I am going to kick off this series by talking about a woman’s value. I think it is by far the thing we as women fight for the most. The modern women seems caught up in the barrage of questions centering around the theme of, “Am I enough?” We compete and compete for worth as if we could finally answer that question with a “Yes.”

In Proverbs 31, we see over and over that yes, we are enough. We are valuable. We are worthy. We see that hard work pays dividends of respect. Verse 10 assigns our worth as far more than rubies. We see that our husbands should have full confidence in us (vs. 11). In vs. 28 we see, “Her children arise and call her blessed.” The chapter concludes by saying, “Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”

The woman we see in Proverbs 31 is honored from all angles. She is assigned value higher than gems. Her husband, her children and all at the city gate acknowledge her worth.

One of my biggest frustrations I have with those who look at the Bible as antiquated in gender discussions is they fail to recognize how much the Bible values women. We don’t just see it in Proverbs. Passages like Ephesians 5, which discusses the Christian household as well, initially prove difficult without further reading, but go onto extend a tremendous amount of respect toward women. It starts out by saying the woman is to submit to their husband as to the Lord. Modern gender equality rights activists cry foul at this very thought. They fail to go to the next step and see how a man is to view his wife.

 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

The view of the Christian household that is left behind is not exactly the timid, slight woman bowing to the will of her husband. She is to be respected, valued and loved with the selfless love of Christ.

We need our daughters to understand the incredible value that they have. They are to be respected. In God’s sight, they are worthy. Anyone in our society that treats a woman as lesser does not hold the viewpoint of God. The issue is with the other person, not our daughters if they are being treated as lesser. They should know their significance to such a degree that they will not allow themselves to be treated as anything less.

One thing that I learned growing up is to be confident that I am competent. This has allowed me to walk into intimidating circumstances refusing to be treated as anything less than the capabilities which I possess. I was a nurse for ten years prior to Turkey-Man’s birth. Unfortunately, the world of physicians is littered with arrogance. Not all, but definitely a significant amount of physicians had the mentality that I was merely a nurse. Knowing my worth went a long way in my expectation that regardless of level of schooling, I was to be respected for my knowledge.

Teaching our daughters that they are absolutely capable of being valued and respected is fully in line with God’s view of woman. He shows us through the Proverbs 31 passage that with wisdom and hard work, society as a whole should arise and call us worthy. That is God’s will.

This is a subject that crosses all choices in careers. Hard work and wisdom pay off both in the work place or in the home. Our daughters need not feel like they have to have a job outside the home to garner this level of respect. In Proverbs 31, we see it perfectly clear as a home maker.

Our job as parents is to make sure they know their worth and know how to carry themselves in such a way as to demand respect. It takes hard work and a willingness to learn, but in this is God’s command as to how a woman should be viewed. Valuable. Worthy. Respectfully. This lesson is one of the greatest ones we can teach.