The Proverbs 31 Woman is someone we are taught to emulate. It’s what I’m teaching my daughters to aspire to be like. But do I really understand who she is? Can I really be like her? Sometimes I doubt I can, especially when it comes to idleness. This post is meant to encourage you and let you know that you and I can do it!
We all wish to be admirable mothers, wives, and women. The Proverbs 31 woman is a good model for us to follow. But I look at her, and honestly, I just get overwhelmed.
I believe the ungodly world that tells me that this type of woman is impossible to be, My own selfish desires come into play, and I often feel like I fail miserably. It seems overwhelmingly impossible to do everything I know I should do to be like the Proverbs 31 woman.
I’ve learned that the important thing is that we try. By seeking God and his Word, we can certainly see what kind of a woman we should strive to be. I’ve learned that God will honor our efforts and prayers as we try to emulate her. We may not be perfect, but He sees our heart and our efforts, and I believe He gives us the ability to keep on trying, even after failure.
Proverbs 31:27 tells us “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.”
Giving up is not an option. Sometimes we get distracted by “idleness” – things that have no value beyond the here and now, things that take our focus off of God’s purposes for our lives, and self-centered desires that do not match up with God’s plan for us.
In 20 years, no one is going to care what was posted on Facebook or how many pins we saved on Pinterest. The video games we play or the movies we watch are not going to provide us any rewards in the future either. But training up our children, homeschooling, keeping a reasonably clean home, loving our husbands, and doing what we can to help contribute to the financial stability of our home, those are the things that will have rewards over the long term.
The verse says that the Proverbs 31 woman looketh well to the ways of her household when she is not lounging in the hammock of idleness. That means she is a keeper of the home, and that her home life is her priority. My role as housekeeper and household manager is a ministry. Making a home that is a desirable place to be, one that is clean, welcoming, and full of love, those are things that we are doing to serve God as well as our family. I fail in this area daily, because it is not an easy task when you’re homeschooling and working a full-time job as well as managing the home and raising children.
I have to consciously force myself not to choose the “bread of idleness.” The world tells us we deserve downtime, we deserve to entertain ourselves, we work hard after all. Thoughts of self-pity and complaints about our daily to-do’s that seem never-ending justify our attitudes. It is so tempting at times to just throw in the towel and quit, and I have often fallen into that mindset. We’ve had days when I said, “Ok, I give in, let’s just not do school today” or I chose to ignore the dishes in the sink, the laundry pile that waited to be folded, and the stack of bills that needed filing.
It’s a tough truth that we face, especially this time of year when the days seem to drag on and we’re all pining for a vacation.
