She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.
Proverbs 31:13
Us 21st century girls are used to one item of clothing being made out of polyester, nylon, and even a small percentage of spandex. Our clothes come ready to wear from the store and we never see them being made. Even if you're the admirable kind of lady that sews her own clothing, chances are you buy the fabric instead of making it yourself.
The woman described in Proverbs 31 had the choice of buying her clothing or making it. She chose to make it literally from scratch. Flax, like wool, is a fiber that takes hours to spin into thread which you can weave and then sew into garments. This lady chose to spend endless hours collecting the raw material she needed and going through the tedious process of making her family their clothes from it. Instead of taking the easy way by buying her clothes from the merchants, she happily took on the work necessary to provide her family with the best possible clothing.
This is what the woman of Proverbs 31 did, but what does it mean for us? Certainly, we're not expected to spin thread and weave in order to be godly women! The point of telling about how this woman provided clothes for her family is to show that she was willing to do hard work for them. The clothing she could make her family was much better than anything she could buy them, so she willingly did it. She wasn't the type of person that takes the easy road, no matter the cost. If the more difficult way was better for her and her family, that was the road she chose.
Short cuts can be helpful and practical. Many times, taking a short cut is a great idea. There are times, though, when shortcuts negatively affect the results of your work and the service you offer others. What is an area where you are taking harmful shortcuts? Could taking the hard way out be better?
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