My role as a Home Economics-Family and Consumer Science educator in Christian institutions for the majority of my professional career provides me with a wonderful opportunity to work with young women desiring to learn to practice the Titus 2:3-5 mandate.  The mentoring relationship we establish allows me to know them in at a more intimate level than a normal college/seminary professor.  As we study and acquire skills together they often share that they frequently felt that they were “ministry orphans.”  Moms extended hospitality to a variety of individuals and frequently prepared yummy food items to be shared at other events.  Having done so the family was left with a quick meal through the fast-food restaurant, a sandwich hastily constructed then eaten “on the run,” or a plate of macaroni and cheese made from a box—again.

My heart is always saddened because women choosing this management strategy communicate a strong message to their family that they are more focused on “looking well to the needs of others” rather than following the prototype of Proverbs 31:27 who first “looked well to the ways of her household” and then “opens her hands to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy” (Prov. 31:20).