With the kids home from school, I’ve been questioning my parenting even more than usual.

It got me pondering, and I started to write something new. But then I remembered and reread this post from May of last year.

And I decided it said most of what I was feeling AND offered me some encouragement. So I figured I might not be the only woman who needs to hear the message. Here’s an updated version of that post.

When does the Proverbs 31 Woman sleep?

(Original post May 11, 2009)

Inadequate.

Not enough.

That’s how I’ve been feeling lately. I don’t have enough…

time                     brainpower

self-discipline            selflessness

courage                 confidence

I’m not organized enough. I’m not loving enough.
I’m not content enough.

Just. Not. Enough.

I’ve heard it said that if your dream feels manageable, then your dream is too small.

Then I must be quite the dreamer. Because nothing in my life lately seems manageable. I can’t even manage the LIST of everything I need to be doing.

(Seriously. I lost the list. Again.)

You know the Proverbs 31 Woman?

Most evangelical Christian females have beaten themselves about the head and neck with HER standard:

Practically Perfect in Every Way.

i.e. Mary Poppins.

IF she’d been a mom with an emotional investment in the kids & no days off.

Besides sewing and gardening and running her own business and feeding and clothing her children, this woman apparently never sleeps.

(Read it yourself: her lamp never goes out AND she rises before dawn. –vv 15 & 18)

***

Yesterday at my church, 12Stone, Pastor Kevin (PK) actually preached from Proverbs 31:10-31.

(I think many of us wondered if PK had a death wish. C’mon, no male pastor does that on Mother’s Day.)

Didn’t he know he was supposed to just give all the women carnations and a round of applause, then direct his sermon at our husbands and/or kids, telling them how they need to appreciate us more?

***

Instead, he actually focused on the abilities  and actions of this paragon of female perfection.

Courageous or stupid?

I believe my pastor is alive today because he zeroed in on this verse, which he considered the foundation of the whole passage:

Verse 30b: “but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.”

No wait. Read that again. I know it feels like a “no duh”

(a phrase that I think needs to be reintroduced into the modern lexicon).

But just assume with me here that it IS foundational. If that’s true, then everything else in the chapter is less of a checklist than a description.

The message of the proverb becomes:

“THIS is what a woman who fears the Lord is capable of.”

NOT

“THIS is EVERYTHING she should be doing or she’s an abject failure.”

In other words, FEAR (worship, respect, submission) OF THE LORD is what’s most important. The qualities of a Proverbs 31 Woman are possible only as a result of that.

PK said as much: “Maybe this motherhood thing was never meant to be attempted alone.”

Which of course is just a corollary to “This life was never meant to be attempted alone.”

Either way, I need to take it to heart.

The first task on my to-do list EVERY DAY needs to be…

ASK GOD FOR HELP & GUIDANCE.

Because I’m not enough to do any of this on my own.

I’m inadequate.

Suddenly not such a bad thing.

And something important to keep in mind.