Snacks, Drinks, and Humble Pie

At the risk of ticking off the menfolk in our congregation, here is today's column/devotion for our church bulletin...

Snacks, Drinks, and Humble Pie

Ladies, nod your head if you've had this conversation with your man.

Hubby: I was thinking of having people over after the football game Friday.
Me: Oh. OK.
Hubby: You don't sound thrilled.
Me: I am. It's just that I work the rest of the week and have meetings at night, so I won't have time to get anything ready.
Hubby: What do you have to get ready?
Me: Sigh...

I suppose I could blame Martha Stewart for killing my sense of spontaneity. I can't just "have people over" without presenting a clean house and decent variety of food and refreshments. What would they think?

Yes, we place unnecessarily high standards on ourselves sometimes. Well, often times. But maybe it's not Modern Martha's fault. Maybe Medieval Martha, er Lady Wisdom, played a role.

I can totally relate to today's reading in Proverbs 9.

Here we have Wisdom – presented as an independent woman – preparing to welcome guests in her home. But first, Wisdom must build her house. Then she crafts seven decorative pillars, which in those days meant she either chopped down trees or carved stones.

The party planning continues as she butchers her own fresh meat, mixes her own wine, and sets her table. (Can you say “overachiever”?) Then she probably created some gorgeous invitations to send out with her serving girls, who invited anyone and everyone who needed some Wisdom – whether they knew it or not. 

I don't think our little snack parties can compare. One, that's way too much work. And two, in my experience, conversations don't get any wiser as the night progresses! If only we could feast at her table and, as a result, leave our "simple" ways behind to live and walk in understanding.

We can. The key word is humility. First, we set aside our egos and know-it-all ways. Then we humbly ask God to guide us to do his will. We may not have the wisdom to understand it, but there’s no shame in dumbing it down for us simple folk. Like considering “What would Jesus do?” before we act. That’s a start, right?

No need to slave away building the perfect banquet hall and serving a seven-course meal either. Start small. Maybe some cheese and crackers with humble pie for dessert.