Wife swap observation

So tonight I had to do a project for school and while I was doing it I was looking for something mindless to put on TV in the background. I put on "Wife Swap" a show I've never seen--- but was amazed by what I saw. Two families swap wives and for one week they live by the family they are visiting's rules, the second they make up new rules. Wife number 1 is a very "free spirit." Her older son gets mistaken for a girl most of the time because he has long hair and wears a lot of pink. His room is pink. Her husband doesn't have a real job (He's a clown) and they don't "believe in gender roles). The second family is from texas and the mom serves her family while they eat dinner, she never sits while they eat simply provides for their needs. Her kids are "manly men" and her husband works on a ranch to provide.

Its interesting to see these women swap and while their families are completely opposite but neither are what God created them to be.

In the free spirited family, they do a better job of communicating, but everything is a joke. It's sad to me that he doesn't have a real job. He simply goes where he feels like it and doesn't try and make any sort of structure in his home. He definitely doesn't lead. But in the other more "traditional" family he is mouthy and rude and not kind at all. He doesn't ever say thank you, and while he does have a job, saying thank you isn't a lot of work.

Needless to say, I am excited that God has shown me that that is not what a family should be. I am more traditional in that I do not see a problem with a wife serving her husband with clearning and cooking and taking care of her family. I find it a blessing to be able to do things for my fiance. I love doing things for him.  But I do see something amazing about the power of a thank you. I don't see a problem with the guy helping out around the house, and I don't think the men eating and the women watching to serve their every need is the way it should go either. That's not a family dinner. I don't see a problem with children having chores. The "traditional" wife used the food she made as a way to punish the free spirited husband. When he didn't do what she wanted she didn't let him eat. I don't think that is appropriate. Nor do I think that the free spirited wife making the traditional husband do everything is appropriate either.

A marriage should be a service. There are some ways that the wife can serve the husband in things he can't do and vice versa. I do see something beautiful about the wife respecting the husband, and then the husband lovingly caring for the wife. I believe in submission as the bible talks about it and I'll admit sometimes that is easier said than done but I'm praying a lot that God will continue to teach me about it as I havent' seen a lot of examples in real life. In some cases it's easy and in others more difficult but one thing that I know its not just about giving in it's about having a good attitude and trusting. The latter of which sometimes is difficult for me. One thing that I will say submission is NOT just an old testament custom that opresses women. Submission is actually not just for married women but for everyone. That something I recently learned.

"Submitting yourselves one to another"- ephesians 5:21
"Yea all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble" -1 peter 5:5

Now I know these verses I've heard them. That second half of the 1 peter verse I've quote several times. But it's funny look at them now that I see that perhaps I shoudl have looked at the first part of that verse too.
I've heard about submitting in marriage, I've heard about submitting to God but I'm learning more about submission in general. But remember that Jesus submitted to His father in all of His actions. Submission is in many areas. To God. to parents, to employers, to the laws of the land, to church leadership, ect. We must figure out what this means for us and remember that the word tells us that this is what God suggests. I might be writing more about this in upcoming posts because I have lots of thoughts but after watching a little bit of the show and am really saddened at how satan has twisted the beautiful thing that God created in submission.

:)
Praying for you friends. for some of you the idea of submission might sound scary, or sound out there. But i promise if you start praying for God to show you what true submission is, He will. He will help you see the beauty in it.