"David just raved about the sandwich you sent yesterday," Jonathan told me this morning. "Sewell wasn't at work yesterday, so the sandwich you sent for him we gave to David. He loved it! The goat cheese, cucumber, homemade bun--he didn't think he'd ever eaten anything like it!"
Well, probably not.
Every weekday morning, my first job (aside from getting presentable and having my morning drink) is to make lunches for my hubby and son. I know just what each of them like--ketchup on Jonathan's, mayo on Danny's, and I use mustard on one half of each for zest and because it's one condiment that has healthy ingredients. No GMO oil like mayo has, and no sugar like ketchup has.
Sometimes I make extra sandwiches if Jonathan thinks a Lakota work guy will be on site without a lunch. Yesterday I sent four sandwiches altogether, and again today.
It doesn't feel very spiritual, or missional, pulling mayo and sandwich meat, cheese and cucumbers or lettuce out of the fridge drawer every morning, making extra sandwiches when I don't even know but what sometimes they will be brought back home hot and soggy and only fit for the garbage by evening because the expected workmen did not show up. But as my mom reminded me on the phone last evening as we chatted, the ideal woman of Proverbs 31 doesn't have much "spiritual" stuff in the list of her qualifications. Nearly all the list were simply good works and the common, ordinary duties of the day, done with extraordinary skill, love, and grace--although I had to hasten to reply that it was all based on the single statement at the end, that she was a woman who "fears the Lord."
It is because I honor and revere God that I make goat cheese every other day to make healthy food for my family and myself and others. To be honest, I'd rather sit around and read books.
It is because I fear the Lord that I expect my children to have responsibilities such as milking the goats and caring for chickens and gardens and each other. (To be honest, they'd rather be lazy, too, especially when it comes to the goats.) I fear the Lord, therefore, as Proverbs 31 says, I look well to the ways of my household, providing food and clothes and clean, (sometimes) mended laundry.
I'm not sure how I compare to the Proverbs 31 woman about wisdom, but it makes me happy when a neighbor calls and anxiously says she has a question. Someone else had criticized her for the way she had handled Jehovah's Witnesses that came to her door. Had she really been wrong after all for choosing kindness and trying to relate to the one woman as a human being instead of telling them they were part of a cult and promptly praying for them to get out of the cult as another Christian she knew would do?
The same neighbor had earlier called me Saturday just glowing with how she had felt the Lord helped her to be a witness to the JW team that showed up at her door. She had gone out on the porch rather than inviting them inside (which I told her was proper and wise) and while she let them know she wouldn't take the literature, she discussed some Scriptures with them. She had actually encouraged the younger lady to get into God's Word, believing that if she would, it would help her know the truth.
But since she hadn't treated the JWs roughly and sent them packing, was she wrong?
I felt my neighbor lady had actually handled the JW team better than I would have. I always try to be kind, but I don't take time to discuss anything. They are trained; I don't have time to refute it all.
"I think you did just fine," I told my neighbor. "I could hear the joy in your voice Saturday. The devil likes to steal our joy after we've been able to witness to someone. Don't worry about the other people. They were trying to protect you from getting influenced by JWs, but you handled the JWs just fine!"
I am seeing growth in our neighbor lady--who shows me up sometimes by her desire to get into God's Word. She cared for her mom so many years and was overshadowed by her, but since her mom's death, she is gaining strength on her own two feet in her walk with the Lord.
So whether it's making goat cheese and cucumber sandwiches or dealing out comforting advice, following the pattern of Proverbs 31 is a good aim.
Good truth!
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