We live in a society where worth and value is measured by
our possessions, position, and power. So many women struggle against the strain
of trying to keep up and compare themselves to other women who seem to have it
all. As women, we feel we are not worthy and valuable when what we do would be
looked-down by most of society, hence the all too familiar game of comparison
and feelings of being unworthy crouch upon us.
Especially for women, we can struggle as we try and find our
worth and value from society that says conflicting things to a women. First, be
sexy and sexual, look like those air-brushed models, and second, be a career women
and a full-time homemaker. If we as women are trying to accomplish all of these
tasks, someone, even ourselves will suffer. Relationships will be strained,
health can be compromised, and things may be left incomplete because of a lack
of time. There are however, times that a single mother or single women really
has to do it all. My heart goes out to these women, it is not an easy task. But
for the women who is married, with or without children, and tries to follow the
dictates of society by fulfilling all roles society deems she should this could
leave a woman in a quandary.
If we look to society
to see what we as women are supposed to be doing, looking like, or acting like,
we will be overwhelmed and confused. As women, we can live frustrated,
exhausted, and burned-out lives. We live in the shadows of comparing ourselves
to those prototype women who have it all. This is exhausting trying to be all
and have it all, meanwhile trying to look like air-brushed models. Is it
realistic for a woman to have it all and be all? No, superwoman is fictional.
We are not called to be superwoman, as the feminist movement has declared for
years. Women that is a lie! I do understand as an educated, post-graduate
degree, career professional, that what I am saying is balked at by most women.
But why? Because we bought into the lie that a women cannot simply be fulfilled
by being a homemaker, or what I like to define as a Proverbs 31 women.
What if as women, those who can, have a paradigm shift for
the way we view the roles of women? What if God desires you to be a Proverbs 31
women? What if God desires you to be a helpmeet to your husband? Being a
homemaker in this society can create struggles for a women in this century. But
maybe we can look at what has taken place in history as a result of the
breakdown of the family and home. Women have been so desperate to “keep up with
men,” and to prove they are equal. Women, we don’t have to prove we are equal,
because God in fact did design us differently than men. We don’t have to be subservient
or “just a homemaker.” We can follow after the ideal prototype for a woman from
the book of Proverbs.
This Proverbs 31 women prototype can be one that we can look
to for inspiration. She is strong in character, has great wisdom, many skills,
and great compassion. Her strength and dignity do not come from her achievements,
they are a result of her reverence for God. It is interesting to note that the
Proverbs 31 woman’s appearance is never mentioned, her attractiveness comes
entirely from her character. She realizes that regardless of her natural
talents, skills, accomplishments, her strength comes from God. She is not only
a homemaker, but respects her husband, and uses her time to care for others and
utilizes her talents.
For a woman who desires to be a Proverbs 31 women, you can
do much with your time. If you are a Proverbs 31 with small children at home,
you might be more limited with your time for a season. But a Proverbs 31 women
can not only be a homemaker, but she can provide a home that is a sanctuary for
her spouse/family, she can utilize her time and talents by volunteering at church
or with a local ministry, and she can have the time to start a small at-home
business or ministry. But whatever, God calls you to as a woman, know your
worth and value is not in what you do, your degrees, where and how much you
serve, and your position. Our worth and value as women do not come from what society
says we should be like, what we should look like, or what we should do. Be confident
in whatever God calls you to do, but don’t try and tackle on everything that
you can.
You are worthy
and valuable in Christ alone. Not
in your accomplishments, or your position or title. Don’t compare yourself with
how the world deems women and what they should be doing. Be what and whom God has called you to be. If
God has called you to be a type of a proverbs 31 woman, homemaker/helpmeet,
student, or God may have you in a career outside the home, but whatever God
calls you to do, do it without comparison, without guilt, and with confidence.
As woman, let us not try and put each other in the same categories and in the
same roles, we each are different and were created differently. Let us respect
and value each other, and let us not think we are better by judging or
looking-down on the homemaker, stay-at-home wife or mother, home-school mother,
women in school and/or with college degrees, women with positions and titles,
women who have to work outside the home, women who have careers as professionals,
and women who are married, not married, have children or don’t have children. Let
us value that we are all unique and each one of us has a different purpose and
destiny.
Scripture
Passages on what God says about our Worth:
Genesis 1:26-27,
says we are made in His image, the very image of God.
Psalm 139:13-16,
says we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Ephesians 1:13-14,
we are told here that we are God’s own possession, chosen for His praise and
glory, and that we have an inheritance in heaven with Him as children.
