Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future. Proverbs 31:25.
I wondered what that would look like, to be clothed in strength and dignity? I borrowed these definitions from Merriam-Webster:
Strength –
1 : the quality or state of being strong : capacity for exertion or endurance
2 : power to resist force : solidity, toughness
3 : power of resisting attack : impregnability
4 a : legal, logical, or moral force b : a strong attribute or inherent asset
5 a : degree of potency of effect or of concentration b : intensity of light, color, sound, or odor c : vigor of expression
6 : force as measured in numbers : effective numbers of any body or organization
7 : one regarded as embodying or affording force or firmness : support
Dignity-
1 : the quality or state of being worthy, honored, or esteemed
2 a : high rank, office, or position b : a legal title of nobility or honor
3 archaic : dignitary
4 : formal reserve or seriousness of manner, appearance, or language
What really stuck out to me from the definitions for strength was “capacity for exertion or endurance”. Endurance! Sometimes I feel as though my life is just an endurance race. How much can I get done in a day, how short can I make the list for tomorrow, by doing more today. The endless list of tasks to be accomplished. The endless thoughts that invade my mind about the children, their needs, their growth, am I doing all that I need to be doing? Am I meeting the needs of my husband, caring for the home and possessions the Lord has entrusted to my family! It can begin to feel like an endurance race!
Then, “power to resist force and attack” jumped out at me. Am I standing firm? Do I resist the things that would seek to pull me away from my first ministry in my home? Perhaps my life begins to feel like an endurance race when I allow things that are not a priority to creep in and steal my time and affections.
Clothed in dignity??? ”The state of being worthy, honored, or esteemed”, “a high rank.” Seriously???? Sometimes, I just want to push the Proverbs 31 woman into a well! I am so far away from being worthy, honored or esteemed, just ask my kids (or my husband for that matter)!
“She smiles at the future…” Come again? When I stop for two nano-seconds to think about the future…I’m not smiling. I cringe to see my girls growing up and looking so much older than they did last week. I wonder if I am doing all that I can to help them on their path to be Godly young women. I wish I knew her secret! Perhaps it’s because of all the things she did in the previous verses. Maybe she knew that she had done all that she could.
Which brings me to a thought that has been rolling around in my head these last few weeks. Just as I was starting to feel like myself again, the rug was pulled out from under me, and I am flat on the ground again. I feel a sense of loss. A loss of time and opportunity with my kids. When I am not feeling well, I miss them! I struggle with frustration and anger at not being able to do more with them. But then, my Heavenly Father gently reminds me that He loves my kiddos more than I, and what I am going through right now, is not only somehow for my good, but for theirs as well.
‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’ Jeremiah 29:11
He also reminds me that
… He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness ” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
It’s not my strength, and perhaps it’s not her strength. Perhaps it’s His strength…
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
And if it is His strength, then dignity is the perfect word to describe Him! And if I can just remember that He knows the plans He has for me and for my kiddos, and they are for our best, maybe I too can smile at the future.
Amazing!! That’s all I’m saying, Amazing!
In my experience I find he wants me to just obey for the day to order my day with the priorities he has placed in my path for today. Then There are times I get this still small voice that says, today, while you are feeling good and while things are ticking along well go ahead and get as much of the weeks work done now because something else may come up later, not even knowing what it is, and it is like he prepared me before I even knew my plans would change. Those are times I am amazed at how he makes following him easy if we are tuned in. If I don’t listen, I pay the price. But the more I am tuned in the more experienced I get at hearing him.
When my kids were little it was more difficult just because there seemed to be more “urgent” things that kept cropping up and noise, so I am enjoying this stage in my life, now.
Too soon they will be gone. (But then you get Grandchildren!)
S