Posted in Proverbs 31 Entrepreneurialism
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As I mentioned a few days ago, something about the modern Proverbs 31 women's movement has bothered me for a long time. Since my shower revelation (term used loosely, of course) a few days ago, I've been trying to organize my thoughts into sentences and paragraphs. I've read through the passage over and over, making notes and organizing the verses into categories. I think verse 27 best sums up this woman: "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." She worked hard to provide for the needs of her household. And to meet a lot of those needs, she had to make things at home by hand. We got the terms "homemade" or "handmade" from these types of activities. But I think somewhere along the road, the Proverbs 31 Woman has become equated with the woman who makes everything "handmade" or "homemade". I used to attend a very large fundamentalist church where the women's ministry was very devoted to encouraging all women, young and old, to become "Proverbs 31". Though they often spoke of her wisdom, kindness and other virtues, most of the time the label "Proverbs 31" was used when someone had done something "crafty," like making cloth covered photo albums and Bible covers, cutting and stamping their own greeting cards, cross stitching a towel or pot holder, putting puffy bows on baskets and dried flower arrangements and so on. "Oh how Proverbs 31 of you!" or "Look at my Proverbs 31 items," they would say. Most women reading that list would probably be able to put a distinct decade on those activities -- the 80s! I've since left the "fundamentalist" camp and have become "reformed," but I still see Proverbs 31 being equated with "homemade". The homemade activities may have changed, but the emphasis remains the same. I just finished listening to a pretty popular, reformed CD on homemaking where the speaker was encouraging other woman not to get discouraged by comparing themselves to her. She encouraged them that some day they would be able to do all these "wonderful, great, exciting things" too. She gave the examples of Quilt-Making & Candle Making. She went on to encourage them to just "work on one or two skills at a time... like say you don't make your bread, let's say you buy a lot of prepared foods... start with a couple of things and learn those, you're not going to be like us right now..." Another gal on the tape said later, "We have enjoyed taking on other projects as well, such as Cross-Stitching, Smocking, Crocheting, Knitting, Spinning, Quilting, Dried Flowers, Arranging and Cheese-Making. Becoming proficient in these things is something I know I will never regret." I'm sorry ladies, but Quilt-Making, Candle-Making, Cross-Stitching, Smocking, Crocheting, Knitting, Spinning, Quilting, Dried Flowers, Arranging and Cheese-Making are hobbies. They may be fun and they may make you feel good about providing homemade items for your family and friends, but 1) the items being made are not necessities, and 2) there is just as much virtue in buying these things. If we are to follow in the Proverbs 31 woman's footsteps, we must be prepared to work hard, beginning before it is light and ending well into the night. There is a lot of work that is required to keep our homes running smoothly and I've found that I have very little time for hobbies and such. If I DO find free time, I usually read or write, but I don't find many hours in my week to spend in such activities. But there is another category of homemade items that I do believe to be necessities. The question is whether or not making these types of items by hand is 1) better and 2) necessary. I'll discuss this in Part II. |
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Posted by Anonymous