And her lamp does not go out by night

Hmmmm…not sure how I feel about this verse! In one respect, we all burn our lamps at night, otherwise, at this time of year, we would be in bed for 5pm (how lovely!), but I’m not even on the bus home yet at that time! Yet it can seem that the Proverbs 31 woman is a bit of a workaholic, and sews, mends and generally ‘does’ late into the evening.

This is a trap we can so easily fall into, I feel. One writer (who will remain nameless) in her Christian bestseller, lists 22 activities one can do in the evening (not all at once, mind you!) while “keeping your husband company watching tv”…letter writing, household accounts, filing your nails, doing embroidery, mending socks, and so the list goes on! I find myself baulking at such a suggestion, because what if I want to watch tv too? In fact, I watched 2.5 hours of it last night (2 very informative and interesting programmes about WWI) and not only did I enjoy doing so, but the ‘down time’ really did me good and helped me to unwind…

It is too easy to become legalistic about this Proverbs 31 stuff. We can fall into the trap of feeling that in order to be worthy of the name, we have to be busy, active and on the go 24/7. We can become human doings instead of human beings, and that isn’t good for us, our husbands or our families. Of course there will be times when we have to burn the midnight oil, and there will always be tasks, chores, business that needs doing in the evening, especially if we work outside the home during the day…but the verse above doesn’t say “and her lamp does not go out every night”. The Proverbs 31 woman is, I believe, a composite of many women, many characteristics. An ideal, and not an absolute. We need, for our own good, to have nights off, to relax, rest and recharge our batteries, whether that’s watching tv, having a long hot soak in the bath or simply sitting and being still. Burn our lamp too often and too long and we will end up burned out…

…I wonder what they‘re watching? Casualty? Strictly Come Dancing?