Proverbs 31 Woman (P31W) - Part VII - OR - To be Great or The Best! (Proverbs 31:28-29).
28 Her children praise her,
and with great pride
her husband says,
29 “There are many good women,
but you are the best!”
This is a toughy. No one knows you better than your husband, married-ladies. No one is a harsher critic or more sincere lover of their mothers than children. They know the worst and best in you, ladies. My family knows the worst and best in me. But according to this verse, they should be praising me, take great pride in me and my work, and my future husband should say “Babe, there are women everywhere, but you are beyond them all!”
That’s heavy. My family would praise some of my stuff, some of my work and skills, but there’s a whole lot of Shaina they say,
“um... yeah she’s crazy”,
“she’s.... special... don’t touch the bassoon”,
“She means well...”
“she can be cruel and crabby when she’s in the throes of creative genius...”
“She’s best if left alone until after her morning coffee”.
“She's a crazy old bat.”
I know for a fact that none of them would say ‘Shaina’s the best woman. Ever.” I won't go into the how many men have thought anything close to that statement either. We’re human. We’re learning. We’re fallible. We’re women and like to use our emotions for gain. We’re women and like to manipulate. I could go on and on. So we have a lot to learn to make this a true statement of our lives.
God will show you how to start, if you ask. He’ll show you the things that need cleaning up. I don’t have a “how-to” on making your family say this about you. God has that. And it’s not a how-to on making them love you, it’s a how-to on making you lovely. Between the two of you, you’ll sand off the rust, repair damage, heal wounds, learn new ways of speaking and teaching, there is so much he can do with you! So much! Think of it as house-flipping. God can take you and flip you into something so new, the market wouldn’t know how to sell you. A million dollar house in an everyday community. He’ll show you all that needs to go and all the new designs and plans and colors he can use to make you new. If you’re willing. Just out with the old and in with the new.
Example: I know a lot of women I would put under this category. As I said before, I don’t really like women. Weird statement to make while writing all this, but if I had to pick the option of going to the movies with girls to see a “chick flick” or with my brothers to see the new superhero movie, I’d take the latter. Girls are a lot of work and I like hanging with “the guys”. It’s easier. I like my specific girls, my chosen few, my sisters-from-other-misters, but mostly I don’t like women. But I can still think of a list of women I look up to. Even on short acquaintance or mere observation, I know women to make a list of at least 10 women I know who are great. Women whose husband would say, “you’re the best!” Women I look up to. Women of quality, women that are good, that are striving to be a P31W, and not all of them are Christians. Oh, they may sometimes do something that I just shake my head at. They’re learning too, just as people shake their head at me and say, “Oh, Shaina...”.
Just because you’re 30, 40, 50 or 60 doesn’t mean you have it all figured out. But they’ve learn some of it, and you can see the evidence of those lessons. You can look at someone and say “why would you say that???” why would you do that??” and still see the evidence of Christ at work in other areas or that area already. I’m not going to publish my list, but I know who is on it.
Can you make a list of the women you look up to? Make a long list of women who are, yes human and fallible, but still 50% excellent role models of the statement, “there are MANY good women, but you are the best!” Please don’t put down Oprah. Go deeper. Go local. Go in your own circle of friends. You may be surprised, or you may have to start seeing the good in those women around you.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a trained biblical scholar. I am just curious, bible hungry and care for my gender and our crazy methods of learning and growing as Christian women in a world that has a pretty skewed image of what women are or should be. If at any point you see a huge flaw in my logic or addition that needs to be added to the interpretation, please contact me and help me to correct or add to my expounding on this chapter.
I do not claim to have all the answers or have the CORRECT translation and meaning of all the verses in this series. I am just digging and sharing my findings and research concerning this chapter.
5/2013
and with great pride
her husband says,
29 “There are many good women,
but you are the best!”
This is a toughy. No one knows you better than your husband, married-ladies. No one is a harsher critic or more sincere lover of their mothers than children. They know the worst and best in you, ladies. My family knows the worst and best in me. But according to this verse, they should be praising me, take great pride in me and my work, and my future husband should say “Babe, there are women everywhere, but you are beyond them all!”
That’s heavy. My family would praise some of my stuff, some of my work and skills, but there’s a whole lot of Shaina they say,
“um... yeah she’s crazy”,
“she’s.... special... don’t touch the bassoon”,
“She means well...”
“she can be cruel and crabby when she’s in the throes of creative genius...”
“She’s best if left alone until after her morning coffee”.
“She's a crazy old bat.”
I know for a fact that none of them would say ‘Shaina’s the best woman. Ever.” I won't go into the how many men have thought anything close to that statement either. We’re human. We’re learning. We’re fallible. We’re women and like to use our emotions for gain. We’re women and like to manipulate. I could go on and on. So we have a lot to learn to make this a true statement of our lives.
God will show you how to start, if you ask. He’ll show you the things that need cleaning up. I don’t have a “how-to” on making your family say this about you. God has that. And it’s not a how-to on making them love you, it’s a how-to on making you lovely. Between the two of you, you’ll sand off the rust, repair damage, heal wounds, learn new ways of speaking and teaching, there is so much he can do with you! So much! Think of it as house-flipping. God can take you and flip you into something so new, the market wouldn’t know how to sell you. A million dollar house in an everyday community. He’ll show you all that needs to go and all the new designs and plans and colors he can use to make you new. If you’re willing. Just out with the old and in with the new.
Example: I know a lot of women I would put under this category. As I said before, I don’t really like women. Weird statement to make while writing all this, but if I had to pick the option of going to the movies with girls to see a “chick flick” or with my brothers to see the new superhero movie, I’d take the latter. Girls are a lot of work and I like hanging with “the guys”. It’s easier. I like my specific girls, my chosen few, my sisters-from-other-misters, but mostly I don’t like women. But I can still think of a list of women I look up to. Even on short acquaintance or mere observation, I know women to make a list of at least 10 women I know who are great. Women whose husband would say, “you’re the best!” Women I look up to. Women of quality, women that are good, that are striving to be a P31W, and not all of them are Christians. Oh, they may sometimes do something that I just shake my head at. They’re learning too, just as people shake their head at me and say, “Oh, Shaina...”.
Just because you’re 30, 40, 50 or 60 doesn’t mean you have it all figured out. But they’ve learn some of it, and you can see the evidence of those lessons. You can look at someone and say “why would you say that???” why would you do that??” and still see the evidence of Christ at work in other areas or that area already. I’m not going to publish my list, but I know who is on it.
Can you make a list of the women you look up to? Make a long list of women who are, yes human and fallible, but still 50% excellent role models of the statement, “there are MANY good women, but you are the best!” Please don’t put down Oprah. Go deeper. Go local. Go in your own circle of friends. You may be surprised, or you may have to start seeing the good in those women around you.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a trained biblical scholar. I am just curious, bible hungry and care for my gender and our crazy methods of learning and growing as Christian women in a world that has a pretty skewed image of what women are or should be. If at any point you see a huge flaw in my logic or addition that needs to be added to the interpretation, please contact me and help me to correct or add to my expounding on this chapter.
I do not claim to have all the answers or have the CORRECT translation and meaning of all the verses in this series. I am just digging and sharing my findings and research concerning this chapter.
5/2013
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