A woman of valor who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
Proverbs 31:10

A while back, Rachel Evans Held wrote a book titled A Year of Biblical Womanhood. I was following her blog when she was writing the book, and one thing that has stuck with me is when she learned from her new friend, Ahava, more about the woman in Proverbs 31:

“Every week at the Sabbath table, my husband sings the Proverbs 31 poem to me,” Ahava explained. “It’s special because I know that no matter what I do or don’t do, he praises me for blessing the family with my energy and creativity. All women can do that in their own way. I bet you do as well.”

In addition, she said, “eshet chayil”—woman of valor!—is invoked as a sort of spontaneous blessing in Jewish culture, Ahava said.  Think of it as the Hebrew equivalent of “you go girl,” or perhaps even better, “Carry on, Warrior.”

Rachel says in another post:

Friends cheer one another on with the blessing, celebrating everything from promotions, to pregnancies, to acts of mercy and justice, and honoring everything from battles with cancer, to brave acts of vulnerability, to difficult choices, with a hearty “eshet chayil!”—woman of valor.

Instead of an impossible standard to live and fail by, it is time to make Proverbs 31 a blessing, a celebration and of what we’ve already accomplished as women of valor.

Next week is Mother’s Day. In what way(s) is your mom “eshet chayil”? How can you celebrate her?

{quotes taken from writings by Rachel Evans Held, here and here.}