Verse 21

Well, I just can't believe that it's been a ridiculously long time since commenting on Proverbs 31. I guess we're up to verse 21, which goes like this:

"When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet." Proverbs 31:21 (NIV)

Oh brother, this one is really pertinent to me at this time. For one thing, only a week or so separates me from the horrid white stuff that falls on our town and doesn't leave until April. I absolutely hate the snow anymore but I have good reason to do so (in my mind anyway.) It makes the roads really slippery. Every year cars crash and people are killed around here; one time an ambulance smacked into a car carrying a couple of teenage boys and killed one of them. It was an accident, pure and simple, but it caused quite a stir in Vanderbilt and outlying areas. It was a truly horrific thing.

Another time a driver's ed. instructor died in a car wreck involving snow. That too was horrible.

Josh is driving on his own this year. He hasn't done much winter driving at all, unless you can call way out in the boonies driving 25 mph winter driving. He's a typical daring male who thinks he's invincible. The snow's going to throw him.

Proverbs 31:21 tells me that I should have no fear for my household when the snow flies. I'm sure that when this verse was first written that it applied to a woman's ability to keep her family warm and dry in the cold winter months. Her cupboards are well stocked with food that she's gathered and preserved over the summer months. Her family has warm clothing: the second part of the verse.

But as with every word in the Bible, there's an application to each generation that we can glean from. I think this verse should be reassuring to moms like me who fear winter and all of its horrors. We need to take comfort in the fact that if we're doing all we can to be virtuous women and put our families ahead of our own personal wants and needs, we'll be blessed and our families will be cared for during the cold dark winters - physically and spiritually.