She Works Willingly

"She seeks wool and flax and works willingly with her hands."  (Proverbs 31:13)

Works willingly.......that's a loaded phrase, isn't it?!!  I don't know about you, but I don't always willingly approach the tasks I have before me!!  There are some tasks that are routinely part of my life that I do without thinking and with no particular complaint......making the bed, for example.  But does the fact that I'm doing it almost by rote, without complaining, equal to doing it willingly???  And then there are some tasks that I am much less excited about (cleaning toilets, for example).  I definitely can't say I do that willingly.  And to take the rest of the verse literally, when was the last time you or I went out seeking wool and flax (in context, with the intent to dye it, spin it, weave it, etc.)??

What does all this have to do with you and me?  What can we learn from this Proverbs 31 woman?  I think she is setting an example of enthusiasm for us.  She willingly (enthusiastically) approached the tasks before her.  In her day, that involved weaving and dyeing wool, and working with flax, which involved hard work and lots of steps (peeling, drying, beating, spinning).  She did it all willingly for the benefit of her family.  And perhaps that's a key.  She was focused on her family's needs.  Some translators have dealt with this phrase "works willingly" in a different way, using words like merrily or joyfully to describe her work.  Again, that sounds a lot like enthusiasm to me.

And this leaves me feeling just a bit convicted about my own attitudes.  Whether in my current empty-nest situation, or in earlier years with children still at home and the additional activity involved, I wonder if my attitude toward my tasks would ever have been described as "enthusiastic"??!!  That's something I'm purposing to work on today.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might."  (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men."  (Colossians 3:23)