The Modest Mom: 31 Days of Femininity: The Proverbs 31 Woman

I have spent a lot of time reading this week trying to find the best examples of godly women to bring to you. It would probably have been easier to name this series "Biblical Womanhood" as then my topic would have been a bit more broad based! In naming my series "31 Days of Femininity" my hope was to focus on singling out a few women in the Bible who display the virtues of femininity in various roles and circumstances. Later, we will explore how these timeless virtues play themselves out in today's world.

The word feminine is not found in the Bible, but there are feminine women to be found and wonderful inspiration to draw from their lives.

I'm sure that all of us are familiar with the woman found in Proverbs 31.

As I read through Proverbs 31, I am reminded again that this was not a lazy, shiftless, half-hearted woman. No, she was fully committed to her job and did it well! Some might read through this chapter and not find feminine truths in it. She was hard working, industrious, a business woman in a sense (buying a field and selling her fine linen), and was the overseer of the handmaidens who worked for her.

Proverbs 31 is yet another example of how femininity does not have to equate to weakness. King Lemuel's mother speaks of a woman who, by living her life diligently serving her family, answers the call which God has placed upon the life of every married woman since Eve - a calling filled with the day to day tasks of preparing meals, sewing, cleaning house, raising her children, and on top of all of this, managing a home-based business (okay, so that last bit may not be for everyone, but she ought to be engaged in the family economy in some form, as in watching her budget carefully). Of course a husband can pitch in and help with many of those tasks, and is actually commanded to biblically rear his children. But when it comes to the daily tasks of home, these are mainly the wife's responsibility as the husband is busy going to work each day and supporting his family financially.

I know many of us are tempted to groan and complain about these menial tasks that never end. We look longingly at our husbands as they walk out the door, wishing we could leave sometimes to go to a "real" job. But let me tell you ladies, the job we have been "hired" to do is so very important and crucial to the well being of our family, our churches, and our nation.

If we do not keep the house clean - chaos sets in. Especially if you have a husband who functions best in a clean house like I do. :) If the meals are not on the table, you either end up ordering a pizza, or go hungry - both not good options for daily living (particularly the latter). If we do not train our children, they end up acting like wild indians and their hearts are not set upon the Lord.

At the core of all these tasks is found the word feminine. How we conduct ourselves as we run our home can be either with a feminine spirit of being content and joyful, or with a heart that grumbles, complains, and longs for something else. This is the feminist spirit, something completely different from the feminine spirit. It is the spirit of our age, but it is nothing new. Tomorrow we will be examining a woman from the bible who typified this spirit so that we might recognize some warning signs associated with the feminist spirit and avoid them.