Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all. (Proverbs 31:29)
Even as a small girl, I have always been drawn to the passage of scripture where this verse is found. I loved the idea of being a good, wise wife one day. In fact, to the complete dismay of one of the guys I dated before Brance, when asked what I aspired to in life, my response was simply to be a good wife and mom. In his mind and the mind of many people, that is no sort of goal! At least not a highest goal or ideal.
The funny thing is now that I am a wife to Brance and mommy to two little girls, I am realizing it is no easy task to be a good, wise one – an excellent one. It truly requires the strength and dignity that are mentioned in vs. 25. This is no simple goal people! Being a selfish-ish, lazy-ish, loving-ish (especially when others are watching), is where we human moms default. Sure we love our husband and kids, would even jump in front of a bus to save them, but the day to day sacrifices required to be an excellent mom… yeah, we are not so good at.
I am with you! When something comes crashing off a shelf or table, Brance and I now laughingly refer to it as the sound track of our lives. We are in the trenches, just like many of you. Life as a family has many joys, but let’s be real, it is also messy, noisy, and just plain tiresome many days. Being an excellent wife and mom, or husband and dad even, in the unique challenges of family life is no easy task. That would be why the “famous” portion of proverbs 31 opens with,
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. (Proverbs 31:10)
Unfortunately wives and moms of excellence are not people we often bump into at the grocery store or in the parent drop-off line at school or *gulp*, see reflected back in the mirror. They are not common, but rather like precious jewels they are rare and very valuable. It may seem impossible to move there, to become this priceless, uncommon kind of wife, and on our own that would be true, BUT with God’s help, there is hope, it can be done. We CAN become an excellent wife and mom!
I would like to point out that being a wise, excellent wife, does not require that we be married to a man who is also wise and excellent. We can look at the story of David and Abigail to see this truth. Scripture refers to her as “beautiful and discerning” and her husband Nabal as “harsh and badly behaved”. In this story in 1 Samuel we find that Abigail rescues herself, her good for nothing husband, and their servants from certain death that would have come about because of her husband’s harsh, unwise dealings with David and his men. Abigail’s excellence, in spite of her husbands lack of excellence, is what saves her family and those dependent on them. Certainly, it must be even harder to be an excellent wife when married to a difficult, unwise man. But, don’t lose hope, if you find yourself in that situation, as we see in the life of Abigail, with God’s help it is not impossible!
Also, if you find yourself unmarried and/or without children, these passages can apply to you as well! This is not a literal checklist of activities for wives, as some may ignorantly suggest, but rather Godly principles (this does come from Proverbs, after all) to be applied to our lives. Many of these principles can be applied to those who find themselves unmarried and who desire to be excellent women, whether or not they find themselves married later on or not. And certainly one does not need children to be an excellent wife either, if that has been God’s plan for you.
I am going to spend the next couple posts looking at this excellent woman from scripture and the principles we can take away from her. Please share this with the women in your life and guys you are welcome to join in too. I am really looking forward to the things we can take away from this passage! And the ways our lives, and the lives of those around us, will change for the better because of this God-inspired writing! As always, you are welcome to join into the conversation in the comments. We love to hear what you have to say!
Happy weekend! We are celebrating Haddie’ 6th birthday today. We had her party scheduled for last Sunday and poor girl was sick with the flu. It is going to be a fun day of princesses and crafts and dancing :). I believe it will more than make up for her sick birthday! Though, we were blown away by the kindness of a couple from our church who came with face paints and fun, even though both girls were sick, and spent the day celebrating with the family. It turned Haddie’s tearful, sick birthday face into a smiling one. We are very thankful to be part of a loving expression of the Body of Christ here in Southie!
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