Laughing at the Future with Strength and Dignity

 

“She is clothed in strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.”

(Proverbs 31:25)

 

“Oh no, not the Proverbs 31 Woman again!  What woman on earth can live up to her description?” I know, I know, it appears at first glance in Proverbs 31:10-13 she’s perfect, but when we look closer at the passage we see God has a great respect for women and shows us we should understand it as a goal, a desire of our hearts, not to be her, but to lead a fruitful, flourishing and productive life as we bless people around us.

The Bible entitles the passage of Proverbs 31:10-31 as “The Woman Who Fears the Lord” and lists many extreme attributes, intimidating countless women with her godliness and wisdom! This passage is meant to show us the significance of being wise and the influence we can have in this very dark world if we have a teachable perspective. Don’t buy into the lie that Scripture was written to intimidate us! No! It’s a handbook for life that teaches us how to live godly lives and thereby glorify God and bless others.

 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the [wo]man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16).

God’s word is a powerful weapon in the hands of a Christian. It’s full of wisdom, knowledge, love, and grace for a child of God.  Daughters of King Jesus should be running to God’s word to learn, grow in wisdom and understanding.  We want peace. We want to be seen, not be invisible! We want to do what’s right. We seem to choose to wear ourselves out trying to please others, so we’ll get their approval, instead of just loving them.  Although in this space, we’re going to leap into two of the godly character traits in Proverbs 31:25, and set them as a goal, a focus for our lives. When we believe the truth that God is with us wherever we go and tells us in His word to not fear, not to fret or worry, because He will hold us up when we abide in Him. We should see these verses in Proverbs 31 as a gift from God for women. 

“She is clothed in strength and dignity” (Proverbs 31:25). That’s definitely not a store-bought outfit. We can’t get that Holy Designer wear in any mall. Nope. This passage is talking about spiritual attire from the heart and hands of God alone, the Greatest Designer of all. We’re not talking about pride and arrogance; it’s strength to do good work and dignity to behave like the daughter of the Royal King of the Universe. When she speaks, she speaks with godly wisdom. These spiritual clothes will always fit us. They never go out of style or out of season! Tailor made. Just like the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Her strength comes from God and equips her to persevere in doing good, as well as to stand firm against powers of darkness. She’s a prayer warrior, knowing God moves mountains as she fervently prays daily. She has learned that God knows her frailties and her frame because He made her. He keeps showing her He is always with her, by helping her through terrible emotional storms and bringing her through heartbreaking seasons of her life.

However, do we listen to Him? What are we wearing today?  Leggings of laziness? Shawls of shame? Garments of guilt? We need to dump that old wardrobe and get dressed in a “garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:3). How? Draw near to God. Call on His name. Ask Him to give you new clothes.

When God was restoring Israel, He clothed her beautifully, too: “‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, ‘you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on like a bride.’” (Isaiah 49:18) These ornaments are symbols of strength and joy. (NIV commentary.)

God wants us to have joy in our life journey: “She can laugh at the days to come,” (Proverbs 31:25). The reason she can do this is because she longs to please God with her life and has learned to live wisely and steward her life well. She trusts her Lord for her future and is free from fear and anxiety. What freedom! She’s free to live her life motivated by gratitude, living out loud, using all her God-given gifts, talents, and abilities!  Every woman wants that!

She confidently stakes her life on the promises of God:

·        “...my God will meet all your needs…” (Philippians 4:19), 

·  ...“the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold” (Psalm 84:11),

·        “perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18),

·         and, she even has “confidence on the day of judgment” (1 John 4:17).

 She knows Him! Do we know Him like this? “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).

The passage ends with Proverbs 31:30-31: “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”

Whether we’re married, single, divorced, or widowed, God sees us. We are known by God. He is our Creator! We are made by God, made for God and we are made to worship God!  And God already honors us by desiring us to be clothed in His strength and live dignified lives of great joy, gratitude, wisdom, and humility! And yes, that’s the “laughing at the days to come” part!"

Polly💖

"Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together. Psalm 34:3

copyright 2026 by Polly Balint

Let's Talk Trash

 

Let's talk trash. Ok, don't get nervous. I'm going to present a real-life application, here. Early one morning on my way back from my early daily walk/jog up and down the main road that runs through our neighborhood, I reached our street again and was reminded it was trash pickup day. So of course, as I headed toward our house, I passed huge garbage bins and recycle containers, intentionally left at the curb for pickup day, in front of each home. Some of the plastic bins were overflowing with garbage, the lids looked like huge mouths that couldn’t gulp down any more garbage!  It happens at our house, too!

As I kept walking, I looked at each of the beautiful two-and three-story homes with manicured lawns and flowering plants, the garbage display blatantly stole the show. Hmmmm.

I began to think about how our own garbage sitting at the curb reveals a lot about us. We can’t hide it. We all produce it. Those huge bins are filled to the brim with strong hints of what we like to eat—pizza delivery boxes, cereal boxes, plastic gallon jugs that used to contain milk, lemonade, or sweet tea; wrappers from candy and protein bars, empty cupcake containers, countless plastic water bottles peering out of the recycle bins, multiple cans from our favorite beverages, and on and on.

