Proverbs 31

Most "christian" women and girls I've met say they wish they could be a "Proverbs 31 woman", but I've also been told that it's to hard or it just can't be done. I think what we don't realize is that we do it every day, every time you go to the grocery store you are "bringing your food from afar" (sometimes really far:). I don't have a husband or children yet, but in doing my best to honour my father I'm "doing him good not evil." For as long as I'm in his house, I try to help my mother as much as I can, so in doing "chores" and helping to take care of my siblings I'm learning to be "a capable wife". Nowadays we don't have to shear sheep, card wool and other things women used to have to do. But there's other things like cooking, cleaning gardening, and raising children that while we don't have to do them it's best to do them.

My Mom & Dad always tell me how privileged I am to have a mom able and willing to teach me "home eco.". When my parents got married my mom didn't know how to cook. She knew the basics about home making but had to learn from trial and error how to take care of and train children. Her parents raised her to go to college and have a career, which if that is what The Father wants is not really wrong but that should not be the only goal.

So I would like to encourge you. A "Proverbs 31 woman" is not a perfect person but the every day wife and mother willing to raise up the next generation.

Proverbs 31
Who can find a capable wife?
For she is worth far above rubies.
The heart of her husband shall trust her,
And he has no lack of gain.
She shall do him good, sn not evil,
All the days of her life.
She shall seek wool and flax,
And with delight she works with her hands.
She shall be as the ships of Tarshish,
She brings her food from afar.
She also rises while it is still night,
And provides food for her household,
And what is lawfull for her girls.
She shall consider a field and buy it;
From her profits she shall plant a vineyard.
She shall gird herself with strength,
And strengthen her arms.
She shall taste when her gain is good;
Her lamp does not go out by night.
She shall stretch out her hands to the distaff,
And her hand shall hold the spindle.
She shall extend her hand to the poor,
And she shall reach out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her household,
For all her household is dressed in scarlet.
She shall make tapestry for herself;
She is dressed in fine linen an purple.
Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sits among the elders of the land.
She shall make fine linen and sell them,
And shall give girdles for the merchants.
Strength and splender are her garments,
And she rejoices in time to come.
She shall open her mouth with wisdom,
And on her tongue is the Torah of loving-commitment.
She watches over th ways of her household ,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children shall rise up and call her blessed;
Her husband too, and he praises her:
"Many daughters have done nobly,
But you have risen over them all."
Loveliness is deceptive
And prettiness is vain,
A women who fears Yahweh is to be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands,
And let her works praise her in the gates.