She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. — Proverbs 31:15
My family jokes about making sure everything is properly sourced. This mostly applies to organic produce and things you would find at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s; but I find myself checking labels any time I buy something. Having worked for an import brokerage, I tend to be cognizant of what my money is supporting and how good the supply chain is for each place. For example, there was a story in the Seattle Times about the real content of some of the honey on the market and honey shipments from China that were seized at the Port of Seattle. The Chinese honey had antibiotics in it and it made me leery of buying honey from anyone other than apiarists I knew. (Trader Joe’s honey is properly sourced, by the way.)
The way this ties into our verse for today is that the virtuous woman brings food into the home from afar. In Biblical times, this might mean dates and interesting spices. Today, it could mean a whole host of foods and consumable items. What I believe we are called to do as virtuous women and managers of our household is to be aware of what we consume and what we give to our families. Does the food we’re eating tax the resources of our planet? Was the farmer paid a fair price for his grain or beef or produce?
I think that spending six years in rural areas of the USA made me more aware of these things than I would be otherwise. I rode in combines while wheat was being harvested, bought eggs (for baking) from my church kids, received produce from parishioners’ gardens, and ate beef slaughtered by some of our ranchers. (I literally experienced the killing of the fatted calf.) Living so close to my food being produced helped me to understand why it is so vital that we as Christians understand this. Additionally, I learned about fair-trade coffee from our WELCA and looked into fair-trade chocolate from Lutheran World Relief. Working at the brokerage on the Canadian border gave me a sense of how much petroleum is used to transport the bagel I ate this morning at Starbucks.
Sisters (and brothers), we are called to be mindful of the food we eat. Let what we eat nourish our bodies and minds as well as the bodies and minds of those whom we feed.
