A Christian friend once shocked me by saying
she didn't think Proverbs 31was a relevant example
for Christian women in the 80's to follow.
She felt this woman was only
successfully accomplished because she had servants.
When I finally caught my breath,
rolled my tongue back in my mouth,
and got my eyebrows down from the ceiling,
I only had two arguments in reply.
Proverbs 31 is an encouragement and an example
for all women because the Bible is timeless.
My second argument was that we DO have servants...
electrical ones...
dishwasher
washer
dryer
iron
air-conditioning
refridgerator
stove
microwave
sewing machine
running water
Anything the Proverbs 31 woman accomplished with a servant
we accomplish by machine.
We have servants.
Rebekah loves "The Olden Days."
She spends hours dressing up and pretending scenarios
from times passed.
It was laundry day and she wanted to use our little washboard.
A bit blurry through the screen window,
but you can see the Old-Fashioned apron she's wearing.
She was so excited that the ridges on the washboard
really helped her scrub the chocolate stain out of the front of her shirt.
I can imagine the women in the early 1800's felt the same thrill
when their husbands bought them this new amazing tool,
a servant to make their household duties easier.
(By the way, The Sloppy Gene,
the one where you spill anything guaranteed to stain
down the front of your shirt, is from her father's side of the gene pool.)
She loved this so much, she washed all her clothes.
She hung them on the deck on the drying rack.
For years I had my Gramma Geneva's drying rack,
and when it broke beyond repair,
I could hardly bear to throw it out.
A drying rack always made me think about my Gramma,
now I have a new memory to add to that page in my mind.
And almost 20 years after the initial conversation
about the relevance of Proverbs 31 for the modern woman,
I have even greater conviction.
Is the Proverbs 31 woman an attainable goal for us in 2011?
Physically? Absolutely.
We have more gadgets and greater availability of supplies.
Spiritually? Absolutely.
In the age of grace we have
the best spiritual tools available~~
the risen, ascended Christ,
the complete inspired Word of God,
the indwelling Holy Spirit,
and 6,000 years of examples lived before us.
We don't have to dream and pretend,
becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman is an attainable goal,
for us modern women of the 21st Century.
