Falling short of the Proverbs 31 woman

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue...Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:25-26; 30

I don't have much time this morning, but I wanted to take a couple of minutes to commiserate with the sisterhood over this stinking Proverbs 31 woman. She rises before dawn (okay, I've got that one down), she makes her own clothes (nope), she makes and sells belts to the tradesmen (nope), she is clothed in purple (I'm clothed in kitty-cat pajama pants), her husband is known at the gate (kind of...we're in his hometown), her children rise up and call her blessed (my children just call me mommy)...you get the idea. I'd personally like to avoid her at all costs, because I just don't measure up to her. I don't claim to have charm, but I've spent an awful lot of time working on beauty. I don't know that strength and dignity are my clothing (again...the kitty-cat pajama pants), and I'm pretty certain when I open my mouth, wisdom and kindness are not what always emerge. I'd rather avoid her than study her, because she is just a reminder that I am not all that God created me to be.

Here's the rub: if I say that all Scripture is truth without any measure of error...then I have to take her at face value. Now, I'm not saying that God's will for my life is to go into the belt-making business at the city gates of Moscow, because I'm pretty sure that's not going to be the case, but I am saying that if she is an indication of what God is looking for in a woman of true worth, then I need to pay attention to her. This is especially meaningful to me as I embark on the adventure of being a stay-at-home mom for the first time in my almost forty years. It is something I really, really want to do well. I have had a great deal of success with other people's children, but all of that will be meaningless if I am not a success with my own children. I am blessed with an amazing husband, one who has treated me like a princess since the day we married, even when I didn't always deserve to be treated as such. According to this (and to the IMB, by the way), I am supposed to be taking care of that guy. How often am I focused on what I need to be focused on in the day-to-day operation of our household? Unfortunately, I can get pretty distracted.

So here's to the Proverbs 31 woman. I won't ever totally measure up, but as I study her, I hope to become more like her. God has already worked amazing miracles in my life--who knows that a total transformation into this woman isn't in His plan? I just hope He lets me keep the kitty-cat pajama pants. Blessings!

His,
Kellye