A Modern Proverbs 31 Woman

I don't know about you, but the Proverbs 31 woman tends to intimidate me.  Most of the time when I read about her I think, "It would be nice to be like that, but that's never going to happen in my life."  I asked myself the other day why I pretty much blew off the Proverbs 31 woman as unattainable.  Part of the reason, I thought, is that she lives in a different time.  The description of her life doesn't match the modern American woman.  How many of us are picking up our distaff and spindle in the middle of the night?  Or buying a field to plant a vineyard?  Or making belts for tradesman?  I know I'm definitely not doing those things.  Of course, Proverbs is wisdom literature and as such, the description of the Proverbs 31 woman isn't to be taken verbatim, but as an example.  She models the life of a valuable woman who enhances the lives of her husband and children.

To discover the principles bound up in the passage, I decided to write out my own modern translation.  It's far more applicational than theological, but then, I believe that's the nature of the description.  It's a picture of how a wife applies God's wisdom to her home-life.  I created a chart that lays the original verses alongside my modern translation/application/commentary.  I wanted to see how this description can actually apply to me in my day and time.

Of course, in an age saturated with feminism and the idea that we women are far better than men, our visceral reaction is to cry out, "What about the husband?  Does he just get this perfect wife without having to do anything?"  The husband is not let off the hook by God.  If you want to read the equivalent for the husband, check out Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3:7.  However, these passages don't change the fact that I know what God has called me to be as a wife regardless of whether my husband follows God's design or not.  I cannot control my husband.  I cannot make him follow God's design and will.  But I can control me.  I can be the Proverbs 31 woman.  Will I always be perfect everyday in my home-life?  No, but that doesn't mean God's way isn't the best way.  It strikes me as I read the modern translation that if I truly acted as the Proverbs 31 woman my home would have a sense of joy and security.  I would be providing a safety net for my family, a place they feel welcomed, loved and well cared for.  Isn't that what I want as a mother?  Definitely.  So even though I won't always be her, I'm still going to strive to act like her.  Some days I'll make it.  When I fall, I'll receive God's grace, yield to the Spirit, pick myself up and be her again.  My guess is the more success I have, the easier it will be to reflect this woman and the more satisfied I will be that I have provided a good home for my family based on God's design.