Proverbs 31:10

Today I have spent some time working on my page for verse 10. These are some of my thoughts...

¹⁰An excellent wife, who can find?

         For her worth is far above jewels.

'excellent':
this refers to her character. In other translations excellent is replaced with noble, virtuous, good. a woman of excellent character. The rest of the passage explains the things that make her excellent.

'who can find':
she is out there, but she is rare. A woman of such character is hard to find. And I add, hard to be!

'her worth is far above jewels':
in most translations, 'jewels' is replaced with rubies. Rubies is literal.
I did some research into rubies and the reference to the word ruby or rubies. In almost all instances the word ruby is used to describe the value of knowledge or wisdom. It is compared to something of priceless value. This is the remarkable conclusion that I came to: a wife of excellent character is valued above knowledge, she is valued above riches, she is valued above that which is priceless.

   

Thought for the day

It is commonly believed that this proverb was spoken to Solomon by his mother, before he was king. It is interesting to note that when God offered to give him anything he wanted, over riches he asked God for wisdom and came to be known for his great and unmatched wisdom. He was also blessed with great and unparalleled riches. I need to check, but I believe that this proverb, spoken to him by his mother was written by Solomon. He placed high value on wisdom, much more valuable to him than riches. And yet of all the wise things spoken to him by his mother, this made it into his writings and eventually the bible. I believe, therefore, that Solomon himself placed very high value on a woman of excellent character.

Me and the Proverbs 31 woman

ASPIRE

So, a few years ago God really laid it upon my heart to study the Proverbs 31 woman (Proverbs 31:10 onwards). To be completely honest when I really understood what He was prompting me to do it was enough to read through it and digest it. I came to realise how far from that woman I am, and how much I have always aspired to be her. Then, when I could finally face learning how to overcome my short-falls I began to study her. I was surprised when my study actually inspired me, and I began to learn and grow.

I still have so far to go. I realise that even though I know a lot about her, it hasn't really all hit my heart yet.

And then a light-bulb moment! I realised that I can use creativity in my study, in my learning, in my 'quiet time,' if you will. I know, der! Amazing that it took me 30 years to realise this. So I began a journal, an artist journal, on my study of Proverbs 31. My canvas is a spiral bound notebook with brown recycled pages. I have called it, 'Aspire'. Following are some of the pages that I have done, and one that I am in the process of preparing...

These pages and the following ones are basically the text that I am studying. I painted, collaged, stamped, drew, glued, inked and wrote...The writing is done with fluid acrylic paint and a nib pen.

Hmmm... Looks like it says 'Provorb' in the photo, but it really does say 'Proverb' - I promise!

For this page I found this cool webbing stuff, and wanted to use it, so i created a background to see through, tore a strip out of the main page and stuck it all back together. It's a shame you can't really see the ribbon at the top of the left page. It began life as a white sheer ribbon with velvet scrolling (also in white) but I dyed it and inked it and coloured it. I love the way it turned out. It's probably my favourite element on the page.

The next pages are ones I am preparing right now. They are for the first verse, verse 10:

 On the left page the decorative paper is inked and painted, while the right is untreated, not even stuck down.

For me, this is the best way to learn and study.