Creative Work

She looks for wool and flax,

And works with her hands in delight.

She is like merchant ships:

She brings her food from afar.

-Proverbs 31:13-14

The Proverbs 31 woman works with her hands.  She looks for wool and flax.  She brings her food from afar.  As I consider these verses, I wonder how they relate to women today.  We don’t usually look for wool and flax as we can buy our clothes already made.  Food from afar requires only a visit to the local grocery store.  The focus must be on the work she does with her hands.  The Hebrew word work that is used here can mean much more than the simple act of labor and toil.  This word work or asah also means to make or to create and it is used in Genesis and the Psalms to portray God’s work of creation as He fashioned the heavens, the sea and dry land, the great lights, the beasts of the earth, and man.

Because we as women have been fashioned in God’s image, we also have a creative nature.  Our creative nature is not on God’s level as Edith Schaeffer reminds us in The Hidden Art of Homemaking.  We are restricted by a finite body and limited resources.  However, we still have the ability to work with our hands and to create and fashion something with delight.  We have the ability to bring forth something that other people can taste, smell, feel, hear, and see.  We have the ability to create a home that is a place of refuge for our own family and for any others that enter its doors.    

Mary Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life created such a home out of an old, neglected house with broken windows and a leaky roof.  She worked with her hands to transform the dilapidated house into a home filled with love.  Real women, single and married, have done the same.  Amy Carmichael made a home for girls rescued from temple prostitution.  Betsy and Corrie ten Boom created a haven of safety for Jews during WWII.  Susanna Wesley created a home for her large family even in the midst of turbulence and tragedy and Caroline Ingalls created homes in many remote places from the big woods to the prairies.  

Many other women whose names do not appear in books have also created homes for those in their care:  homes with the aromas of simmering soups and cut flowers; homes with the welcome of warm hugs and comfy couches; homes with the joy of cheerful music and happy laughter; homes with the beauty of papered walls and coordinated colors; homes with the savor of delicious meals and tasty treats.

Homes are an essential part of life for every human being.  They offer a sense of community and welcome and they provide a place of shelter and refuge.  As T.S. Eliot states, “Home is where one starts from.”  To create a home is a privilege that we as women are given and when we do it willingly with palms that are opened upward with a spirit of offering, it is a source of joy as well, joy for those for whom we create, but joy also for ourselves for it is in giving that we receive.