More Updates and Collaboration

For the past two weeks, no one (self included) has completed the challenge. That is, I think, largely due to the way many of us operate, with the tendency to go hard at something for a short period of time, then quickly lapse back into old habits. I have very legitimate reasons every week for not completing the challenge from school responsibilities to activities that come up just when I'm about to do a "challenge related task."

Another very legitimate reason to leave off from the challenge altogether is that it can be interpreted as legalistic or a source of personal pride. If we start working hard at feminine godliness to gain a better self-opinion, we will of course be disappointed. The challenge is an effort to make room in one's life for serious time with God and obedience to His word in proactive ways.

So this week's challenge will be slightly different, but with more of an emphasis on what was mentioned above: serious time with God and obedience to His word in proactive ways. No prize this week, again it has been given to us.

And without further ado,

For the Week of 1-5 May:
1. Greet the sun 4 times, making sure to use the early morning hours for time with the Lord. (15, 30)
2. Memorize one Scripture verse and share it with another person for encouragement.(12, 26)
3. Consider aspects of your life that would fit into the category of "idleness." Work on elminating one way that you engage in idleness, asking God to replace it with something that glorifies Him (there are lots of suggestions for activities throughout the Proverb). (27)

Please share here or in email (proverbs31challenge@yahoo.com) whether you have completed the challenge and ways that you completed it and I will post your name in the blog with your story as well. May the Lord bless us in this endeavor.

Challenge V

For the Week of 24-29 April

1. 3 More Sunrises (verse 15)!
2. Serve a nice breakfast for your husband, roommate, family, or friends (verse 15).
3. Do one act of kindness for someone who is suffering (verse 20)
4. Exercise vigorously 3X for thirty minutes (verse 17)
5. Memorize 3 Scriptures (verse 26)

Complete the challenge by Saturday, 29 April, send an email to proverbs31challenge@yahoo.com saying you have done so, and your name will be entered in a drawing to win a copy of Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God. Hopefully more of us will complete the challenge this week--press on!

John Angell James on Female Piety

And where in all the range of inspired or uninspired literature can be found a delineation of female excellence—I will not say equal to, but worthy to be compared with—that which forms the subject of the present chapter? We have in it a picture of which it is difficult to say which is the most striking—the correctness of the drawing—or the richness of the coloring. Both display a master's hand, and though delineated three thousand years ago, it is still true to nature; and when we have removed some of the effects of time, retouched some lines that have been clouded and obscured by the lapse of years, and given a few explanations, it is impossible to look at it without admiration and delight. It adds to the interest to know that it is the production of a female artist. It is the description of a good wife, drawn by the hand of a mother, to guide her son in the selection of a companion for life. They are "the words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him." Who this king was is a matter of uncertainty. He was not, as some have supposed, Solomon. The original Hebrew has many Chaldaisms, which are found in no other part of the book of Proverbs, and afford a cogent argument that it was written by another hand, and perhaps after the captivity. The whole passage is composed with art, being a kind of poem containing twenty-two verses respectively beginning, like some of the Psalms, with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in their order of succession. Whoever Lemuel might have been, he had the privilege of a most eminent mother.

"The admonitory verses with which the chapter commences, composed by this distinguished woman for her son when in the flower of youth and high expectation, are an inimitable production, as well in respect to their actual materials, as the delicacy with which they are selected. Instead of attempting to lay down rules concerning matters of state and political government, the illustrious writer confines herself, with the finest and most becoming art, to a recommendation of the gentler virtues of temperance, benevolence, and mercy; and to a minute and unparalleled delineation of the female character which might bid fairest to promote the happiness of her son in wedded life."

What a pattern of maternal excellence was this mother of the king! We may well imagine that in this inimitable portrait, she drew her own likeness. What sons we would see, if all were blessed with such mothers as she was!

James offers a vivid exposition of Proverbs 31 as part of his larger Christian classic, Female Piety.

More on the General Challenge

I have long been meaning to write more extensively on what the challenge is and where the idea came from.

I got the idea from working at Camp Tapawingo (see link), where we were given weekly challenges to streamline our focus towards not just surviving, but thriving spiritually and physically. The weekly challenge was a fun tool to hone our discipline and our fellowship.

In the past two years I've been pondering Proverbs 31 and trying to find ways to become more like the woman from that chapter in practical, daily ways. So this challenge is a hybrid of the two ideas.

Challenge IV

For the Week of 17-21 April, 2006
1. Greet the sunrise 3 times (verse 15)
2. Memorize three Scripture verses (verse 26)
3. Exercise vigorously 3 times (verse 17)
4. Do 2 things to make your home or work space more beautiful (verse 27)
5. Do 2 things to encourage someone else (letters, meals, visits, gifts--verse 20)
Complete the challenge by Saturday, 22 April. When you have completed it, send an email to proverbs31challenge@yahoo.com and I will enter you in a drawing to win a copy of Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God. Press on!

John Piper's Challenge to Women

The Wrestling Mat, our friend Tim's blog, offered this challenge to women from John Piper.

Little Prize Update

I'm going to start offering specific books as the prize for now. That will make the things a bit more reasonable $-wise, but hopefully still good. The books will have a definite theme: women of faith, etc.

So, if you have one you think would be a good prize, email me! (proverbs31challenge@yahoo.com).

Once again, a reminder that the prize is not the point.

Challenge III: Completed

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

Composed by Stuart Townend--surprisingly recent!!

Challenge II: Completed

Congratulations to Jenn Short, who was the winner of Challenge II! Well Done.

Challenge III

In honor of the Passion Week, the challenge is chiefly to meditate on our Christ and His sufferings for us. Our prize has already been won.

Updates & Collaboration

We've all been more quiet this week--the novelty is wearing a bit maybe, but all the more reason to press on! Remember that tomorrow is the day to send me an email if you've completed the challenge. I'm planning on writing a post soon that expounds a bit more on the purpose of the challenge.

Meanwhile, I need help w/ prizes. My allowance won't cover B&N gifts EVERY week, but I still want something cool to give away--especially if others are interested in keeping this going. If anyone has suggestions (or donations), please email your ideas to proverbs31challenge@yahoo.com.

Also, I'm curious about meal surprises for this week--anyone want to share their creative ideas?

Challenge II

To be completed by April 9
1. Memorize three verses (verse 26)
2. Write 2 letters/cards to people who need encouragement--and mail them! (verse 20)
3. Exercise vigorously 3 times for 30 minutes (verse 17)
4. Be awake for 2 sunrises (verse 15)
5. Create 2 fabulous meals for family/friends/roommates--add a creative twist this time: something to surprise them! (verse 15)

Complete the challenge by Saturday, 9 April, and your name will be entered in a drawing for a $20 Barnes & Noble Prize. Send an email to proverbs31challenge@yahoo.com. Be reminded that the real goal of this is a far greater prize (Phil.3.14). Press on, everyone!

Challenge I: Completed

Congratulations to Pam Smith whose name was drawn this week from among those who completed the challenge! Well done, everyone for striving together and sharing this aim!