Well I hate to bust everyone's bubble but, Betty Crocker began only as a contest giveaway. In 1921 she was given a name by General Mills & 30,000 people completed a cut-out puzzle in order to receive a pin cushion shaped like the Gold Medal Flour's symbol. She was given the name Betty because it sounded wholesome and her last name Crocker in honor of their retiring director William G. Crocker. By 1924 a woman named Marjorie Husted became the voice & personality of Betty Crocker. She hosted the "Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air" on radio until 1945 when the U.S. Office of war requested they stop the program due to war rationing.
As we all know her name remains on one of the most popular cook books found in most kitchens today.
Saturday 6/24
Prov. 31:27 "She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness."
This verse focuses our attention on two qualities, Good management (oversight) and productivity. The word laziness in Hebrew was another word for useless gossip, or the admiration of the virtuous woman's careful concern for the potential hurtful use of words.
In other words she was so busy in the daily activity of her home industry that she had no time for useless, harmful speech. Her focus was directed to aiding and administering each person who was actively desirous of bettering the household.
I believe one of the greatest skills that my parents administered was to guide each of us children in the caring for our household. We all had various duties which brought benefit to the overall health of the home. My parents set out to lend their guidance to our daily productivity. We had daily, consistent chores to conduct to provide benefit to our home. This was before the idea of giving an allowance was even thought of.
By the way that was even before the idea of free & reduced lunches where school children were provided free food at school. I was one of the children who was responsible for scraping the food off of lunch trays, as well as, removing any paper by-product from those lunch trays, then placing the trays in wire baskets & then sliding the baskets into the washer, and afterwards stacking the trays for the next days use.
I saw this as a badge of honor, I had no idea that this was work for the payment of my food. I got to meet the milk man, garbage man, the man who fed the leftovers to his pigs. Each of these people were friendly and let me tour their equipment. I even later on got to go to the farm where our leftovers were donated and to even meet the pigs who enjoyed our food.
When our class visited the dairy the owner gave me a small steel bottle like the big milk barrel that was used in supplying the milk to our school. I was given this as an award for my work in the lunch room assistance program. I proudly placed this on my desk to hold pencils, flowers from the play ground, etc., etc., etc.
All of these things were part of making the management of the lunch meal program effective. In middle school, then called Jr. High; I remember when we were no longer allowed to help in the kitchen, under the guise of the protection of child labor laws. I felt then & do now, feel that these were great ways to teach skills to children in managing their household, and instill pride in productivity.
Those experiences taught me, were invaluable for me in my later years. In college I was brought through the various levels of the kitchen (from dish washer, to food preparer, to chef) a process that provided food for more than 3,000 meals each meal time. I was able to offset my tuition requirements for the work I conducted there. Ultimately I became a student chef in that fine kitchen. I learned the appreciation of all of the many forms of industry that provided for the meals of many students & staff.
So Go With God for He has a master plan for our lives, from early days at home, to the adult world that we find ourselves providing for our family in. When thinking about these many steps in our lives, I am always amazed at God's fingerprints in my life. Just as the virtuous woman, He has been administering His plan in my life. To look back in my life I am appalled at His masterful guidance in my life. How blessed we are, arewn't we???