As I was reading a book last night called Deepening the Colors: Life Inside the Story of God, I came across a reference to this Proverbs 31 woman. The author, Sydney J. Hielema, writes:
Our experiences concerning what it means to be male or female also affect the shaping of our dreams. Every culture on earth conveys particular assumptions concerning what it means to be a man or a woman and what sorts of dreams are acceptable for each gender. For example, North American culture cultivates dreams of the "career woman," and, in reaction to that, various Christian subcultures have encouraged dreams of the "stay-at-home mom." The Bible does neither. When it dreams about the "wife of noble character," it describes her as someone who "considers a field and buys it, out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night...She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy" (Proverbs 31:16-18, 200). In other words, such a woman is very active in all parts of society (pages 112-113, emphasis mine).As I start exploring the next call that God has on my life, this is encouraging to me. Too often I have felt the tug-of-war between working mom and stay-at-home mom, and in the past have been able to find a balance between them by working part-time.
This chapter with a section on having dreams has also encouraged me to be deliberate and intentional about blogging. I had thought that I would try to take it up again on a regular basis once I moved, and I am now going to set a starting goal of blogging three times per week, probably Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. If it is more frequently, great, but I hope to keep it three times at a minimum.
There are many things in this book that spoke to me, and perhaps sharing them will be some of the content for my blog.
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