13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
Wool and flax huh? Wool (as you know) is taken from sheep and then used in many different articles of clothing. While flax is a fibrous plant used in making linen. The most famous flax was grown in Egypt at the time due to ideal conditions. There was no better linen than that grown in Egypt.
So they were both pretty valuable at the time and necessary to make clothing.
I am going to take this a step further and say that wool and flax could mean things of value or things of importance to her family.
Now...EAGER hands! Eager is defined as keen or ardent in desire or feeling; impatiently longing. If you are eager for something, you just cannot wait to do it! Not only can't you wait, you WANT to do it. You do it willingly.
Now lets put this into "Kara's" terms. For me, I actually like to make things from scratch and I feel as though God wants me to do things this way. No, I do not go shave a sheep and bring home the wool to spin but I do make a lot of our things (or contrary to my friend Loren's believes, I do not grind my own wheat with a stone in the backyard). Not only do I make most of our food, I make the kids PJ's, the girls hats, mittens, curtains for the house, and many other various things. This could lead into another conversation (once again) about a need verses a want and how we are to use the things God provides instead of always wanting...
But I digress..
I will be the first to admit that I do not always do this willingly or eagerly. There are many times when my to-do list gets WAY to long and I get overwhelmed by doing things this way. I personally want to scream and say, "lets just go to the store and buy it". Even so, I know that this is what God wants me to do.
I can see you all shaking your head saying, "really...you really want me to do THAT". No, I don't. I don't believe that everyone has to do things the same way. For you it may be something like having a hot meal ready when you hubby gets home or taking walks with the family on a weekly basis. Pray about it. Let God show you what he wants your "wool and flax" to be and then EAGERLY work with your hands to make it happen.
4 comments:
I've been enjoying your Prov 31 series Kara. Great thoughts. :)
Me too! I have been working hard on the rpeparing a hot meal thing...so far we're doing good!
My wool and flax has been this: clothing my kids. And the work of my hands is this: Going through bags and bags of hand-me-downs sorting it by size and gender, weeding out what we don't need, organizing what we do need into bins, and then sending what we don't need to folks who do have need.
It is hard to be eager about it. But, as I go through it, I thank God for His blessings, and then feel good about how much I am able to give away. That makes me feel more eager to the task.
XOXO
Joce
Kara, you have such wonderful insight...not to mention your translation of the verses is making me take a step back to see how they relate to my life. Thanks!
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