Proverbs 31:19

Sorry I skipped out on the study last week! It was a little crazy around here.

But I'm in this week! Here are some of my thoughts on verse nineteen. :)

Proverbs 31:19
She layeth her hands to the distaff, 

And her hands hold the spindle.

In this week's verse, we see the distaff and spindle spoken of - tools of spinning that wool and flax that the virtuous woman sought back in verse 13. The worthy woman starts by looking for the building blocks of providing for her family. I know that in Bible times they didn't exactly have Walmart on every corner, so things were a little different. But she still could have looked for a shortcut here. Even in these ancient times, it would have been possible for her to buy pre-made cloth and/or clothes for her family as verse 24 shows, since she herself made garments and sold them for others to buy.

We can see from this verse that it's always better to make your own clothes, and in fact, you won't be a virtuous woman unless you learn to spin and weave.

Haha, no, of course not. I don't think there's anything wrong with buying clothes instead of shearing sheep or gathering flax, spinning and weaving your own material, and sewing all your own clothing. For most people, that just isn't practical in any way. I doubt growing your own flax, processing it, weaving it, and sewing it into clothes would be cost effective at all today, and it definitely wouldn't be good time management. However, I do think that there is an applicable lesson for us here.

Always put effort into your homemaking! And don't necessarily always look for a shortcut.

If you've ever taken a roadtrip, you probably know that not all shortcuts are quite as short as we would like. Sometimes it's worth it to put in extra effort into something, even when you could easily cut out some of the work. This goes for so many different areas. For example, by cooking from scratch, not only do you save money, but it tastes a whole lot better, too! But it's not just cooking... the principle applies to other areas as well.

What if two different ladies gave you two very similar quilts as a gift. One picked up a quilt from the store, and one handmade the quilt just for you. Which would you find more meaningful? Personally, I'd likely find the handmade one more meaningful. The givers might both have the same amount of love and sincerity, but one put more of herself into it. Whenever we put some of ourselves into something, it takes on another side... and a lot more meaning.

Not all of us are quilters or gourmet cooks or spinners or weavers... but no one was born with any of those skills, and we can learn! We all have areas in which we can improve, exert more effort, and/or learn to stop taking shortcuts. :)

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On another note... Please keep Kimberly and her family in your prayers. They lost pretty much everything in a house fire last Thursday. I don't know her except online by meeting her through this study, but they are members of the church and sure could use our prayers and any help we can offer them right now!

Also, I would appreciate it if you'd keep Alex, the brother of one of my aunts, in your prayers as well. My aunt said:

 "My brother woke up last a week ago today partially blind in one eye. He went to the dr. the next day and she sent him to a retina specialist. She could see swelling inside his eye that was causing the blindness. Basically she told him in someone his age there are 2 likely possibilities. Could be nothing more than a virus that has literally settled in his eye and will resolve itself, but could be as serious as MS. So he had a brain CT on Friday to look for MS. We're really concerned because his eye has gotten worse. At the start it was just gray and cloudy, but now he sees nothing but black in the bottom half of his eye. They are testing for MS because vision problems are frequently the first symptom indicating the onset of more to come"

So... that's pretty scary. Lots and lots of people needing prayers!


Have a great week!