To get your comments posted for the blog contest!  It’s also the last day of the "Christmas in July" Sale at DAISIE COMPANY.  If you’re thinking about Christmas purchases at all, make a quick trip over there and do your shopping.  The Daisie button to the right will take you to the store.

My husband has finished up at the fire in Idaho and they routed his truck now to Missoula, Montana.  I thought he was going to get to come home but instead he’s sitting in a hotel room waiting for his next assignment or after a time, to come home if they don’t need him.  He woke me up this morning by reading me Proverbs 31.  It was so cute I wish I could have recorded it for you.  He read it in a dramatic fashion and was telling me what a wonderful wife I was (until he got to some of the parts where I fall down miserably!!!)  Then we laughed… places like where it says she gets up before the sun and tend to the servants. 

I told him I get up before the sun, somewhere in the world (giggle).  Ahhh well… it gives me something to work towards as a goal…. NOT!!!!  When you read Proverbs 31 it is a tribute to an amazing woman, the writer’s wife.  When you think of ancient cultures and how little "rights" women often had, this woman was a business woman, a real estate investor, a manager, and many other amazing things.  In fact I can get pretty intimidated by the things she tended to on her list, but then I  remember this woman was being praised for what had occured in her whole life, not just a single day.  Some days when I read this proverb I want to crawl back under the covers and just not face the day.  But intimidating you is not the goal of this proverb or this blog post! 

It’s important to remember that especially as women, our lives will be lived out in seasons.  We can have everything we set as a goal that is attainable, that we are capable of achieving, but often we can’t have everything at one time or as fast as we might like. There is a time to sow and a time to reap in our lives and when we give the importance to doing the right thing in the right season the Lord has a way of rewarding our diligence.

 When my children were little I often dreamed of the day I would create and design products for companies.  I dreamed of the day that I would advance in my career, I did set it as a goal, but I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my children’s childhood to pursue my goals with all my energy at that time.  Could I have been farther along in my career right now?  Perhaps, perhaps not… but it was a choice that I have never once regretted making.  I enjoyed every day I was privileged to be a stay-at-home-mom teaching, nurturing and playing with them.  I did build my business during that time, but I built it in a way that the business wasn’t the priority — my family was.

At times during their childhood (when their father died) I had to work full time outside of the home, but still, I made them my priority and we found time to do the things and make the memories that we all now treasure. 

I encourage those of you that might feel frustrated right now and feel like you’re not accomplishing anything significant with your life, or achieving the goals you’ve set for yourself to pause and take a look around you.  Look at the life that you have made and those you love and with whom you have the joy of sharing it.  Whether you’re married or single, have children or don’t have them, work or don’t work outside the home… what will really matter in twenty years or more is the laughter that you are sharing, the love that you give and receive and the lives that you touch and help along life’s road.  You are leading a rich life if that life is being led with the desire to touch others.

Many of you will (like me) see a few things in this proverb that you can say, "I’m doing that" and a few that you’ll say, "I’ll probably NEVER do that!" and a few things that you’ll think, "I need to work a little more on that one."  I hope you’ll pick up your bible and read the whole Proverb, it’s well worth taking a few minutes to mull over!

THE PROVERB OF THE DAY:  Proverbs 31:10-12  Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is worth more than precious rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She will not hinder him but help him all her life.   NLT

Audrey Jeanne Roberts