Proverbs 31:15 "She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and tasks for her maidens."
This verse is one I ought to read every day. I am not a morning person in the slightest sense!
Now, if one were to take this literally, all non-morning people, like me, could not possibly be a good wife. If we take time to look at the message behind this passage, perhaps we'll find a way to apply the principles to us night-owls.
"She rises while it is yet night..."
This evokes images of the stereotypical farm wife for me. To apply it to all the rest of us, I would say a good application of this would be to at least get up before the rest of your family members. How much earlier? At least as long as it would take you to get yourself ready for the day and to accomplish the rest of the principles of this verse. Personally, I feel I get my best sleep between 5am and 9am because whenever I get woken up during those times I feel like a zombie! We'll discuss alternatives later on.
"...and provides food for her household..."
Ideally, one would already be up and around a bit. Then you could easily get breakfast ready for everyone as the first task of your work day and also prepare any lunches that would be needed for that day. Then if you're really organized, you can look ahead at that day's meal plan and think about any other meal prep that needs to be done, like filling up the crock-pot for dinner.
"...and tasks for her maidens."
Ah, wouldn't it be nice to have a maid, let alone a number of them? Tho', if you think about it, most of the hard-labor tasks that we needed maids for have been made amazingly easy by machines; clothes washers and driers, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, special cleansers and so on. So now instead of providing tasks for our servants, we simply need to organize the order of tasks for our machines. This is something that can be very well done in that early morning quiet.
So what about people like me? I only wake up early under duress and then I need a pot of coffee or caffeine equivalent to get me un-zombified. If you are like me, we get to do this even earlier than our morning-people counterparts! By this I mean the night before, when we night-owls shine! After you put the kids to bed, or simply after dinner has been all cleaned up, depending on what works for your family, you can sit down at the table instead of the TV or the computer and organize tomorrow. Think about your meals and write down all the tasks that need to be done and roughly when and what order, so you can simply flow from one step to the next as life lets you. Don't forget to do what meal prep you can before you go to bed. Many lunches can be made ahead, dry elements of breakfast can be assembled and others grouped together, even some dinner prep can be done!
So, while most of these things are best done by someone who is clear-eyes first thing in the morning, a large chunk of the mental prep at least can be done the night before, and sometimes that's half the battle!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Verse 14: "She brings her food from afar."
Proverbs 31:14 "She is like the ships of the merchant, she brings her food from afar."
At first blush, this passage seems counter-intuitive; isn't it best to support one's local economy and buy from local farmers as much as possible? Or even grow as much as you can yourself? Why yes! Absolutely!
The way I see this passage is to focus on the fact that they are merchant's ships. Basic business savvy says "Buy low, sell high." This means one ought to seek out the best deals in the most cost-effective fashion available to them. How this applies to the good wife is many-fold. The obvious example is economic grocery shopping. There are 2 stores that I shop at every week to get the best prices. If I had more time and fewer kids to tote around with me, there are at least 2 more locations I would frequent.
Basically, I feel the message of this passage is about doing the "footwork" involved in finding the best quality for the lowest price. This means an end to impulse buying (*gasp*!), searching garage sales, freecycle, Craig's list, eBay and the like; holding off for a sale or 1 day special, and so forth, either in an actual store or online. Do your research; is this actually a good deal compared to the regular price for a comparable item? Yes, 5% off is a discount, but if you go to another store is it 15% off there? Can you find it at 50+% off at a second-hand store? How about 90% off at a garage sale or on clearance? Can you make it yourself for less? Do you even really need it in the first place?
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."
At first blush, this passage seems counter-intuitive; isn't it best to support one's local economy and buy from local farmers as much as possible? Or even grow as much as you can yourself? Why yes! Absolutely!
The way I see this passage is to focus on the fact that they are merchant's ships. Basic business savvy says "Buy low, sell high." This means one ought to seek out the best deals in the most cost-effective fashion available to them. How this applies to the good wife is many-fold. The obvious example is economic grocery shopping. There are 2 stores that I shop at every week to get the best prices. If I had more time and fewer kids to tote around with me, there are at least 2 more locations I would frequent.
Basically, I feel the message of this passage is about doing the "footwork" involved in finding the best quality for the lowest price. This means an end to impulse buying (*gasp*!), searching garage sales, freecycle, Craig's list, eBay and the like; holding off for a sale or 1 day special, and so forth, either in an actual store or online. Do your research; is this actually a good deal compared to the regular price for a comparable item? Yes, 5% off is a discount, but if you go to another store is it 15% off there? Can you find it at 50+% off at a second-hand store? How about 90% off at a garage sale or on clearance? Can you make it yourself for less? Do you even really need it in the first place?
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."
Verse 13: "Works with willing hands."
Proverbs 31:13 "She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands."
I have seen some "translations" take this passage to mean only that a woman should be "craft"-y, in that she does arts and crafts, like spinning, crochet, or knitting and the like. As with all Scripture, it means so much more than that! One way that I read this, is that a good wife looks around her for the work that needs to be done, she seeks it out, and the "works with willing hands". Back in the day, some of the most tedious and time consuming work that always needed to be done, was the production of cloth and clothing for one's household. There was cleaning and carding the wool and flax, spinning, weaving, cutting, sewing and so forth. To make the finest threads, which are also the most comfortable to wear, was rather tedious work. And then all the work to manipulate these materials into all the household linens was nearly as tedious. But a good wife seeks out these jobs that need to be done and no one really wants to do and then does them willingly!
Nowadays, we can buy these things cheaper than we can make them, but there are still jobs for all of us that fall under that "ucky" category that no one ever wants to do. For me, this is generally any job that requires me to get out a wet rag and scrub various things around the house, like the bathtub, the floors, the windows, or even the toilet. For you it could be laundry, dishes, dusting, sweeping, or a whole host of other household chores. But remember, a good wife seeks these out and "works with willing hands"!
I have seen some "translations" take this passage to mean only that a woman should be "craft"-y, in that she does arts and crafts, like spinning, crochet, or knitting and the like. As with all Scripture, it means so much more than that! One way that I read this, is that a good wife looks around her for the work that needs to be done, she seeks it out, and the "works with willing hands". Back in the day, some of the most tedious and time consuming work that always needed to be done, was the production of cloth and clothing for one's household. There was cleaning and carding the wool and flax, spinning, weaving, cutting, sewing and so forth. To make the finest threads, which are also the most comfortable to wear, was rather tedious work. And then all the work to manipulate these materials into all the household linens was nearly as tedious. But a good wife seeks out these jobs that need to be done and no one really wants to do and then does them willingly!
Nowadays, we can buy these things cheaper than we can make them, but there are still jobs for all of us that fall under that "ucky" category that no one ever wants to do. For me, this is generally any job that requires me to get out a wet rag and scrub various things around the house, like the bathtub, the floors, the windows, or even the toilet. For you it could be laundry, dishes, dusting, sweeping, or a whole host of other household chores. But remember, a good wife seeks these out and "works with willing hands"!
The Second Mile
by Ruth Gardner
"When there is a task to do,
Do it with a smile.
Do more than you are asked to do
And go the second mile.
In your work and in your play,
Try it for a while.
You'll find that you'll be happy
When you go the second mile."
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