Considering our Work
Each of us has different seasons we find ourselves in in our families. Perhaps you are in a season of being a stay at home mom, or maybe you work part-time and are a mom, or maybe you work full-time and are a mom. Whatever season you find yourself in, I think we can see that the Proverbs 31 woman works to use her skills to benefit her family. Proverbs 31:16 and 24 New American Standard says:
16 She considers a field and buys it; from her earnings she plants a vineyard. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies belts to the tradesmen.
For myself, I worked part-time and my husband and I raised five children. It was a LOT OF WORK! Looking back, we are not exactly sure how we did it! It was DEFINITELY by the GRACE OF GOD. I hadn’t intended on working outside the home, but my husband lost his job, his pay went down and I needed to work. At first, I really struggled with working, but then I was very successful in my job as a pediatric nurse and felt great fulfillment in it. God knows me best and I think He knew that I needed to work for my mental health, and that’s OK, if you need to do that. But my prayer often had been, “Can you give me a little smaller field, please, Lord?” Has anyone else ever felt that way? But I trusted that He knew what I could handle with His help, and He increased my FAITH through my working.
Whether you work outside the home or are a stay at home mom, you can see that this virtuous woman uses her skills to either bring money into the home, bless her family or bless others. “Supplies” here means give, so she may have given the belts away just to help the tradesmen. What skills do you have that you could use to bless your family? What skills do you have that you could use to bless others? One of my friends loved ironing-Oh, how I hate ironing! But she used this skill to wash and iron clothes for people and paid both her daughter’s private Christian school tuitions by doing so.
In verse 16, we see that, “She CONSIDERS a field.” “Consider” in the Hebrew means to PLAN, CONSIDER, PURPOSE, THINK. In the past, I know that at times I have rushed into a commitment before I really thought through how it would affect me or my family. This woman PLANS, CONSIDERS, PURPOSES, and THINKS before she makes a commitment of her time. How will it affect her? How will it affect her family?
This woman’s work, whether inside or outside the home, enhances her family’s wellbeing. It enables her to plant a vineyard, which implies that her work brings FRUITFULNESS. If you do need to work outside the home, I believe God can give you a job that helps bring MORE FRUIT to your family. I can see the FRUITFULNESS in my adult children now from my years of working. If you are able to work exclusively inside the home, I also believe, He can use your work and your skills to bring FRUITFULNESS to your family and to bless others.
So before we make a commitment to use our skills or time for work either inside or outside the home, lets’s CONSIDER how it will affect our family and let’s ask God to
HELP OUR WORK AND SKILLS BRING FRUITFULNESS INTO OUR FAMILIES.
In His Love,
Suzanne
Mom Morsels 