The Lovey Letters: Submission and Life in Quarantine
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Dear Loveys,
I've been praying for you! This morning I printed out our church directory, so I wouldn’t miss praying for anyone in our church. As I went through the list, praying for each name, I couldn’t help but think about how life in quarantine has changed things for us all. For some of you who are married, having your husband home is a sweet blessing because you’ve longed to have more time with him. Yet, everyone being at home together in such a sudden and unending way can bring some challenges as well, which is why I wanted to encourage you to consider your submission to your husband during this time.
Generally, we’re all used to our own little routine. Hubby/Dad leaves, and in his absence, we have our own order and plan to our days. We are the head chicken in our own little coop. But what happens when suddenly the rooster is home hanging out in the henhouse? Even more to consider is what happens when the rooster has his own ideas about organizing and prioritizing life in the coop. For some little hens, there may be some attitudes or responses that aren’t submissive to the rooster’s God-ordained leading of his family’s nesting box.
Peter provides us with a potent and prodding example in Jesus when it comes to submission. Peter goes to the hardest and most difficult examples to help us see that submission in the middle of a quarantine is possible. In 1 Peter chapter 2, Peter, in addressing how to graciously submit in less than stellar circumstances, holds up Jesus as the ultimate example of patient bearing up when ungodly and wicked men treated Him harshly. Jesus’ example of doing what is right in extreme circumstances provides the framework for a wife who may have to bear with an unreasonable and disobedient husband. Now, most of you little loveys will never find yourself in the extreme scenario Peter gives in 1 Peter 2:21-3:6. Yet, that is Peter’s point in providing it. If submission is possible in the extreme cases, then most certainly, it’s possible in the day to day of quarantined life.
You might be feeling that your rooster has been a little unreasonable in changing things up in the coop, yet the admonition for quarantined hens is the same as it was for those married to a disobedient and perverse husband. “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior (1 Peter 3:1-2).” God has made your rooster the leader of your little coop, so if he has a plan different than yours, God desires, actually commands, you to submit to him from your “head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes, eyes and ears and mouth and nose, head, shoulders, knees, and toes!” If you don’t recognize that old children’s song, no matter. My point is that God commands us to submit to our husbands in our thoughts, responses, and actions. Yet, Peter also tells us that this gentle and quiet, heart-at-rest response is pleasing to the Lord (1 Peter 3:4).
Consider how you can respond well when your rooster comes up with a new plan for your day, for your little chicks, for your home, or how you use your time. James 3:17 tells us that God’s wisdom shows up in us by being reasonable, which means being willing to yield, being open to reason, not being stubborn or only holding to one course. Being reasonable means we’re easy to get along with, not trying to find ways to get out of doing whatever it is the rooster wants to do. God desires that every one of us be known for our gentle and reasonable spirit. Loveys, the language of the chicken coop should be punctuated with a cheerful sure, you bet, of course, absolutely! Be sowers of peace in your homes, be an encouragement to your roosters who are undoubtedly under more pressure than normal during this time, and in doing so, let the Lord Jesus be put on display.
How you live in your little chicken coop, cooped up or not, reveals God’s work in you. Don’t put all your eggs in that one basket that life will soon return to “normal.” We don’t know how long the Lord intends this trial and testing. We do know that He will give the grace we need to respond well in every circumstance (1 Corinthians 10:13, 31). Seek to follow the Lord Jesus as closely as you can, which will bless the rooster and any little chicks cooped up with you in the hen house.
In the grace of the Lord Jesus,
Lisa