Our trash also exposes what we like to do with our time; empty flat screen boxes, cardboard containers that housed DIY assembled furniture, broken bicycles, worn out barbecue grills, broken lawn furniture, broken toys, sports equipment the kids have worn out and outgrown anyway.

Just as our garbage reveals a peek of what happens inside our homes, the words that come out of our mouths expose what’s really going on inside of each one of us. I didn’t come up with this observation on my own. God says it, “For the good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart, the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45).

Think about it. If we’re having a very bad attitude about something, there’s something that’s not right going on in our hearts. Jealousy? Envy? Impatience? Self-centeredness? Unforgiveness? Fear? What is it? We can’t hide it for too long. That’s the way God made us; Jesus taught this truth to His disciples, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will know them.” (Matthew 7:18-20).

Rediscover the wonder of all of God’s creatures. Think about this: happy dogs don’t bite. That is the outward fruit of a contented, grateful heart.  Over the years, our family dogs are always rescue dogs. When we bring them home, they are well loved and well cared for and they know it. They are contented, happy, (and usually very energetic), obedient dogs. They want to please us because they trust us to take good care of them. That’s an analogy of how God wants us to be with Him; fully trusting Him to tenderly and powerfully care for us, providing for our every need. So, our dogs are happy and do not bite people.

But people can “bite people’s heads off” in anger, and fear. When we have people growling at us in response to something, it’s obvious they are unhappy. Some people get so mad they bark out their responses to us. If we ever get to that rabid, vicious attitude of a stray dog, we should ask ourselves where our anger and impatience is coming from.

So, there it is: whatever is inside of us is going to eventually come out. It would be wise for us to stop hiding our garbage and bring it out in the open to be recycled by the Savior. Jesus saves. Jesus transforms lives. He can take what is old and depleted and turn it into a beautiful vessel fit for His glory. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Jesus, by His grace and mercy, turns trash into treasure for His glory and gives us purpose for our lives! “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

It doesn’t get any better than this. When you are His, you are His treasure. Recycled, restored, now and forever!

💖Polly

The Fruit That Never Rots

Why as professing followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, do we believe we can't be influenced by worldliness? Why do we think we know better and can handle it when we read, watch, and spend considerable amount of precious time, consuming trashy influences? If you're answering, "I can handle it, then you're a stronger person than I am! 

I discovered I can be easily influenced in a negative way if I don't listen to the Holy Spirit warning me to stop listening, reading, watching, or spending time with who or whatever it is trying to negatively worm (sorry not sorry for the apple pun) its way into my heart and mind! Okay, so maybe that's just me. But I know what God says about it: 

"Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free from perversity; keep corrupt talk from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil."

 Proverbs 4:23-26

It's the same as saying, "one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch." Let’s say one of your friends in your circle fits this description, but you’re letting it slide because it’s easier than dealing with it. The phrase is not the exact words of a Bible verse, but here is the actual verse: “Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals.” Here's the truth to back me up because God is all-wise and all-knowing and He shares His wisdom with everyone who seeks it. "Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm" (Proverbs 13:20).

Now take a closer look at creation and take a moment to rediscover the wonder of how God brilliantly created life in all forms; people, plants, flowers, trees, animals, sea creatures, birds of the air, and how all these forms of life grow and flourish in accordance with His good pleasure. Remember, it’s written in the book of Genesis, He first created all life, and He called everything He made, “Good.”

And He tells us in John 15:16, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” The fruit He’s talking about is found in Galatians 5:22, the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control,” Now who doesn’t want a whole lot of that? Well, then we should be wise about the company we keep. God didn’t make things spoil and rot, sin (bad choices) makes that happen.
Look at it this way. Ask any wise, loving, attentive parent what they do if they notice a change in their child's behavior, lying, foul language, becoming rude, and disrespectful. An attentive parent will discover who their child has been playing with, or what they've been watching or reading, and will put a stop to that ASAP. Right? They seek out who or what is influencing them.

We all will reveal the truth about ourselves, often unwittingly, because we can only fake it for so long. And I've learned this in my journey -- when someone shows us who they really are we need to believe them! Here’s the full quote from Author Maya Angelou, “When someone shows you who they are believe them the first time. People know themselves much better than you do. That’s why it’s important to stop expecting them to be something other than who they are.”  Gossip. Lying. Jealousy. Fake. Unreliable. Controlling. Full of Self. Yep. Then, wisdom says, “Run, Forrest, Run!”

Yes, we have free will to choose the company we keep. No problem. The invitation to choose wisely is there for everyone. But not everyone will say, "Yes, Lord." But if we want to live a fruitful life filled with the kind of fruit that will last, we should seek Jesus as our Lord and the Master Gardner of our life! The fruit Jesus provides never rots! The fruit of the Spirit of God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are really what our hearts are longing for, anyway.

We will never find ourselves in better Company than with Jesus as our Constant Companion who will lead us into a fruitful and everlasting life!

💖Polly

Psalm 34:3