Today we get to pull up a stool beside Mrs. P31 as she works at the spinning wheel making cloth for her family."She selects wool and flax and works with her hands in delight...She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hands grasp the spindle." (Proverbs 31:13, 19)
As I researched this task that is so foreign to me (and most of us in America in 2008), one main point crossed all culture and generations...this woman was and had to be prepared!
The task of making cloth took several days...entire days! And it involved several steps, none of which were 'easy'! After all the time and effort she would have maybe 2 shirts and a blanket!
The thing about it, though, is that everyone who wanted to wear clothes, had to do this! It is like us shopping for clothes for our families! You have to buy clothes, you have to wash clothes, if you want to have clothes to wear, right?!
So what made her different? What made Mrs. P31 rare? Look again at verse 13..."she works with her hands in delight," the NASB says. It was her attitude!
She worked hard, she had much to do, she had to prepare and then she choose to have the right attitude about her work! She worked 'eagerly' and 'willingly' as other translations say.
So as we leave her home today, tired from carding wool along side her, we can be thankful we live in a different time, where we are free to never have to thread a spindle! But we must take the truths she taught us and apply them to our day!
Taking it home:
What are the tasks the Lord is calling me to do? How can I prepare delightfully and willingly? Are we taking time before Jesus to seek renewal, so we can approach our household chores...laundry, cleaning, cooking, working, with a Jesus-like attitude?
I have found when I approach a task with verbal thankfulness, my attitude follows suit! "Jesus, I thank you for running water to wash my clothes. I thank you for healthy children that can muddy the clothes. I thank you for my own health to carry this laundry basket and for the money to buy detergent." Seems silly at first, but sometimes it takes something dramatic to focus my attitude and cause me to work with delight!!
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." (Colossians 3:23)
