I Am Woman

I woke up this morning, scrambled some eggs and threw them in the oven, washed away the dirt and grime of yesterday, styled my hair and painted the barn (put on my make-up). And amazingly, this was all before 8:00 AM. On a normal day, these kind of events take place slowly over the course of a morning. With a cup of coffee in hand. (Did I mention I'm not much of a morning kinda gal?) But this morning I had ladies Bible study breakfast, so I was in high gear.

Over coffee, muffins and eggs we ladies discussed what it means to be called "woman". We have looked at different women in the Bible, and related them all to the woman of today. Which is quite interesting, in my opinion..or "IMO", as the technologically sound women of today would say. However, I still use regular American English. Most of the time. With an occasional made up word or two. Or three. Or twenty. Whatev.

Anywho....back to Bibles and breakfast. Our group is really quite diverse...women of all ages and from all different walks of life. We have single ladies, married ladies, divorced ladies, and a teenager. Stay at home moms, nurses, students, retired women and teachers. Not any two lives are alike. However, two things unite us. Our love for God, and our womanhood. Our discussion today went largely into how our society has portrayed the female gender and how the children of the next generation perceive what they see. Scary, IMO. (ooh, that made me feel so...modern!) From the cover of tabloids to commercials...body image is huge. As is the push for a woman to "succeed". I find it interesting what people's definitions of "success" are.

About a year or so ago, my little estrogen troop and I were out grocery shopping. (I always get asked the question, "Three girls, huh?" Which I find odd. Other people's eyes and counting abilities are as good as mine, right? Yup...last time I checked I had three....) My girls were big into playing "grocery store" at home. They'd dedicate a whole bedroom to their role play. I still am missing things from my kitchen that I suspect are tucked under some bed, or in a dark corner somewhere. So, I thought nothing of my middle child commenting to the grocery clerk, "I want to bag groceries when I get bigger." The aging lady laughed and told her that she wouldn't want a job like that, and that she'd better dream bigger. I remained silent. When we were all back in our van, putting our seat belts on, I turned around an informed my little girl, "Jilly, if you want to bag groceries when you get older, I think that's just fine. You'd do a great job and make a lot of people happy." You see, to me, the measure of success is found not in what you do or who you become, but the attitude in which you do it. If it's done with a happy heart and to the best of one's ability...that's what defines success. Not a dollar amount or a dress size or an official title. What we women of today don't realize is how oppressed we truly are. Instead of embracing our feminine nature and simply being who God created us to be, we're struggling to keep up with the latest fashions, to keep our weight down, to keep progressing to make more money, to keep our bodies perky and wrinkle-free. It's a fight against time and gravity, my friends. I, for one, acknowledge that I'm in a loosing battle, so I want to choose to make the best of what I've got in the here and now. Even if that means increasing gray hairs, slowly sagging body parts and a muffin top belly.

I have a legacy to leave behind. I want to teach my girls what it means to celebrate being a modest, graceful, humble and beautiful woman. I just need to learn all those things myself first....