Have you studied Proverbs 31 of late or at all? I have over and again, and I can tell you there’s pure wisdom much more than meets the eyes.
When people want to throw accolades at a woman (often at birthdays and special moments), we ascribe awesome qualities to her and sum it up as being a typical ‘Proverbs 31 woman’ to express that she is a complete set of virtues. I have noticed from my little study that, like I said, there is much more to that. We’ll dissect these virtues, maybe not exhaustively, but intently.
1. Willingness to work with her hands: There are two key words here — willingness and work with hands. The passage teaches us that the virtuous woman seeks flax and wool and that is no longer news to may. However, we have missed the minor detail that she does this willingly. In this dispensation of ‘women empowerment’, women today have many reason they do the many things they do. Virtue is not in being busy. Virtue is in the motive behind the busyness, which suggests the willingness attached to activities. Some women work many jobs but grudgingly and in a bid to make a point. It is the heart behind the works one does that produces the healthy results that accompanies the work. Take a mental assessment of the things you do. How many of them are borne out of compulsion? How many of them originate from sheer of contempt for another? One note worthy thing here is the virtue starts from within, and not from the externals. Behind the swarm of activities, however profitable, what’s the heart propelling them?
Talk of working with her hands and we’ll be also addressing her precision and detail. She not haphazard. You see, when I was much younger, I’d sweep the house, pack the dirt and sweep whatever’s left to one corner of the house. One day, my aunt who visited taught me to gather every single dirt. This is a minor one but it’s an instance of paying attention to detail. In whatsoever she does, she’s precise — be it at her place of work, her home, her associations, etc., it is required that she pays attention to detail. The skill of precision props up in most women when it comes to fashion and makeup. Let’s take it a bit farther than that into other areas of our work and walk. Ready to learn some virtue?
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Proverbs 31:13
