in the gates. Let’s raise a generation of children who KNOW God’s Word and who are unashamed to speak the truth! Is this your passion and purpose? As a mother you have power and influence to determine the destiny of the nation. 
There are times when you face unseen things in your life that can shake you to the very core. This is when you must remember the truth that God is with you at that very moment. He has not left you. He is at your right hand to succor you, comfort you, strengthen you, and hold you up.
Here is another beautiful poem for mothers from Val Halloran.
My lovely husband taking Family Devotions with us this morning. He is reading from The Daily Light on the Daily Path which we love to read each day. It has Bible readings for morning and evening for every day of the year. 
Who is the one who can make home the happiest? It is the mother. But it doesn’t just happen. You have to have a vision to make it happen. You have to think of lovely ideas and beautiful things you can do to make it a happy place for your husband and children. Can you think of something lovely you could do in your home today? Or perhaps at your meal table this evening? I’d love to hear about your idea. 
A long-time Above Rubies reader writes her thoughts regarding the BABY BUST.
There was a time in our history when we had a Baby Boom. The years from 1946 – 1964 were baby boom years which caused rises in the demand for homes, automobiles, roads, and services. The more births the more the country expands financially.
Where is your mind today? Dwelling in the past? Or even in the present as you mull over the difficulties you face? To dwell in the past or the present can be depressing unless you are doing it with joy and thankfulness.
Amen. 
Oh how blessed we are to serve a God who cannot lie. It is impossible for God to lie. He is the changeless One. His promises are immutable. We can trust them with our lives.
What is the thing you dislike doing most in your home? What is the "very little"? Jesus says that when you are faithful to do the VERY LITTLE you will be faithful in much.