Proverbs 31:16

She considereth a field, and buyeth it;
With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

I had a lot of thoughts that came out through the study of this verse, but some of those thoughts are a little off topic, so I'll save them for another time. For now, here are my thoughts on the verse at hand! :)

Here in verse 16, we are here given yet another great example of the worthy woman’s prudent industry.

First of all, she considers a field. That is, she thinks carefully before she makes a purchase. This is the opposite of impulse buying! You know those little fridges full of soda and water, and those racks of candy, etc. in the checkout line? Yep. They're there for a reason, and they’ll getcha.

Say you buy just $3 (plus tax) worth of snacks or other impulse items every time you go to the grocery store or when you’re filling up with gas, etc. and you visit one of these types of places maybe 6 times per month. That’s $19.44 per month, or $233.28 per year. I don’t know about you, but I think most times I could wait till I got home to get a drink of water or a snack if it meant saving 20 bucks per month for something else more meaningful that I wanted or needed!

Second, she planted a vineyard with the fruit of her hands. She works hard to earn capital to use in other endeavors. Notice that it does not say “she checks her credit report to see if she qualifies for a loan, and after receiving that loan, she plants a vineyard.”

According to this article on MSN Money (which appears to be several years old),

“The average U.S. household with a mortgage, two college graduates who borrowed money for school and more than one credit card, owes about $112,000”

In addition, over one million people filed for bankruptcy in the first 9 months of 2009.

Those are some sobering statistics. Most of us know of people who are up to their eyeballs in debt, or perhaps had to put off certain things that they really wanted for many years (such as having children) because they were so burdened with debt. This kind of money mismanagement has become a part of our culture, but it doesn’t need to be. The wise woman of Proverbs 31 was careful, not reckless, with her financial decisions.

Perhaps most of us don’t have that kind of extreme debt (or hopefully any), but we all need to make sure that we’re wise in every aspect of our stewardship – even those seemingly insignificant impulse purchases.

When we’re smart about our finances - as the virtuous woman was - we will be better equipped to be great blessings to our families as well as others around us!