This is post #7 in a series on the Proverbs 31 Woman.
What we know so far about her:

*She’s a Classic. Of the highest quality and outstanding among her kind. A work of art of recognized and established value.

*She has a solid enduring relationship with her husband. He enjoys her constant love, affection, and loyalty. She is an active energetic contributor to their economic stability.

*She diligently seeks his good. She wants to be a blessing to him every day of her life.

*She’s All That: She a wife, mother, and businesswoman. She’s successful in each relationship of her life and every venture she undertakes.

*Everything she does is Art. The way she approaches and executes her responsibilities elevates her work from ordinary to extraordinary.

*The woman knows how to cook. She has mastered the most common and frequent responsibility of a wife and mother: the feeding of a family.

Who can find a virtuous woman?
Proverbs 31:10

Now let’s talk about that word virtuous.
What do you think it means?
Righteous, moral, pure, good, ethical, saintly, chaste?

Those are the definitions of our English word virtuous.
Remember this is a Hebrew word.

Not that we aren’t to be all those other things, but you’ll miss the real essence of the truth from this passage if you don’t get the KEY WORD right.

The Hebrew word is chayil.
It translates: strength, ability, efficiency, wealth, and army, or force.

What do strength and ability mean?

You wouldn’t be wrong in saying this woman is a force to be reckoned with.

In a word, she’s CAPABLE.

Let’s make this practical.
Let’s take this truth into our daily lives and see what it looks like.
Strength.
Strength is the physical and emotional fitness required by our everyday duties.

Ask yourself a few questions:
~ Am I fit enough to complete the physical tasks I need to do.
~ Can I control and moderate my emotions so that they don’t hinder my productivity?
~ Do I have good self-management? Or am I lazy and unorganized?
A deficit of energy and concentration can often be triggered by the foods we eat that sap energy or the excess of caffeine we consume that derails our concentration.
We all know that exercise is essential to preventing all kinds of diseases and disabilities and it promotes emotional balance that increases our coping skills.
Bonus, it’s a stress reducer.

Ability/Efficiency
~ Do I really know how to manage my household?
~ Am I good with finances and budgeting?
~ Cleaning and laundry?
~ Repairs and maintenance?
~ Shopping and scheduling?
Not that we have to do all of these ourselves, but we need to interview, negotiate with, and hire those who will—if it isn’t going to be us.
~ Possibly the most important area of all, am I good at parenting?

If you find your skill set is lacking, can you craft a strategy to gain those skills?
Take a class, or have a friend teach you.
Ask another Mom to mentor you if you struggle as a parent.

I told you I had my first child at sixteen.
We moved away for college and I didn’t have my own wonderful Mom to help guide me.
A woman I met at church, a mother of four, befriended me and taught me how to be a good Mom.
I’ll never forget her patience with my questions and the example of kindness and consistency she was with her own children.

To be continued. . .

I’ve used up all my words.
Now it’s your turn.