the Prov.31 woman

I've never really liked her. When I was younger, she was some kind of super woman read about at church and meetings. She was beautiful, talented, a business-woman and mother and wife- all perfectly. At least that's how she seemed. That was our goal- I always felt it was totally unattainable. I'm sure some guy wrote this. Maybe it was as a letter to praise his wife. It's always made me feel like I would never measure up. If someone read it to me, I felt like a fake- like get real, I could never be like HER!

I mean at least society's cover models, we all know are fake. They are airbrushed, often anorexic, not "real" people due to the way they are presented and if you look very far, their lives are often a mess. So I don't feel too much pressure to live up to their ideals although I know a lot of women and teens get caught in that trap. But the Prov.31 woman seemed to have it all.

I've been trying to seek the Lover to know if an idea I had is from him. The idea is something I could do from home to make some extra cash. As I've thought of it, I thought I'd be a little more like the Prov. 31 woman- helping her family financially. So I read it this morning and realized... that I don't want to be her!

She sounds like a total workaholic. She gets up before dawn to work, stays up late, doesn't sleep as far as I can tell and does EVERYTHING. I know people like that. I have friends like that- moms, scrambling, working, momming, doing it all for a buck.

I'm sure that is not the impression the writer was trying to leave, I'm just saying how I read it. And for the first time, I had peace reading about her- even compassion and a sense of warning- to keep in balance what is most important. Yeah, we need money for bills and food, but the most important thing is not possessions or getting ahead, but spending the time I have with the Lover and with my kids and with my husband and with others.

So I'm praying that if/as I venture down this new path for income, which I'm actually kind of excited about, that I will be able to worship and love and honor the Lover through it and truly be a blessing to my home and family through it.