Saturday, January 29, 2011

Far Above Rubies (Breaking That Down Into Comprehensible, Mind-Sized Pieces So We Don't Just Read Over It and Not Really Understand)

You may have caught on from my earlier posts that I am going to be talking about how we can be P31Ws (Proverbs 31 Women) in our lives, now. Well, I have been doing some studying and I am finding it to be most profitable for myself and I hope it will be for you all too.

I don't know about you, but I would love to be so valued that no amount of money in the world could replace me. That no beautiful gems and stones could make anyone trade me.That my future husband would be continually blessed by me and be proud to have me as his wife. That for years to come people would remember me by the way I loved people and the way I served the Lord. 

Nice to dream about, huh? Sounds like a perfect life - but a little out there. I mean, who is that amazing and valuable? I can assure you that I am not. But this dream, these goals are not entirely out of reach. A godly woman, is valuable. The Bible says it. Check out this verse and really try to think about what it means.

Proverbs 31:10 "Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies." I love this verse. This has kinda been a life-long motto for me. When I think about being a woman for the Lord - the first thing that pops into my head is being "far above rubies". I want to be that valued.

ISN'T THAT COOL!!!!!!!!!!! Wait. You haven't caught it yet? Think about it.

Virtuous woman = far above rubies!!!

That is something within our grasp. We serve a God, who, if we walk in His way and seek His face, makes us more and more like Him every day. Virtue is something that we can acquire. I don't just have to dream about being valued like that - I can be valued like that. God shows me how! That just makes me so excited.

"So..." Your asking, "Just how much is a ruby worth? This could be so un-epic if it's like an everyday piece of glass." I have good news for you. Rubies today are not worth as much as they used to be. We have better ways of mining and they are just more ready than they used to be...BUT listen to some interesting facts on how they used to be....and look at these pictures.
They kinda look like rock candy, (Which I haven't had since I was around ten and I remember it tasting a lot like dye.).    

Okay, not very authentic, but I just think this necklace is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!  
- Woman who wore rubies were thought to be transformed into an aura of beauty.
- Rubies are the third strongest stone in the world.
- In ancient times, ruby stones were kept under a building foundation, to strengthen its structure.- Rubies are more rare and valuable than a flawless diamond.

And how about this commentary from Answers in Genesis, "Rubies and sapphires have long been part of human history, dating back to Job, an early post-Babel patriarch around 2000 BC.3 Rubies in particular have been prized by monarchs as a symbol of their wealth and power. In ancient Sanskrit the name for rubies meant “queen of precious stones.”"

That....is....valuable.

I'm glad that I have a God who values character more than Riches. Thanks Goodness!!! That's a pretty long post, so it's as far as I'll go for now, but until next time, just think about the value of a virtuous woman and how cool it is that it is available for US with GOD's help!!

(Disclaimer: I want to make sure that everyone gets my point on the value thing. I'm not saying, that if you aren't a P31W you are an everyday brown paper bag. It's just that a woman of virtue have more earthly and heavenly value to anyone than a gem. And no matter what we are, God still LOVES US! which I will get into more in a later post.)

6 comments:

Jennifer said...

That's pretty cool. I've never heard this history of rubies or anything, but that does make me think of the verse in a different way. Encouraging!

Logan Vaughan said...

I'll let you in on a little secret, too. The godly guys, the Christians guys who serious about faith, the strong Christian men, we're on the lookout for godly young women. I know how rare a virtuous, godly young woman is. Money and riches are too easy to come by. But a Christian woman who cares deeply about Jesus, who is virtuous, whose beauty is in her heart, who has integrity and character, whose purity radiates from her... That type of woman really is worth more than any amount of riches or rubies.

Ashley said...

Aw!!! what a sweet encouraging comment, Logan! Thanks for encouraging us to grow in the Lord!

Shay said...

I am striving to be far above rubies as well. One book I have found really helpful as far as this goes which you might want to check out is "Girls gone wise" by Mary Kassian. Its a deep book full of spiritaul truths and insights! I would definitely suggest it to any girl or woman trying to live how God wants them to live =D

Ashley said...

MARY KASSIAN IS GREAT! I've never read her book but I've heard her speak at a conference. I will put that on my ever-growing-never-shrinking-to-read list.

Kyle said...

I'm working on a series for guys to know what being a godly man is like. =) It will be similar to your P31W posts...