Before I begin I would like to list the attributes of the woman God expects from us all.
The Proverbs 31 Woman
An excelent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewls.
The heart of her husband trusts in her
and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not harm
all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax
and works with wiling hands.
She is like the ships of a merchant,
she brings her food from afar.
She rises while it is yet night,
and provides food for her household,
and portions for her maidens.
She considers a field and buys it,
with the fruit of her hands,
she plants a vinyard.
She dresses herself with strength,
and makes her arms strong.
She percieves that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts out her hand to the distaff,
and her hands to the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor,
and reaches her hand to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her houshold.
for all her houshold is clothed with scarlet.
She makes bed covering for herself,
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates,
when he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen and garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
Streangth and dignity are her clothing,
she laughs at the day to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her toungue.
She looks well to the ways of her houshold,
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed.
her husband also, and he praises her.
"Many women have done excelently,
But you surpass them all."
Charm is decietful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Give her of the fruits of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.
Obviously, this is perfection.
I wanted to spend some time looking at women, and how much we really are suposed to be
doing as the "woman of the house". This is a new term to a lot of you. We seem to put an awful lot of pressure on the "Man of the House". I can think of many terms we have... Lets see: "Bread winner", "Dad", "Man of the House"... and others. But when do we ever hear of the woman? She is important too. More behind the scenes, granted, but she is there. And that is a very hard job. Have you ever really thought (if you are a young lady still living with your mother.) What your mother really does for you? When's the last time you have said "Mom, let me do the laundry today." or "Hey, I'll cook dinner, why don't you spend some time with dad?" Now, obviously the first few times she is going to think you fell off your rocker. But go ahead and try doing something for your mom, or even more than one thing. She will be gratefull, and you will get first hand experience on how hard your mom really works. Growing to be a woman after God's own heart is the best thing you could ever do in life. And let me tell you, your future husband will thank you. If you're married already, why not make the change now? It's for the better.
The verses start out with "an excelent wife, who can find?" So, obviously this is unattainable. Now you're thinking "why try if you can never reach the goal anyway?" Reaching the goal is NOT THE POINT!!! Now you're saying "wow... wow... slow down. "Not the point?" What's the point of having a goal if the point is not to reach the goal? isn't that like defeating the purpose of the word "goal"?" Ok... In a way it is defeating the purpose... and in a way, it's a very sad thing because you will never reach the goal you have strived after your entire life... And (to be quite honest) this still confuses me too. But, The goal is perfection. On this earth you will never reach perfection,because we live in a sinful fallen world. But, we can strive wholeheartedly for perfection. When we mess up, that's because we live in this fallen world. So, there is no point to beating yourself up about not being perfect. Who is? If you can find one perfect person on this earth (excepting Jesus) I will pay you the first million dollars I get. The funny thing is, is that everyone beats themselves up because they did something wrong, the didn't stick to a diet, or the gained muscel weight instead of loosing the fat weight they were trying to loose, many other things that get us girls sometimes. My petition to you is "What really matters?" Everything in our little world revolvs around the mirror. Is that what really matters? No. It's what inside that matters. Personally, I had to stop looking in the mirror for myself to realize that I didn't have to look in the mirror and tell myself how fat I was, and how much I differed, that I needed to change. I still don't look in the mirror some days. Now, doing your hair is a little dificult, I will admit. But, if you don't see it, it looks perfect for all you know. Anyways, back to the point...
I would sugest you try living by these Proverbs 31 attributes. Just don't cut yourself down when you fail. Try your hardest to be the Godly woman, and back up that Godly man in your
life, your dad counts, don't sit and watch idly by while everyone else is growing up except for you. Grow up, enjoy it! It only comes once. Whatever you do, don't look back with regret. Regret will make the beautiful woman you are look like tattered rags to yourself, while everyone else sees the true rose that is budding up from childhood.
Don'e get me wrong, I'm not telling you to get a big head because you are a "better woman" that the other lady walking down the street. Keep your pride in check, but meanwhile a good dose of "I'm a sinner, but God has forgiven me, and I too forgive myself" Can help you walk down the road with a smile on your face, instead of the scowl that is trying to pop out inside.
I know this was long... But again, I encourage you to dig deeper into the scriptures above, keep tabs on yourself, let God help you mold yourself into the woman God wants you to be.
Thanks for reading! I know it was long... But hey... it was worth it! :)
Thanks so much, I hope this did you some good.
Your writter-A J
