Monday, September 10, 2012

Abecedarian: Alphabetically Arranged

An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
Proverbs 31:10 ESV
 
 

Did you know that the tribute to the woman in Proverbs 31:10-31 is a Hebrew abecedarian poem? Each line starts with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  I have been mulling this passage over lately. Such praise, such accomplishment is too wonderful for me. I used to think I could live up to every aspect of the poem. But as I grow wiser, I realize I will never accomplish half of her feats, and not even sure I want to anymore.

However, as I was thinking about an excellent wife, my mind wandered over to the metaphor of Christ calling us His bride. This thought inspired my own abecedarian declaration of the kind of woman I want to be for my Savior!

Proverbs 31: A Re-Telling

A woman who does not
B eat herself up because she

C an’t
D o
Everything, yet she
 
F inds
G oodness
H umor &
I nspiration in

J esus—

K ing of Kings!
L ord of Lords!

M entioning His
N ame
O n
P urpose.

Q uieting her questions with
R eflections on her
 
S avior.

T elling everyone about His
U nfailing Love.
 
V oicing the Bridegroom’s
W onderful  Graces.

X alting His Name Always!
Y ahweh- Yireh!
Z ealous for His Kingdom!

 

8 comments:

  1. Love this from journaling on Sunday. I love the use of the words you used.

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  2. I love, love, love alpha poems, and as you correctly stated, abecedarian. Loved it when I discovered that word, word-lover that I am! Remember when we did these in journal class? This is a beautiful tribute to godly womanhood, Kel, and may I say that it definitely describes YOU!
    Love
    Lynni

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  3. Lovely poem you made! Blessings!

    -Hannah Avery

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  4. Thanks to all for the sweet and encouraging comments! Yes word lovers would love abecedarian...I love that you introduced me to it, Lynni! And Mary Ann K. was the one who encouraged us to try out the abc or spine poems again in our monthly journaling group...loved Jeanie's kitty stories yesterday...

    Blessings back to you all!

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  5. Oh Mary Ann is an inspiration to one and all! Give her my love!

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  6. Absolutely abracadabrian :) Thanks for this feast this morning. I rarely have time to savour your work, but this one led me to a flight of word ideas. Like the word play above: my youngest was vry excited about alpha, alphabetical order last week. I may introduce her to this word ... i thought of the abecedarian order of women's sins, not for the purpose of beating up but of awareness so we can be freed from their snares. I thought of the ABC's of how women can pause and pay attention in their lives. A couple of assignments for me ... thanks for the inspiration!

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  7. Juniper Gillian- I love how you were inspired to have some fun with word play...Please consider being a Thrilling Guest some Thursday...maybe we could post your abecedarian poems...I am especially interested in the confessional one about sin :)

    Also I want to thank you for being an astute reader noticing that I was missing a "G" line in the poem...and I love the title you suggested, so now both are added to this updated post.

    Glad you had time to ruminate on the post...

    Love you! (JG is one of my dear sisters, it's fun to have her comment here!)

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