Intentionally Focused, Day 32

I'm continuing to share, sporadically, from the "Intentionally Focused" Bible study I recently finished up.  This is from Week 7 which had to do with our ministries as women.  I found each of the studies that week to be very meaningful, and would like to share them with you.  Here's my study from Day 32:

S [Scripture]= "She  looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness."  (Proverbs 31:27)

O [Observation]= This verse is part of God's portrait of the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:10-31.  This particular verse is a great reminder that as women we also have a ministry at home, in addition to whatever other ministries we may be involved in.  In this part of our ministry, we are to do something and not do something.  God's ideal woman does look well to the ways of her household -- not just to the place and the routines of caring for it, but also to the comings and goings of the people within her household.  And God's ideal woman does not "eat the bread of idleness." She isn't lazy or sluggish and does not live an idle life focused on food and drink.  There's no place for idleness in her busy schedule -- and, if she is properly watching over the ways of her household, she just won't have time to be idle.

A [Application]= This verse has long been a rebuke and challenge to me.  I know well that looking to the ways of my household is a ministry.  I enjoy cleaning in many ways, and I have a real, sincere desire to look well to the ways of my household.  I have routines that work well for this when I find time to keep up with them.  Part of the problem -- the biggest part -- is that I am trying to keep up with the ways of two households -- ours, and an elderly parent's.  I have so much to do that it could literally be a full-time job, allowing for nothing else in my life.  And I know that God would have me to live a well-rounded, balanced life, so I need to keep trying to aim at that while continually working at looking well to my household(s).

P [Prayer]= "Lord, You know my heart.  You know that I desire for my household to be clean, organized, and orderly -- that I realize my care of the house is in itself a ministry, just as the home is a place of ministry.  Lord, in Your omniscience You also know that I have two households to look after.  I pray that You will help me not to be idle or lazy or sluggish, but to do my work each day as unto You, seeing my tasks as a ministry.  Give me wisdom in ordering my days as You would have me to, I pray.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

I hope these thoughts encouraged someone else as they did me!