What a woman!

A good woman is hard to find,
and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She's like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
and brings back exotic surprises.
She's up before dawn, preparing breakfast
for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
then, with money she's put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She's skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
diligent in homemaking.
She's quick to assist anyone in need,
reaches out to help the poor.
She doesn't worry about her family when it snows;
their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
and dresses in colorful linens and silks.
Her husband is greatly respected
when he deliberates with the city fathers.
She designs gowns and sells them,
brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
and she always says it kindly.
She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
and keeps them all busy and productive.
Her children respect and bless her;
her husband joins in with words of praise:
"Many women have done wonderful things,
but you've outclassed them all!"
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
The woman to be admired and praised
is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!
- Proverbs 31:10-30, The Message

Anyhoo, I posted this up just because I was interested in finding out what the Bible says about women. I understand that the list of things that the woman does here in this list are pretty stereotypical and aren't exactly true for modern woman... But I do also understand that God (specifically, Jesus) taught with examples where the principles taught are to be applied and not the actual example.
This means that we could just as easily exchange stuff like surveying and buying fields with surveying and buying some huge family purchase (like a house). What's taught with this example is that she ought to be discerning and she ought to buy knowing full well what she plans on doing with the purchase. In the example, the woman surveys land, and buys it with money she has saved up: she's not a compulsive spender. She's calculated and planned the purchase. And then she plants a garden, which shows that she had something good (and fruitful) in mind for whatever she spends money on.
About making her own clothing and dressing in colourful silks and linens, I personally think this is referring to her creativity. Humans were created by a Creative Creator, and so it's natural that we would also be creative beings. A woman who is aware of this and is always thinking of new ideas on old issues and new ways of doing old tasks would be a joy to be around, as she would constantly be refreshing and fun to be around. Also, dressing in colourful linen and silks could be interpretted as simply, she knows how to dress. It's fact that women are obviously the fairer gender. Knowing how to dress for the part (but not immodestly) would show that she is aware of her femininity (it's an actual word!) and that she isn't afraid of it. Instead, she plays on her strengths. She knows that she's attractive, and dresses in a way to enhance the beauty that's already there, but doesn't flaunt it necessarily. Again, I think the principle here is that she is aware of who she is (a creative female creation of God) and lives in a way that brings it out, ultimately glorifying her Creator by doing so.
There are also other things the woman in the passage does, which are considered very mother-like, such as preparing breakfast for her family, mending clothing, and helping/assisting others. These all represent personality traits that people (not just women) should have -- of course, these are traits that happen to be more generic/usually expected for women. Getting up early and preparing breakfast for her family shows that she is willing to sacrifice her own comfort (beauty sleep time!) for the good of her husband and children, and that she nurtures them. Mending clothing represents womankind's natural instinct, ability, and talent for mending what has been broken or torn apart, be it shirts, pants, socks, hearts, and relationships. Women, pretty much by birthright, are much more in tune with the emotions and interpersonal dynamics than men. This means they are much better sympathizers and more understanding when it comes to emotional and relational issues, and I'm sure God intended for this. I really doubt that humanity could survive and tear itself to bits if wives/ mothers/ girlfriends/ girl friends weren't around to soothe and comfort hurting people. Lastly, women have the God-given instinct to mother and help others -- it's in their nature to want to help people in trouble, to shelter scared children, to share the work load. Girls are motivated by teamwork whereas boys are motivated by competition. If all people acted like guys, we'd be living in a world not too unlike the wild (you know, survival of the fittest, if I hurt my foot, ow, I can't run, a lion eats me).
One important thing to note is that the Bible specifically refers to a woman who has meaningful words to say (she has wisdom) and says them kindly (she is wise). What we're talking about here is a woman whose words are constructive, insightful, and worth paying attention to. There's no mention of senseless babble or small talk, though those have their righful place in life as well (IMO). We're also talking about a person who is gentle and soft, never harsh or cutting when dealing with others. It truly is hard to find people who are genuinely kind and peaceful 24/7. I think these traits (wisdom in the intellectual sense and wisdom in the practical sense) are important to both sexes, and not just women. Men need to learn to be gentle and tender with women, since they are after all, ladies, and women need to be such people as well, because, well, after all, they are ladies.
