The Ideal Woman

The ideal woman is not I. I don't imagine the Proverbs 31 woman would have gotten behind in her posting because she wasted a couple of days moping around after her cat died.

Proverbs 31 is of course not in story form, but it still lent itself nicely to our Sunday morning program. In theory we were supposed to be in the New Testament by the New Year, but there are SO MANY Sundays before this year's unusually late Easter, that I sneaked this in.

The way we did it was to first select the number of "volunteers" needed for each verse, then have someone read the verse (or verses) before having the kids act out the scene:

vv 10-12—"she is more precious than jewels"—boy puts necklace on girl

v 13—"she seeks wool and flax and works with willing hands"—girl knits.

v 14—"she brings her food from far away"—girl goes around the room with shopping basket buying fruit from different people

v 15—"she rises while it is still night and provides food for her household…"—this was unplanned but a funny touch. Lai Wun was our star actress; she had gotten into the knitting scene as if she really knew what she was doing. Wing Yan was our next volunteer, and she did okay as far as lying down on the sleeping mat with her "husband" and then letting him sleep on while she got up. But then she was done & wouldn't set the table like she was supposed to. So Lai Wun jumps up and starts doing it for her. Well, the verse does continue "…and tasks for her servant-girls"!

v 16—"she considers a field and buys it…plants a vineyard"—girl buys box of dirt from boy and waters it

v 17—"she…makes her arms strong"—girl lifts weights

vv 18-19—"her lamp does not go out at night…her hands hold the spindle"—girl tucks boy into bed then sits up with sewing

v 20—"she opens her hand to the poor"—boy begging with tin cup, girl drops money into cup

vv 21-22—"all her household is clothed in crimson"—girl dresses boy & then herself in red jackets

v 23—"her husband is known in the city gates"—boys sit in a group, boy wearing the red jacket shakes hands with the others

v 24—"she makes linen garments and sells them"—girl goes around the room selling articles of clothing to different people

v 25—"she laughs at the time to come"—girls make remarks about cold weather/bad economy, girl says, no problem

v 26—"the teaching of kindness is on her tongue"—two boys fighting, girl breaks it up

v 27—"she…does not eat the bread of idleness"—boy sits in recliner, girl sweeps floor

vv 28-29—"her children rise up…her husband, too, and he praises her"—several people praise girl & give her a crown

vv 30-31—"give her a share in the fruit of her hands"—girl takes basket & goes around the room while people put garments, fruit & money in basket

This woman had a lot to balance! So for game time, we had a relay where the kids had to balance a tray with cups & bowls using one hand. A couple of the kids didn't get the one-hand bit right, but a couple of them insisted on doing it over and trying it one-handed, and they did it! Great job, kids!

Our craft followed verse 13—they used yarn and worked with fairly willing hands to create these pictures with it.

The adult Bible study took an interesting twist. Some of the women came to the conclusion that this woman's husband must be a lazy good-for-nothing who just let her do everything! I don't think that was supposed to be the point of this passage!