Today is a day worth celebrating. I’ve been celebrating all week. Because, there is a day to celebrate the mother, but there is also a day for celebrating the woman and all the wonderful qualities that a woman can have are not necessarily tied to the one who has children. So on this day, we celebrate women.
We celebrate the fact that, internationally, women have achieved equality where there was none and with this equality they have managed to excel in their performance in different areas of life.
I love how Proverbs 31 describes women. Although some versions refer to a wife instead of a woman, I agree to refer in this passage to the woman, not the wife. I believe that the characteristics that Proverbs 31 tries to highlight are intrinsic of a woman even when she hasn’t become a wife or a mother.
For a long time, even when I was married, I read a lot about Proverbs 31. It really bored me to read that what most writers had to highlight about this passage had to do with “how to be the perfect woman or wife.”
Sometimes I even ended up feeling pressured and I wondered: “how can they possibly be fine with putting that pressure on them”. It seemed like the expectations were far from reality and hard to believe.
The reality is that the woman in Proverbs 31 seems to be perfect, but we all know that nobody is. I think that beyond getting a model for perfection, this passage tries to praise those intrinsic qualities of a woman that make her an entire phenomenon of the creation.
If you read Proverbs 31, you will realize that this is what it means:
Women love tirelessly. This love is showed in how she puts it in everything she does and produces well-being in those who are loved by her. She is a multi-tasker master who executes her vision with the good management of what she has and directing others to obtain the vision.
She is a planner and a negotiator, who knows how to bring what she has into profit. She is compassionate and does not forget those in most need. She shows wisdom. She keeps her own well taken care of, but does not forget to take care of herself and be well kept. Her love for God is what defines her life and not appearances.
What do you think this means? I hope that no matter your age or status right now, you can understand that this is God’s design for you. What it means is that this potential has already been deposited in you.
So please, no more cliché Proverbs 31 woman with their perfect smiley faces, perfect houses and her aprons on. Let’s talk about the real deal that makes this a woman. Let’s talk about what women should really go after.
Start understand today that you are this woman. It’s in you just take the steps that lead you to show it.
It’s not about being a wife, mother, much less about being perfect. It’s about being a woman, just precisely as you were intentionally created.
