Lead Me to the Cross

Every time I read Proverbs 31 about a virtuous woman, I feel exhausted. At time I wonder if the woman ever had time to sleep. To me sleep is important, because when I lack sleep and feel exhausted… well I am not the world’s most pleasant person to be around (at least I am honest, right?!). However, I admire the virtues that the Proverbs 31 woman demonstrates and I do strive to be a godly woman daily.

Verses 13 and 20 touch me the most, when I try to mimic the virtues. In verse 13 she is “willingly (accepted by choice) works with her hands”. The key word is willingly with out complaining, force or pride. I do not believe that works with her hands means that she loads her dishes in the dishwasher or turns the dial up for the laundry to dry for 80 minutes. Somehow I picture roughness of her hands that show the signs of hard labor. She is not afraid to get her hands dirty and thus is blessed by the fruits of her labor.

Her labor is not in vain when she reaches out with her hands to the needy in verse 20. The servant heart is what touches me. Oh how I want to have a servant heart… to be the hands and feet of my Savior! But would I jump for joy when God asks me to “wash the feet of a homeless person?” I would love to say yes, but until I am faced with the task I would rather leave this question unanswered. In John 13:12 when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, He showed us that to serve others may require us to get our hands dirty.

By serving what if the Lord appointed you to eat lunch with a homeless woman every week? Would you let the whole world know about your act of kindness, or would you keep it to yourself? Would you serve to receive recognition or would you serve humbly so that God would get all the glory? The choice is yours and it is my prayer that through your act of “washing someone’s feet”, the Lord of the universe would get the glory, honor and praise.

"You know, Lord, how I serve you with great emotional ferver in the limelight. You know how eagerly I speak for you at a Women's Club. You know my genuine enthusiasm at a Bible study. But how would I react, I wonder, if you pointed to a basin of water and asked me to wash the calloused feet of a bent and wrinkled old woman day after day, month after month, in a room where nobody saw and nobody knew?" ~Ruth Harms Calkin