Are You a Thirty-One or Twenty-Three Woman?

Are you a Proverbs thirty-one woman or a Psalms twenty-three woman?
Green pastures and still waters are very important
interludes from the 31 action.

Every wise woman buildeth her house. Proverbs 14:1

While paging through scripture my husband happened upon that verse.  He read it, giving me a Sideways Grin.

I flippantly said, “Yeah,  I did that already.”

And I did.  We did.  Twenty some years ago I was hands on with every step of our house building process.

Lumber from Home Depot?  Got it.

Tar for the basement walls?  It’s on, both the walls and myself.

Oak trim and doors?  Made the wrong call on that one, but we’re living with it.

Every step, friends.

Would I be a Wise Woman,
Building My Own Literal House again?

Never.

But that’s speaking from the memory of trying to nail a board to a doorway, hammer bouncing off, hitting me in the head and breaking my glasses.

That’s hunching in front of a misting stick that’s hooked up to a garden hose, to get a breath of cooler air so I could go back and turn every single screw into every single 4×8 piece of sheeting to pass nail inspection.

That’s me remembering how we crunched and chewed numbers to get the job done, ending up with the amateur’s mistake of “if we do this ourselves we can save so much.”  No.  Don’t go there. It doesn’t happen like that for people like us.

However, in the end…

Our House Was Built!

And we ended up with a house we have loved and lived in and laughed and cried and argued and hugged in.

It has covered us in the storms, and cooled us from the hot sun.

This house we built has been a refuge and a covert.

We have torn down through the years, but the house has a strong foundation, and we could rebuild those places.  Nail by nail.  And in many ways, it’s even stronger today.

If we keep at the building, rather than the tearing down, we end up wise.

Every wise woman buildeth her house.

Yes, I helped build our physical house.

And, with many failures and re-starts, I am also helping to build our family’s spiritual house.

A Proverbs Thirty One Woman Builds
her Family’s Spiritual House.

Just as the Proverb advises.

So, back to the Sideways Grin.

My thoughts drifted to other Proverbs.  To the Thirty-One woman.

And I mused about something our minister said.  His wife didn’t like being compared to the Thirty-One woman.

Does any woman, anywhere, thrive on comparison?

No, Proverbs Thirty-One isn’t really a checklist to tick important tasks off every single day, although we often feel pressure from it.  God didn’t mean it that way.

But just to take myself to a safer mindset, my final response to that Sideways Grin was,

“I’m a Twenty-Three woman, not a Thirty-One.”

A Psalms Twenty-Three Woman.

I love green pastures.  I want to calm and relaxed beside still waters.

Some days I’ll be a Thirty One and get all the things done and keep a spit clean house.

I am okay with the fact that I will never be a 31 all the time. Some days we need green pastures and still waters.

Today I’m a 23 and my cup runneth over.

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Every woman needs to take time for the green pastures and still waters.