Proverbs 31 Woman

Thinking back over my prayer journals, one thought comes up a lot. I want to be a better wife and mother. There is a description of a woman that begins in Proverbs 31:10 that is THE woman. I've decided to go through it one verse a week and look into what makes her tick. I can work on the same traits in my own life and maybe feel like I'm getting somewhere. Join me on Thursdays when I'll share this week's verse.


See verse 10 here.

See verse 11 here.

See verse 12 here.

See verse 13 here.

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Proverbs 31:14
She is like a merchant’s ship,
bringing her food from afar.

Character Traits:
This one takes a little more work but I think the key phrase here might be ‘bringing’ and ‘from afar.’

Character Trait 1:
Bringing

Definition:
--to cause to come with oneself by carrying or leading especially to the place from which the action is viewed; to cause to arrive or exist

Verses in the Bible about it:
Deuteronomy 8:7
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills.

Psalm 104:14
He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate— bringing forth food from the earth:
Acts 14:15
“Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.

Summary:
Again, this woman is actively working in her home. In the verses above, the thing being brought is a good thing (not always so in many of the verses pulled up). Many of the verses also used the ‘bringing’ phrase as in raising a child. If you wanted to stretch it a little, you could see a connection there too. She was actively raising her children, I’m sure.

Conclusion for this verse:
What this verse suggests to me is that this woman is bringing special things to her family. She is not content with what is easy or readily available. She works to give her household quality and, possibly, specialty food.

Comments:
This makes me think of times when I just threw something from the freezer into the oven because I could and not particularly because it was the healthiest thing or the thing they liked the most or even because I had a rough or busy day. It reminds me, in other words, of times when I was too lazy or just didn’t care enough to do better.

The activity of this woman shames me. Particularly because I do have some skills and resources that many woman today do not. I know that I need to do better here. Home should be a place where my family looks forward to being. I might need to work a little more on my attitude about striving to make it that way.