On of the most quoted verses about a wise woman is found in Proverbs 14:1,, The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down. The NLT is one of the better translations.  A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

My wife is and has been a wise woman. She is not outgoing but would much rather work in the background.

This is just one example.

I’m retired and work part time as a maintenance man at a small motel. This business has new owners and the fire department had given the previous owners 14 days to correct five deficiencies, I was not aware of the letter. The new owners were contacted and I was put in charge of the work. Four of the deficiencies were corrected without any real problem. The fifth one became a challenge,

I was pressed by the owners to have a door installed to the electrical room in the basement. It had to be done within a day. The problem was the fire inspector told me it had to be a fire rated door. This door would have to be a special order because of height restrictions in the basement.

One of the owners kept pressing me to get the door installed immediately. I checked to see if there was one available at recycling depots and even put an ad on KIJIJI.

Eventually I went back to a lumber supplier,  that I was familiar with, that had been in business for years. I was praying and hoping that they would have an old wooden fire rated door in one of their buildings.  We found one but it was two inches too wide and six inches too long. It weighed about 100 pounds. I was told that they could cut the door but not the width. Panic time. They called around to wholesalers, however; there was nothing available. I made a decision to have them prepare another door which I hoped would be acceptable. I was doubtful but hopeful.

The following morning I was getting ready to pick up the door and my wife knew that I was stressed. I told her the problem and she in her wisdom said, “why don’t you widen the opening.” None of us had even considered this option. She prayed for me and I rushed to the lumber dealer. I told them to hold off until I checked to see if I could make the change. The room was finished so I had to cut away some drywall to see how it was built. It was wood on both sides. I could make the change and use the fire rated door.

The only problem was they wern’t sure if the core was wood fibre or concrete as it was over ten years old. They checked and they were able to cut the door and prepare it for installation.

My helper and I were finishing putting a self closure on the door when the inspector arrived.  He approved all the deficiencies and gave us the required letter for the authorities.

Thanks to a wise woman.