2008-05-1
Mommy, Warrior Princess
It is an honor for me to have PrincipledMom, Anna-Marie, as a guest today. Her writing always encourages me. Enjoy reading about her victory.
I must admit that for many years I had it in for the Proverbs 31 woman. She aggravated me with her seeming perfection, her attention to detail, her boundless energy. She highlighted my insecurities as a mother and a wife and I despised her for it. But the more I began to study about her, the more I began to think of her as a friend.
Mother and Child Enthroned
My change of heart started with verse 10: Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The word “valor” didn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy. I sort of thought of it as saying “she is perfect.” When I finally sat down to look up the word in the Hebrew, I was excited by what I learned. It wasn’t about perfection, but about the mother bear in all of us.Valor means not perfection but protection. In the Hebrew it is the word lyx–strength, might, efficiency, wealth, army; strength; ability, efficiency; wealth; force, army. It is actually a masculine term of power and protection. Now that I can identify with. You do NOT want to mess with my family because you will have to deal with me. It’s not a girly image at all, but one of strength and might.
Then in verse 27 she is mentioned as “looking well to the ways of her household.” Looking well is the word hpc–to look out or about, spy, keep watch, observe, watch. I can also relate to her here because it is the idea that she is actually looking out for her family’s best interests and even looking ahead (as lookouts do) to see potential schemes of the enemy that have come to harm her family.
These two verses are almost a parentheses in the passage. She is strong from beginning to end and her family praises her for it (not for her endless housekeeping). I know her strength is found in the Lord, as is mine. These two verses shed new light on my perceived enemy. She’s a wife and mother like me, protecting in her own way, watching over her family and looking out to see what the future holds. She’s a mom like me who wants the best for her family and she does everything in her power to make sure that’s exactly what they get.
I will continue this study on my own blog over the next few weeks because I want to to get to know my new friend. There is more she has to share with us than just domesticity.
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