Today I reframed how I’ve been thinking about the mundane and tiring tasks associated with running a household. The moment happened while reading Proverbs 31, in particular these verses about the “wife of noble character” in verse 25-27. We read this about her:
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Something about that word “dignity” caught my attention because my tasks that very moment were far from dignified. You know those undignified moments of cleaning up things (I won’t mention details) or when you’re dragging the leaking trash out or when you’re taking care of all the things you wish you didn’t have to do? Where’s the dignity in it? In fact, I look the opposite of dignified. I’m not clothed with dignity; I’m in workout clothes with unbrushed hair.
But, when I noticed that word “dignity,” I smiled. I looked it up in my Hebrew dictionary, and that word there is the very same word used to describe the majesty and splendor of God Himself. It’s a word that’s very close to a perfect and marvelous kind of beauty. That’s what this woman has.
With this kind of majesty about her, she doesn’t parade around like queen or demand attention. Instead, look at her! She watches over the affairs of her household. I think of her doing all the mundane tasks of running a household. We learn in the proverb that she’s the kind of woman who stays up late working. She’s doing all kinds of side hustles, too. And the whole time, she knows she’s clothed with a particular kind of majesty–from God himself. It’s not the tasks she’s doing that make her majestic; she’s majestic already, so she can do anything required of her, no matter how simple or tiring. She’s just doing the work of running the household, and she’s laughing at the days to come.