Proverbs 31:10

I absolutely love the book of Proverbs. A few years ago we were challenged in our college Bible class to read one chapter of Proverbs a day (there are 31 so you can get through the book every month) and one chapter of James (Proverbs for the church) each weekday. WHAT A CHALLENGE! I made it my goal to post a Proverb for the Day in my facebook status - 1) to keep me accountable so that I'll actually do the reading and 2) to give me something to dwell on as I go about my day. Usually, the verse that I post is something that I know I need to work on in my life or a reminder in myself about something. Sometimes, it's just a good piece of advice that I think everyone should see.

Anyway, back to the study: In the last 5 years that I've been involved with the campus ministry here I can't count the number of times that we get ready to start a Ladies' Bible Study or planning for the Ladies Retreat we used to have and I would hear: anything but Proverbs 31! as our topic choice... Yes, I will agree that it's used in abundace when the audience is a group of women. Yes, it does get old. Yes, there are a TON of other applicable scriptures out there. But I think the reason Proverbs 31 is used so often is because it covers everything. It addresses the woman at home, with her family, at work, in the community, with her employees, with strangers, with the poor - EVERYTHING!

So looking particularly at 31:10 - "Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies."

The idea of virtue is one that I hadn't studied until recently. I've been facilitating a discussion group / study around 2 Peter 1:5-7 (I'll post those notes later) for the college girls here and virtue is the first thing that we're told to add to our faith. I've recently made the transition from NIV to NKJV so virtue was a new word study for me but in it's basic sense it's defined as "moral excellence; righteousness; goodness". Those words are a little easier for to grasp and implement in my day to day life.

The second part of verse 10 always makes me smile. There are several verses in Proverbs that use the phrase "far about rubies" and my brothers used to give me grief about so many things being more valuable than I was. But this one I can accept because I'm not there yet so it gives me something to strive toward!

In my work, we do a lot of educating and give out tons of information to the students we work with, but also recognize that the information we give them is useless if we don't help them apply it!

So here are my action steps for becoming a virtous wife:

1) Well, first I'd have to get married, but we'll skip over that and focus on being a virtuous woman for now!

2) Start with small things: what do I see in my life that I can make more righteous? What are things that I do well that I can do better?

3) Study virtue more. Look for characters in scripture who were known for being virtuous or righteous to see what things they did that were good and righteous.

Thanks again Lisa for the link!