Proverbs 31:13-15

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION

13 She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.

 

TRANSLATION FOR HIGH SCHOOL (summary)

She has a good work ethic, and does not do “just enough to get by”; rather, she is prepared for the day.

 

Okay, so this portion of Proverbs 31 seems a little harder to transpose into high school/teenage girl situations because it is talking a lot about running a household and caring for a family, but the main idea I see in these three verses is her work ethic.

The Proverbs 31 woman is “eager” to work. This may sound a little silly or daunting, considering we are rarely eager to do chores or our homework. But it’s something to definitely check yourself on. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men…” 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 says, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” With these two verses in mind, it puts our attitude towards work into perspective. Whether you have an after-school job, training for an athletic team, or simply homework and chores, you are accountable to God for those things. You have three options with your work: (a) don’t do it, (b) do enough so that it is finished, and (c) do your best even though it might take more time and/or effort. The first option is one you probably should never follow… I’m just saying. Option b is the option we (including myself) most often take. We want to get the task done as quickly and as easily as possible. The only problem with that is we set a habit for the rest of our lives. As Steven Sexton often says, “think it all the way through.” You are in high school and in class you do just enough to pass the class so you can get to college or at your job you just simply do your job without any energy behind it or on your team you do the running or the work outs just enough to meet the right time. Then you get to college and, in college, your parents aren’t there to remind you that you need to study for that test, so you wait till the night before and barely pass your class. By the time you are in “the real world,” you are not used to having to pay bills, and by slacking off at work you are constantly reprimanded by your boss. Your family has attention from you, but you are somewhat distant and not the parent that you always wanted to be because it takes “too much effort” on your part. I am not saying that you can’t build the correct habits when you are an adult, but it is so much easier if you build them now in the little things.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the parable of the talents. Now, I know that talents refer to money, but I think it somewhat ironic that talents in our culture means things that you are gifted with or able to do. Anyway, Jesus told the men who invested their money that, because they had been faithful with a little, would be ruler over much. If you are faithful with the tasks and the commitments in your life right now, as little as scanning groceries or doing math problems may seem, you will be continually given more to be in charge of – a higher paying job, college classes, one day a family – and you will succeed at them. I didn’t get to be a senior counselor by waking up one day and deciding it was something I wanted to do. I became a senior counselor because not only was I a JC (and hence did the “dirty work” of camp), but I also consistently took the “narrow path” in high school, despite what my friends were doing. I valued my walk with God above the “fun” of this world and the friends who seemed to have everything you would want and the guys who everyone wanted to date. I was grown through the process, and now God has given me influence and blessings beyond what I imagined – and I am learning to be faithful with them, as well.

Don’t view chores and monotonous duties as worthless; learn to see things in the grand scheme of life and realize that they are preparing you for what is to come. Everything at this stage in life is preparation for the next; how faithful are you with the arena you are in right now?