ADVICE TO MY DAUGHTER 9: THE SPINDLE AND THE LOOM

Your favorite Disney cartoon was always Sleeping Beauty, and I remember how fascinated you were by the spindle. When you were very young and we visited a museum that included an old fashioned spindle, you were terrified to touch the needle at the top lest you fall into the same deep sleep as Aurora. Still, you spent quite a long time walking around it with a look of wonder on your face.

Both in the Bible and in the epics of Homer, the good wife spends much of her time at the spindle and the loom making clothes and blankets for her family. There are many women today who sew as a hobby, but the women of old practiced the craft out of necessity: to ensure their families were protected from nakedness and from inclement weather.

The Proverbs 31 wife is well acquainted with the spindle and the loom: ^“She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff” (13-19).

“Idle hands,” the old proverb warns us, “are the devil’s workshop.” If that is the case, then the Proverbs 31 wife has no time to spend in that infernal factory. She is both busy and industrious with her hands from sunrise to sunset. As long as there is a need, she stays up late or wakes up early to see it is accomplished. And notice how resourceful she is. She does not sit around waiting for others to do the work, but takes the initiative herself.

Notice too, my daughter, that she is as much a housewife as she is an entrepreneur. Just as Lydia, the first convert in Europe, was a woman of trade (she dealt in purple cloth), so the Proverbs 31 wife has the gumption and the knowhow to purchase a field and turn it into a profitable business. The mark of the godly wife is not whether she works inside or outside the home, but what her motivation and ultimate goal are. She works and plans and buys and invests, not for the sake of her own glory, but for the safety and wellbeing of her family.

On the one hand, she is a provincial woman; her concerns are local and are focused on her home and family. On the other, she has a cosmopolitan vision; she is like a merchant ship that brings goods from afar to please and enrich her husband and children. She possesses great strength, but that strength is neither political nor military. Her strength resides in her unflagging commitment to the needs of her family. It is that commitment that impels her to burn the midnight oil and to rise up early while her husband and children are still asleep.

There is little chance you will have a spindle or loom in your house, my daughter, but I hope you will learn from the Proverbs 31 wife the value of what past generations called industry. Diligent hands alone will not keep you out of hell, but they are quite helpful in running a household.