She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. — Proverbs 31:18

I grew up in northern California and that meant that earthquakes were a reality for me. I’ve been through a number of earthquakes that measured 5.0, at least one that was in the 6.0 range, and the worst one — the Loma Prieta earthquake on October 17, 1989 — that measured between 6.9 – 7.1 depending on your source. That one collapsed a portion of the Bay Bridge, collapsed a few highway interchange, devastated neighborhoods in Watsonville, and caused more insane damage. It was a shock to me as to how much damage there was when I watched a Discovery channel special on the earthquake ten years later. It was drilled into us that the only way to deal with this threat was to be ready with a certain amount of water (2 gallons per person per day), non-perishable food, batteries for flashlights, camping equipment in case you had to cook outside, candles, and stuff like that so that if your house collapsed, you could survive.

This fits into our verse for today because our woman of valor has assured that her trading yields profitable results so that “her lap does not go out at night”. The money from her endeavors yields the funds necessary to buy oil to light her lap (and thus her house) and she is prepared for whatever she will handle that night. A reason that this might make her a “virtuous” woman or “woman of valor” is that her husband can trust that she will be prepared if things come up. A child with a fever? She can deal with that. Company coming? She has the extra food and linens.

In our modern lives, I feel like this verse is extolling the virtues of women being prepared as managers of their households. As in the previous paragraph, child with fever? She’s got Tylenol. Power outage? The flashlights have fresh batteries, there’s ice to put in coolers to keep the perishables cold, and we’ll have ice cream for dinner. Zombies attacking? Treadmills are surrounding the house. (Sorry… I couldn’t resist.)

As I’m preparing for Lent (which is, like, my favorite season of the Church year), I’m looking at 40 days of preparing my soul for Holy Week and Easter. I haven’t quite figured out what I’m giving up and/or taking on yet but my mind is on what will cause my soul to focus most on Christ during this time. This verse is useful in my spiritual preparation as it is reminding me that I need to be prepared for my ultimate destiny — eternal life with Jesus.