I am not one of those women who always has fake nails. I’m not against them. In fact, I love the way they look. So, every year or so I decide I am going to “get my nails done” and I head to the salon for a set of French manicure acrylic nails. Even though I really like having them, the upkeep is more than I can bear because I have to drive 40 minutes each way every other Sunday and sit there for 30 minutes or more while they fill and file them back into mint condition. Don’t get me started on how long it takes to remove them and restart the process (which you have to do regularly as well)! 

Does that make any sense? No, of course not. It makes no sense for very many reasons. However, today’s blog is brought to you by inspiration that started with today’s lesson from the Beth Moore Study of Esther and a meme posted on Facebook by my brother the atheist. The feeling that this is what I need to write about is so strong that I’m putting off the “Acrylic Nail Religion” blog until next week.

When Mordecai and the other Jews in Persia heard that they were condemned, how did they respond? They responded by weeping, mourning, putting on sackcloth and ashes and fasting. (Esther 4:1-3)

I am not a big fan of the Proverbs 31 Woman. I don’t mean the one in the Bible. I mean the one who sits next to me sometimes in church. The one who always knows the Greek behind that tricky scripture – the one who can make a rambunctious boy mind his manners with just a look – the one who makes every husband swoon with her melt-in-your-mouth pot roast and made-from-scratch coconut cream pie – who helps at the soup kitchen and the women’s shelter and the homeless shelter – whose kids win the academic ribbons at school competitions and who has been a size 2 since high school. I don’t mean she fakes it or is arrogant with it. This is just really is who she is and how her life works.