In today's first reading, Proverbs 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31, the author of this texts speaks about one who finds a worthy wife: "her value is far beyond pearls. Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life." And the same can be said of a wife in finding a worthy husband: his "value is [also] far beyond pearls." In entrusting her heart to him, she has found "an unfailing prize," one who "brings[her] good, and not evil, all the days of [his] life." In both cases, "[c]harm is deceptive and beauty fleeting: the woman [and the man] who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give [both] a reward for [their] labors, and let [their ] works praise [them] at the city gates."
In today's world, we are bombarded with examples of persons who could be characterized as opposites of the persons described in this passage from Proverbs. The important thing, though, is that we listen to the Spirit speaking to us personally in this passage. Each of us, in Christ Jesus and created in the image of God, is a person whose "value is beyond pearls," beyond diamonds, in fact. Each of us, through the Spirit within us, through God at work through us, is able to bring good into other people's lives, "and not evil, all the days of our lives!" Good has also been brought into our lives by others, as well! All of us are here on earth for one reason: to bring good to others with whom were live and pray and play! As we pray in the Collect of today's liturgy, it is "full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the author of all that is good."
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