How Did She Do It?

When life swamps me and I feel like I’m barely above water, I wonder how the Virtuous Woman of Proverbs 31 did it.

I really do.

Looking back, I’ve planned and worked to stay ahead and still I find it almost too challenging to stay afloat after Sukkot.

What am I doing wrong?

I read (and reread) Proverbs 31.

It sounds like she has it all together, like she knows what she is doing.

The only way I can conceive this possibility is if she has a team working with her.

Hmm.

It has to be because if I try to go it alone, it doesn’t work out.

I burn out.

Quickly.

I wonder if she had a tribe, a community.

She likely lived in a community that wasn’t always in for themselves.

They were required by Torah to also look out for at least another.

Community works together, with each other, not against each other.

Team and community.

Those are my two conclusions.

It takes effort to be a team.

We all have to be able to get along and work towards a goal.

We may not have it all together, but we have the same aspiration.

It takes commitment to be a team.

We choose to stick it out together.

We decide to help each other along in the dark times, the hard times.

It takes at least two people to be a team.

There is almost 10 people on my team. (More than likely, I am on their team.)

Small number, but committed.

It’s usually the small numbers of people that do the greatest amount of work.

I wonder if that was how the Virtuous Woman did it.

Did she have a strong team in her household?

I don’t lie awake at night trying to figure this out, but I do sit there dumbfounded when I’m faced with a challenge and I haven’t the faintest idea how to overcome it.

That’s the thought that resonates in the back of my mind, echoing into weeks:

How did the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 do it?

How did she do it?