I hate the Proverbs 31 woman. Okay, maybe hate is a strong word but most days she just makes me feel like a failure. Verse 10 does sort of give us an out though.
"A wife of noble character who can find?"
Apparently she's hard to find.
But that's not what I want to talk about today. Let's take a look at verse 16.
"She considers a field and buys it..."
Consider means "to think about carefully." So why did she "consider" this field before she bought it? I can think of three possible questions she might have asked herself.
- Can I effectively cultivate this field with my present resources?
- Will I have the time and energy to manage more acreage?
- Will this field allow me to bless more people?
I think the Proverbs 31 woman is trying to tell us that we need to carefully consider what adding more things to our plate will accomplish. We need to ask ourselves who or what might suffer by adding these extra responsibilities.
There have been many times in my life where I really wanted to get involved in something but I had to weigh how taking up more of my time would affect my family. How much time away from home would this require? Would I have the energy needed to care for my kids? What would be the cost financially or emotionally?
Often I had to wait years before being able to participate in some of the things I desired. There are still a few things on my bucket list and I am hopeful that I can accomplish some of them now that I have retired from the job that demanded much of my time and energy. God knows the desires of my heart. If I can wait until such time as these things can be excellent, instead of just good, God will be able to use it for His glory so much better.
I'm still not ready to be best friends with the Proverbs 31 woman but I might take a closer look at her lifestyle now. Except maybe for that part about getting up while it's still dark to provide food for her family. I don't do breakfast...
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