Without Words

     The older I get, the more I become persuaded as a Christian that the exhortation of I Peter 3:1 for wives to win their husbands to the Lord without words has a broader application.  I believe it also applies to mothers of grown children, especially sons.  One of the reasons I believe this is because the more I pray for wisdom in how to approach spiritual issues with my children, the more God tells me to shut up--in more sanctified terms, of course, but that is the gist of it. This is a shame because I think I have so much wisdom to share, but since I have noticed the Holy Spirit doesn't use any of my suggestions to change other people's lives, I will have to trust Him on this also. That is the heart of the issue--do I trust God enough to believe He can guide my loved ones without my words?
     I had 18 years of their childhoods to plant, pour and pound God's word into my children's hearts. We supplemented that with both church and school that taught God's word. Now I must do the same thing Christ did when He left the earth just weeks after his disciples finally figured out who He was, I must trust the Holy Spirit to bring to their minds what they have been taught. My job is to develop that gentle and quiet spirit that God values so highly. I have messed up enough myself to be gentle with those who struggle. Quiet is an ongoing project.
     Faith aside, having lived with my husband for 37 years and sons for 30, I have noticed that the way to a man's heart is seldom his mama or his mate's mouth. God typically uses men to challenge men. When I started going to BSF years ago, I told my husband how much I was blessed by it but, in a rare stroke of wisdom, I did not push him to go. I prayed for another man to invite him. That not only led to my husband joining BSF, but to him inviting other men. At a family gathering some time ago, a female relative was lecturing a male family member about church attendance in a fairly public setting. My husband told me, "That won't work. It will only push him away." I am a pragmatist. I want to do what works. Not only am I not my husband's Holy Spirit, but my words can actually obscure His. That is like a friend's story of their faithful dog trying to protect her husband from the paramedics that came to help him when he fell off the roof.  I am by nature that well meaning, but clueless, dog. I hope someday to find that winsome, wordless wisdom of a woman of worth.