Managing Your Wife by Way of Proverbs 31

Women of the world, raise your hand if you feel overwhelmed every time Proverbs 31 comes up.
There ought to be a law against even mentioning Proverbs 31 around mothers of small children.
I don’t know about you, but I always viewed Proverbs 31 as some sort of foreboding checklist of things I would never be able to live up to.
Especially, in those years when I had two little toddlers spilling junk on my floor and enthusiastically playing in the sand pile. Forget a clean house or fixing meals, a good day for me was just getting all three of us into something besides pajamas.
I have friends who still kid me about always seeing my children in either pajamas or dress-up clothes at the grocery store.
The truth is we only went to the grocery store because we were tired of subsisting on a strictly peanut butter and jelly diet. Forget “bringing her food from afar.” We just finally ran out of peanut butter.
On the other hand, I understood the part of Proverbs 31 that says “she rises up while it is yet night” because I’m pretty sure I never slept while the kids were toddlers.
Even with the kids grown, I’m still not at the point where “she plants the vineyard.” Most certainly, I will never plant a vineyard.
If you are way past the small children stage and still intimidated by the thought of Proverbs 31, you are going to love this.
It occurred to me recently that Proverbs 31 was not written to women.
In media, we always consider our primary target audience. Of course, it is nice if you scoop up a few folks outside your target, but writers always keep their primary audience in mind.
Proverbs 31:1 tells us that these are the words which King Lemuel’s mom taught him. I kinda wonder where his dad was. On the other hand, I suspect Lemuel’s mom would have gotten along just fine in Texas. She seems like our kinda gal.
The point is Proverbs 31 was written for men. That seems like really excellent info to pass along to a son.
Hmm…how’d I miss that sermon!
It’s the sermon that should be titled, Men, How to Manage Your Wife in 21 Quick and Not-So-Easy Verses. Or, Men, How to Avoid Marrying a Shrew. Or, How to Encourage Your Wife to Her Full Potential. Or, How to Have Happy Children.
I hear Proverbs 31 men all the time speaking the things that encourage their wife to reach her full potential and I suspect those wives are Proverbs 31 kind of gals. It always blesses me.
In East Texas there are lots of folks with an opinion about the Bible. Let me hear from you. If anything enlightening comes in, folks, you’ll be the first to know. And thanks for reading.

Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, lives in beautiful East Texas. Comments are welcome at CaeKrafve2@aol.com.