Week 6 - Proverbs 31:16 - She Considers a Field and Buys it;

 "out of her earnings she plants a vineyard."

Proverbs 31:16

Hello Happy Homemakers! 

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving weekend as much as I did.  I got to spend a lot of time with my Mother who is a wonderful example of the Proverbs 31 woman. 

She would always be up to make us breakfast before school and was always home after school. I remember her always getting up with my Dad who was an executive with GE at the time. They would get up together at 5am and she would make him a hot breakfast, they would eat together and have coffee every morning.  Sometimes I could hear them chatting and laughing about something.  It is one of my favorite memories, my parents laughing and my second favorite is them singing happy birthday to me in perfect harmony.

What a great example I had growing up!

Now that I am a wife and mother I cannot say that I have done that as religiously as she has and still does but I am so grateful for her example in this area and many others. 

I love this next scripture!  This to me is proof that the Proverbs 31 woman was a prudent business woman.  Not only did she make her products and trade them for goods for her family.  She considers buying a piece of LAND our of HER OWN EARNINGS!!!  This is very exciting to me.  I truly believe that even as "stay at home" wives....we should be prudent business woman.  We should be using our wits to create products/services we can sell/trade to bring in money/sundries to support the family and help our husbands financially. 

Jeff and I are still in the process of organizing our finances now that he has taken it over.  What a relief to have that off my plate, I feel more relaxed already!

However, I did have to submit to his direction and at first I hated it.  But over the Thanksgiving weekend my Mother mentioned that she gives my father the receipts from her grocery or other shopping that she does.  I was amazed!!  So I vowed to do the same. 

I put an envelope on the fridge with a cute picture and labeled it Household Expenses.

This way Jeff can see what money I am spending on groceries or things for the kids.  I think it will help us to be better at communicating finances to each other.

I am feeling really good today about being totally honest with Jeff with our finances.  I am trusting God that he will work everything out because of this scripture...

^{JOHN 8:  31} To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said,

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

SO the truth is this.....that if we obey his commands we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. 

I feel FREE!

And that is an amazing feeling.

Kisses and Hugs,

Jenny

Continue reading from The Middletown Bible Church...

wisdom from 

http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/homefam/prov31.htm

The godly woman considers a field (a plot of land in open country). She doesn't do this rashly or on a sudden impulse, but she has given very careful thought to the matter. She has a plan for her family and she carefully thinks about what she needs. She decides that a prosperous vineyard would be beneficial to all, and thus she decides upon a field that would be suitable.

"She buys it." Literally, she takes it. She acquires the field, probably by purchasing it. The fact that she buys a field indicates that the godly woman was involved in financial decisions relating to the family and involved in financial transactions. From what we know about this godly woman, she did not act independently of her husband. We know that the heart of her husband did safely trust in her (v. 11), which would not be the case if his wife were running around purchasing all kinds of things without his knowledge! The godly wife, under the headship of her husband, can play a significant role in managing family finances. Some wives are very good at keeping a checkbook and managing the family budget, and it would be to the advantage of the family for the husband to delegate this responsibility to her.

How many women buy all kinds of things on the spur of the moment without giving the matter careful thought and deliberation? As she races out to the shopping mall with her friends, can her husband safely trust in her? [We also might ask, can the wife trust her husband when he goes shopping?]

With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

The purpose of the field was to provide a place for a vineyard so that the family and others could enjoy the fruit of the vine. The fruit of her hands signifies the result of her labor. To cultivate a field and to maintain a vineyard requires much labor. The vineyard was the fruit of her loving toil.

Before we buy something we need to count the cost. Before we buy a field, we need to ask, "Am I willing to work the field?" Many things that we purchase require a good bit of maintenance, and if we are unwilling to provide the labor that is needed for the maintenance, then the purchase is probably unwise. [Think of people who rashly procure a pet, not considering all the time and effort that is required to properly take care of the animal.] When the godly woman planned for the purchase of the field, she also calculated the amount of toil that would be needed to maintain the vineyard.

The "fruit of her hands" could also be understood in another way, as "the fruit of her earnings." That is, with the fruit of her hands (see verse 13) she was able to earn enough money to purchase and plant a vineyard. Perhaps she employed her servants (maidens, v. 15) to work the field or to help her work the field.