Among other things that the passage talks about, an important point is that it mentions many times over the woman and her work. It talks about designing, making, and just her working at various tasks. It also states that she knows where the value of her work lies. I'm assuming back then, the woman of the house would do all the things women have traditionally done up until the last century: cook, clean, mend, and wash. These chores might seem pretty menial, and they are, but I believe that the passage discusses this to bring up a deeper truth. With a little bit of free-thinking, we can see that, in the grand scheme of things, pretty much 90% of everything we do in the temporal realm is pretty quotidian. Day in and out, the doldrums are quite a common place to live. Yet the Bible notes that she knows where the values at. Where is that exactly? Well, if we assume this woman in question as described by God Himself in the Bible to be a God-fearing woman, we know that she is working and living for more than just "getting by". She's busily and productively (as stated in the passage) working away at these tiny and seemingly insignificant task, all in full knowledge of the fact that both the spectacular and mundane have been established by God. She does everything with the goal of glorifying God with her body, mind, soul, and all the other parts of her life in mind. This woman has one singular purpose in life: to make God happy. Whether she's washing dishes or raising God-fearing children, she's committed and motivated to produce that which is well-made and elegant before God.
What does a beautiful woman like this receive? In this life, she deserves the honour, respect, and love of her husband and children. Her children speak lovingly of her; her husband chimes his agreement. She's cherished and loved by all. In fact, god says to "Give her everything she deserves!" because, well, she deserves it. She lives a life of humility, honestly, creativity, diligence, gentleness, wisdom, and lovingkindness. Surely, she deserves the world! What about in the non-temporal realm? Well, for one thing, she has received one of the highest honours receivable by humankind: she is considered admirable and worthy of praise in God's own eye. She has His approval, His personal stamp of "A+". Surely, that's worth much more than any kind of showering of presents and gifts (that she more than deserves anyway) she might receive here on Earth! The word used here is "festoon", which means something along the lines of "decorate heavily". In my mind, festoon makes me think of totally smothering in gifts, bouquets of flowers, ribbons, confetti, etc... Imagine a tiny pebble sitting under a dumptruck's worth of dirt. That's what her life should be like, completely smothered and drowning in praise and gifts. That's what God says, and I'm pretty sure He's not using hyperbole here.
All in all, like it says at the start of the passage, a woman (or person in general) with this kind of character, degree of goodness, and fear/love of God is very very rare, even more so than a brilliant diamond. The Bible draws a nice little metaphor here, between a [godly] woman and a precious diamond. Both start off in the rough, and look nothing like what they can be metamorphed [by God] into (I remember my geography and science classes: diamands are formed from coals that are compressed under extreme pressure and heat, making them metamorphical rocks/minerals). Both are beautiful when refined and polished. Both start off with great potential that may or not be realized depending on what happens. Finally, both take a great deal of time and hard work -- pun intended -- to grow and change into their dazzling final forms.

So why did I write out this huge piece about women? Because, the other day my friend said that I don't respect women, and you know what, I'm sad to say that I really don't.** I've never taken the time to really sit down and ponder what it takes to be a good woman; how much less think about what it takes to be a godly woman! I haven't taken time to ponder and realize the immense value of women. Sure, girls have pretty faces, but the people behind the skin and flesh are so much more beauteous and make up much more of the person's actual worth. You can have a beautiful woman without a beautiful face, but you can't have any woman without a soul. It makes me angry to witness the double standard the Western society has placed -- more like forced -- a double standard on women. Society dictates that women's worth lies in her physical appearance only, yet when girls dress to impress, they are called whores and sluts. That is so messed up. How come no one values things that deserve to be valued? What ever happened to honouring a gentle and meek spirit? What about a warm heart? What about a nurturing attitude? Well, writing up this analysis of the Bible's take on what a beautiful woman really is has strengthened old views and shown me some new ones too.

** In my defense, I had replied, "They're important -- and not just for reproduction!" but I had not gone any further than that.