Proverbs 31

I just finished doing a Bible Study with Good Morning Girls, going through Proverbs 31. And I have to tell you, reading about this amazing woman and all that she does made me incredibly …

Tired.

I’m ashamed to say after about the 3rd verse of the section – the one where it talks about her getting up early in the morning? – I rebelled a little bit and stopped the study. Why try? I can never be that woman. I wasn’t anything like her when I was young and I’ll sure not get there now that I’m older.

I stood toe to toe with wonder woman and only came up to her knee. No I don’t often get up  early. I don’t always have a clean house when people come over. I don’t even make my bed every day (my own personal skeleton from the closet). My cooking consists of short cut meals. Scratch is something you do to a mosquito bite!

I really gave it to myself and dog-paddled around the pity pool for a several days before I snapped out of it. I may never be the Proverbs 31 woman, but inside me is a desire to try. Not so I can please my husband. He loves me – miraculously – like the Lord does, in spite of myself. And also not so I can impress my friends of extended family. I want to build the type of God-focused spirit that she had.

Something else I realized is that this gal didn’t do all this at once. She had different seasons of her life just like I have. I’ve had a scrap-booking season where I not only chronicled memories for my kids, but I brought in money to help purchase our curriculum. I’ve had a teaching season and a sewing one. I’ve had home mom seasons and am still in the home schooling mom season. I’m also in a writing season, though I hope this one will last for some time.

That does make things considerably better. While I’ve never been just really awesome at cleaning, I have done a type of all of the other things mentioned.

So I went back to the study and doubled up on the lessons. I found that I’m not so far off the the Proverbs 31 woman except for my housekeeping skills. So that’s where I’m working to improve. But the end of the chapter, oh so cool. At the end of the chapter, her kids call her blessed. Mine do that. (No not the “bless me out” type of blessings. Lol!) My precious girls, and even my dear boy, have such Spirit consciousnesses. They are transparent and open with their praise and fuss at me when I feel unworthy.

And the best part, her husband praises her. What woman doesn’t want the admiration of her husband. I love it when mine tells me he’s proud of me. There’s no better moment, and no better way to end this book.

I think the Proverbs 31 woman (the ideal for that mom and obviously important enough for the Lord to include her in His Word) is someone to aspire to, but not a reason to criticize myself or others.

Your turn: What part of the Proverbs 31 woman makes you cringe? What part do you feel you have or can accomplish?

Time Management

Tuesdays are always my day for posting the A2Z article from Patty Wysong’s Blog Meme. Usually I take care of it over the weekend, but Friday I wrote like a mad lady. Saturday we cleaned and moved furniture – fun, but bumped my blogging again. And then Sunday, as I wrote yet another section of my WIP I thought, “I’ve got tomorrow. No worries.”

Um. It’s now 12:56 AM on Tuesday morning. The sky is a lovely shade of black and even the dogs are silent.

Yeah. What is it that Paul said? “Not that I’ve achieved it or have already been made perfect …” I’m so there when it comes to time management. For all of my planning and organizing, I fail at time management.

No really. I plan out my writing, my social media, my exercise, my house chores, even my meals, but do I follow my plan? Well …

Let’s just say follow through isn’t my strong suit and leave it at that. No, wait, that’s not entirely true. I’m great at following through on the things I love to do. Writing, Social media, transporting kids to and fro and organizing activities for them.

It’s the routine stuff I struggle with. Exercise. I swear I can’t even spell that word.

E-x-c-backspace-e-r-c-i-s-e.

(I think it’s a Freudian reaction!) Bible study. Going to bed at a decent hour and … ugh … getting up!

And when I don’t get up, get moving, and spend time with my Lord, the day plops on top of me like a heavy quilt in the middle of August. Hence my pre-dawn blogging.

Yes, aside from my Bible Study (I’m loving working with GMG!) today was one of those days – wait that was yesterday. I’m hoping for better when I get to tomorrow – er – today.

You Are What You Eat!

Dear Banana Boy

Oh, I'm gonna get a fussing for using this pic of my dear boy! However, a glance at the birthday picture at the left, or the one of the family on the right will confirm the ancient status of this Halloween photo. But it is so stinkin' cute!

The section that I read this week (1John 3) calls a skunk a skunk and a dove a dove. (Wish my Sweet Hubby and Bubba had known the difference.) Basically, John explains that if the animal looks like a skunk, sounds like a skunk, and smells like a skunk, it probably is one and we best stay upwind of it.

John basically said that a Christian could be identified by his actions of purity and love and that a non-believer could be identified the same way, by his habits of sin.

At first this seemed so judgmental to me. No wonder folks think of Christians as intolerant. But then I examined it a little closer. I look at it this way. What if my
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Weekend-spiration

This week in the online Bible Study that I do (from the website Good Morning Girls), we finished up with 1John chapter 2. One of the sections was from verses 18-19.

Dear children, this is the last hour, and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. this is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

There is so much to unpack with these two verses!
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Weekend-spiration: The Kudzu of Life

The verses in 1John inspired me this week. He spoke about the difference between living in the light and living in darkness. It took me to the picture below.

What an amazing view. The emerald landscape, straight out of a fairy tale, is truly beautiful, if little creepy. 

This is kudzu, a plant indigenous to China. It was brought to the United States on purpose during the 1876 and 1884 World's Fairs. Like a warm blanket or comfortable chair, the vine wraps around the host, bringing it beauty and choking away all life.

I'm convinced that bitterness is a
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Weekend-spiration – He Is

This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Wrap yourself in a good book." In this case it's The Good Book.

What an amazing visual of John's Gospel. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

How distinctly we see the person of Jesus pour from the pages of His book, and not just through the Gospels and letters of the New Testament. Like a thread throughout history, He is also evident in the Prophecy books of the Old Testament, being the One of Whom they mainly speak. He is the loving bridegroom in Song of Solomon, the wisdom of Proverbs, and the muse throughout the Psalms. All of the historical books
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Weekend-spiration – Am I Up to the Challenge?

This week, I embarked on an online Bible Study with ladies from all across the country. It's sponsored through a sight called Good Morning Girls and my group is a Facebook group of Homeschool moms. Over the next 12 weeks, we will take a walk through 1 John. Have you seen
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