Proverbs 31: 29 "WE'RE NUMBER 1!"

Proverbs 31: 29     “Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.”

Proverbs 31: 29.  Marriage should be like a losing football team in Alabama. 

(Stay with me on this.)

In Alabama, football is almost like a religion.  People cheer by faith, not by sight.

Walk into any business or gathering  in the state and you will find people passionately arguing that their team is in fact the best team in the country, even if all empirical, observational, and statistical data indicates that their team sucks.     Any given Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, men and women can be heard shouting, “We’re number 1!” even when their team is ranked at the bottom.

In Alabama football, your belief in your team’s greatness, in your team’s superiority to all other teams really has very little to do with anything other than this one factor:  They are YOUR team.

 

And that, according to Proverbs 31: 29 is how marriage should be.

Proverbs chapter 31, verses 10-31 is a series of statements about the Virtuous Woman.  Each of those verses relates a wise and objective principle about women in general.  All except verse 29.

Verse 29 changes from the 3^rd person “she” to the 1^st person “you.”  This change in pronouns means that King Lemuel isn’t just generally talking ABOUT women, he is talking TO HIS woman.

And Lemuel tells his woman, “Baby, you’re number 1!”

 Lemuel concedes that his queen isn’t the only woman whose children rise and call her blessed.     She isn’t the only wife whose husband safely trusts her.  She probably isn’t the best at negotiating real estate deals, and cooking breakfast, and spinning cloth.  Statistically speaking there are certain to be more chartable women somewhere.  On an empirical scale, Lemuel’s wife might not even be in the top 10 of Proverbs 31 women.

But Lemuel doesn’t care about all that “evidence” anymore than a die-hard Auburn University fan cares what the NCAA or the SEC say about their team.  Auburn fans still shout “War Eagle!”  Auburn fans still declare and decree that “We’re number 1!”

Why?  Because it’s their team.

King Lemuel is his queen’s #1, ride-or-die fan.

A husband and wife have to be each other’s #1.  He’s your #1, and you’re his #1 fan.  She’s your #1, and you’re her #1 fan.

No matter how good your mama’s fried chicken is, your wife’s chicken is #1. 

When the 6-pack of abs turns into a case of rolls, it’s still “Baby, you’re the best!”    

When them other chicks drop hints about how much more they’d appreciate a man like you, you don’t switch teams.  You hold up your ring finger and tell ‘em, “This is my team.  Ride or die. We’re number 1!”

Many other daughters have done well.  Yea.  Yea. Yea.  Whatever.   Baby, you’re #1!

WE’RE #1!

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

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