Continued

She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. Proverbs 31: 13-14

I have lost a lot of the skills my mother had. She could look at a dress, draw a pattern on newspaper, cut it out sew a dress. I didn't really want to learn to sew because, I was going to be able to by my dresses new. I didn't want any more hand-me-downs. Now I wish had learned a lot more from her than I did. I can sew enough to make simple things, but I wish I had learned to put in a zipper or make a button hole. I am totally lost when it comes to those things.

I would imagine that a lot of women are in the same situation. The Proverbs 31 woman not only sewed her clothes, she gathered the wool, spun it into yarn and made the fabric. While there are women out there that can still do this, I wouldn't know where to begin or have the time to do it. I can however, keep the clothes that we have in good repair, clean and ironed. If they are taken care of they last longer. At the least, we should be able to sew on buttons, mend or patch small rips, and remove stains. I encourage you to learn these basic skills, even if you don't make a whole garment you can preserve the ones you have.

She is like the merchants ships; she bringeth her food from afar. This means, to me, that she did whatever it took to keep her family well fed. While I really don't have to go very far to get food; I am always looking for ways to save on the food bill. Spending time clipping coupons, making meal plans, checking the pantry and freezer, saves a lot of money. I hear ladies all the time saying how they don't have time to clip coupons and I can't imagine how they can't have the time to save at the very least $30-40 every time they shop. That's a chunk of change to me and over a year that's quiet a great savings. If you shop every week and save $30 doing it, that's over $1500 a year. That's a vacation! We grow some of the food we eat and that's a help, too. We also have chickens and sell some of the eggs. Basically I think these days, that food is readily available, but we still have to work for it.

To be continued.