Business.....

Today my thoughts keep drifting to the many times handiwork is mentioned in Proverbs 31. This woman is so ambitious!

She spins wool and flax, then sells it, so she can buy a field, to plant a vineyard (vs. 13&16). She sells her linen that she weaves, belts, and maybe other merchandise, to the merchants (vs.24). She sews beautiful clothes for her family (vs.21). She sews her own clothes (vs. 22).

The thing I keep thinking about the most is how she uses her skill in a business-type way. She must be good at sewing and weaving to be selling her products! It does say in verse 18 that her merchandise is good.

When I graduated from high school, I had just finished my first quilt, and it had been love at first stitch. I knew I wanted to make dozens and dozens of quilts. At the time I graduated, my plan was to start a quilt shop of sorts - selling quilts from my home.

But after starting my next quilt, I ran into a problem: I couldn't sell it! I couldn't even put it up for sale. I couldn't bring myself to think about selling something that I had poured so much of my time and thoughts into.

For a time I was devastated. All my plans for being an entrepreneur seemed to have fallen apart! But God used my mother to make a beautiful, wise suggestion:

"Why not teach sewing?"

So now I have the privilege and fun of watching others be thrilled by making their own quilts. I see them have the same love and pride in their work as I have in mine. I can't believe I once wanted to sell quilts rather than teach quilting!

God has a plan for each woman, and no two plans are alike. I am slowly learning that.

You know something else that strikes me about all these handiwork verses in Prov.31? The virtuous woman does all of these things for her home. She isn't interested in becoming some big, important business manager that sits in an office 8 hours a day, and whose house is more like a hotel and restaurant than a home. She must get some fun out of using the skills that God has given her, but her motive isn't herself. She's not out on her own. It's all about her family, and it's all about the God who gave her that family.