In Delight
As a mom have you ever thought about how much work you do with your HANDS? There are so many ways you use your hands: change diapers, wash dishes, give hugs, wipe noses, stir pots, put ice on boo-boos, do laundry, work on your computer, and the list goes on. Your hands bless your family so much! Let’s read Proverbs 31:13-14 New American Standard Bible:
She looks for wool and flax, and works with her hands in delight. She is like merchant ships; she brings her food from afar.
This Proverbs 31 mom is a HARD WORKER, looking for items her family needs “like a merchant ship’. A merchant ship travels far away to get its produce, implying some effort. Talk about “Shop ’til you drop” this woman knows how to shop! So why would she want to bring her food from afar? Perhaps a better price or a better quality? That’s fine, but we all need something quick and easy at times, so the occasional fast food is certainly ok. However, when our son thought of Ronald McDonald as a good friend, I realized that I needed to put more effort into cooking. Just sayin’!
This passage also says that the Proverbs 31 woman “works with her hands IN DELIGHT”. It’s easy to work with your hands “in delight” when your day is going well, no one is sick, everyone is getting along, the weather is nice, and there is money in the bank. But when it is raining outside and the kids are stir-crazy, the day is not going well, there’s no money in the bank, you have just changed your 10th dirty diaper, refereed your 15th sibling squabble, or as happened in our family, all five kids are vomiting at the same time, or three of five kids are in casts at the same time (don’t call the authorities, there is a story there! see below), it’s not as easy to work with your hands “in delight”. But this is when we say, “Help me, Lord!” and He changes our heart.
One of my favorite verses to help give me a THANKFUL ATTITUDE when nothing is going right is Habakkuk 3:17-19 NASB:
Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls. Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
Do you get the idea that nothing is going right for this person? Has that ever happened to you? It has to us. But no matter what our circumstances are, we can ask Him to give us the faith to praise Him in the good or bad times. Back to the three of five kids in casts story-so one broke her wrist when someone mopped the dance floor right before she danced at a nursing home, a week later one fell off a child’s chair right after I told her to get down so she wouldn’t fall, and two weeks after that another child hit the end of the curb on his bike and fell onto his arm. One lady at church said, “Oh, I better not hug you, or I might break my arm.” (wasn’t funny at the time, but it is now). So I called my mom to get a little sympathy but my mom has always taught me THANKFULNESS in every situation. As I complained and was hoping for an “I’m so sorry, honey,” instead I got, “There must be something you can find to be thankful for in this situation.” Really, mom? But you know what, God showed me that no one hit their head! And the arms all healed and we got through it, and I did thank Him for no head injuries!
So while we are working with our hands, can we check our attitudes? Are we working with our hands IN DELIGHT? Are we working with our hands AS UNTO THE LORD? And maybe as you’re doing that 10th load of laundry, think about how THANKFUL you are to do laundry, because it means you have people to do laundry for. As my mom said,
“THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR.”
In His Love,
Suzanne
Mom Morsels 