In my last post about Elsi Dodge, Elsi shared how her devotionals came to be published in the Cup of Comfort books. Like so many things in life, this lead to a bigger opportunity, one that had a special reward for Elsi. Here’s Elsi,
About two or three summers ago, I got an email from an editor saying, “We’re doing a book on women of the Bible and we’re asking you to do one of the feature pieces. We’ve assigned you the Proverbs 31 woman.”
I thought, “Nooo! I hate the Proverbs 31 woman.” But you don’t say that to an editor. You say, “Yes, I’d love to.”
The Proverbs 31 woman is the perfect woman. She sews and gardens and sells her produce. Her children rise up and called her blessed and everybody in town speaks well of her husband because she is such a good wife. She keeps track of all the money and is absolutely the perfect woman.
One of my all-time favorite book titles is How Much I Hate the Proverbs 31 Woman. It’s about how it’s a standard we cannot achieve. I tried telling myself that I couldn’t write an article about how I hate the Proverbs 31 woman but I ended up doing just that. Then I started going through it and I came to a completely different understanding.
I realized that Proverbs 31 woman is not the ideal woman because she sews and gardens and makes all of her children’s clothes, none of which I can do, by the way. What she did was her very best at what was on her plate. She had a family, she raised them the best she could.
So when I write as well as I can, when I take a trip and do it as well as I can, I am doing the same kind of thing. That’s what I wrote and I sent it in, feeling good.
About three weeks later, I got another letter from the editor saying, “We loved the piece. We have a problem. One of our assigned authors came up with something that will not work and I have to have a finished piece on the publisher’s desk in a week. Can you whip out something on Mary Magdalene?”
Yeah! I LOVE Mary Magdalene! That was my reward and it was so much fun.
The Divorce Coach Says
Although I don’t consider myself religious, this story touched me. Maybe it’s the time of year, reflecting on all that has happened in 2009 and starting to think about what I’d like 2010 to look like. I’m quite a task oriented person and this year I’ve been working on trying to take the time to enjoy the task, whatever it is, instead of looking to get it done and moving on to the next item. I think taking the time to do whatever it is, the best you can, fits right into what Elsi is saying about Proverbs 31 woman.
To me, it doesn’t mean being a perfectionist, but it does mean limiting the multitasking – this maybe a silly example, but I am not a TV watcher. My daughter has a few shows she likes me to sit and watch with her. I’m not very good about giving her my focused attention during this time and I usually jump up as soon as the adverts come on. I’m going to working on managing my time so I’m can break off my work/chores for these shows. It means too that when my children come home from school and stop by the office to say hello, I need to stop what I’m doing, and give them a few minutes undivided attention to hear how their day went. And yes, maybe I won’t get as much done but I’m realizing that’s not what’s important.
What does the Proverbs 31 woman mean to you?
I know in the last post I said this was the last in Elsi’s series however, reading through the interview I’ve found another jewel – a resource that Elsi found phenomenally helpful in dealing with the emotions of her divorce. Visit tomorrow to find about that.
Elsi published a book about RVing: RV Tourist – Tips, Tools and Stories, and you can see a full listing of publications, visit Elsi Dodge‘s website. You can also follow her musings at her Meandering Moments .
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