The Excellent Wife

When you hear the words “The Excellent Wife”, does your mind immediately think of June Cleaver, or some other woman who just seems to do it all?

I immediately see a woman who should be wearing a super-woman cape. Her house is spotless and her children are perfectly trained. She puts healthy well balanced meals made from scratch on the table every night. On Sundays she invites guests to wonderful dinners and is involved in several different ministries, Oh, and did I mention that she homeschools and runs a business from home to supplement their income?

Yeah, in my mind, that’s the excellent wife, the proverbs wife, the perfect wife.  Sigh….   At any rate, that’s certainly not me.

Or is it?

Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The excellent wife, is a virtuous woman.

Describe Virtue:  behavior showing high moral standards.

synonyms:

goodness, virtuousness, righteousness, morality, integrity, dignity, rectitude, honor, decency, respectability, nobility, worthiness, purity; principles, ethics

 

Who is the Excellent Wife?

The excellent wife is a virtuous woman. It’s her motives and heart that is being taken into account here, not her perfect home and family.

It comes down to how she loves and cares for her family, not the perfect foods (better is little where love is…). It comes down to the welcome that guests receive in her home, and not a showroom perfect home.

You see the truth is, when we are trying to do everything perfectly, nothing is done right. But when you focus on what’s important, then things go like they are supposed to.

I am not a perfect housekeeper. I found and chased down a ton of cobwebs on Friday. Cobwebs that I’m pretty sure have been there for some time. If I am lucky, my floors get swept once a week, more often it’s less than that. My bathroom gets cleaned when I can no longer stand the stench. lol

I try to serve healthy meals, I love cooking/baking and it’s something I’m good at. But, sometimes we throw it all to the wind and go eat somewhere like Buffalo Wild Wings. 🙂 Not healthy at all!

I love my friends, family and church and try to have people over as often as possible, but possible for me doesn’t seem to be very often. When the weekend comes around, I want to go home and sleep.

I can sew and do a good job at it, but I really don’t like to, and choose to pay some-one else to do it for me at times.

So looking at all of the above, it’s very obvious that I am not a proverbs 31 woman.

But:

My husband has clean clothes to wear. He gets fed. He has a wife who loves him and likes to be around him. He knows that he is the MAN in my life and that I call on him for help at times. His heart can rest secure in my love.  All that other stuff, it’s just stuff, and it’s not that important. The heart is what’s important to him.

So I am a proverbs 31 wife. I am an excellent wife. Most likely you are as well. We just have to quit looking at the worlds standard of perfection and look at God’s standard. Of course, God’s standard is perfection as well, but it’s perfection in the heart, in excellence, and that’s where it counts.