I Am a Lady–and Proud of It

It seems like everywhere you turn someone is talking about–or demanding–rights.  Women’s rights, the rights of the unborn, gay rights, immigrants’ rights.  It’s really enough to make your head spin.  When did we become to entitled that we think we deserve everything to always go our way?  While I’m so proud to be an American, when I see these protestors, rioters and “marchers,” I feel ashamed of what my country has become.  Just a few weeks ago we watched as half a million women around the world marched for their rights.  Although, I have to be honest, I’m not quite clear exactly what rights they were marching for.  I’m not sure they all knew either.  The footage of those women (and some men) made me embarrassed.  I saw nasty, vulgar slogans written on signs, private body parts on full display and even worn as costumes.  I can’t understand why any woman would degrade herself to that level.  While the mainstream media covered nearly every minute of that march and made it appear that women all over the country and around the world agreed with those marchers, I don’t believe that’s the case.  I think there are a lot of women (maybe most women) who are truly happy with their lives.  The world just doesn’t know about us, because we don’t write it on a sign and march down the street with it.

So I’d like to take a minute to tell the whole world (assuming the whole world is reading this blog post) that I am a lady, and I’m proud of it.  I am a wife, and I’m proud of it.  I am a mother, and I’m proud of it.  I am a Christian, and I’m proud of it.  I am not a slave to my husband, and I don’t have to beg him for things, and neither do I demand things from him.  He is the leader of our home, but he doesn’t order me around or make demands of me.  We are partners, a team.  I serve him and do things for him because I love him and I want to make him happy.  He serves me and does things for me because he wants to make me happy.  Of course we have disagreements, but we have never been in a situation where he demands me to do something that I don’t want to do.  We respect each other too much for that.  He chooses with his head, while I tend to choose with my emotions and my heart–which doesn’t always yield the best results.  That’s why he is the better leader for our family.

I am not less than a man because I’m a woman, but I am different.  I won’t ask (or demand!) to be treated the same as a man, because I don’t want to be!  The Bible says, “Likewise, ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel…” (I Peter 3:7)  Some people twist this verse to mean something it doesn’t say, and they take offense to it.  It doesn’t say that a woman is weak, but that she is to be treated like a weaker vessel.  Like a piece of fine china.  In my kitchen I have a lot of different dishes.  I have plastic bowls that my boys eat out of.  They get some rough treatment.  Just thrown in the sink or in the dishwasher.  If something happens and they’re ruined, it isn’t a bit deal.  We have several and they’re cheap, and we can always run to Walmart and buy more–for less than $5.  I also have a china coffee mug that Billy bought for me.  It has a blue herringbone pattern and a gold rim.  It has a lid and it keeps my coffee warm for hours.  This cup doesn’t get thrown anywhere!  It gets a hand wash and towel dry before it’s placed gently back on the shelf.  It is weaker than my plastic cups and bowls, and if I treated it the same, it would have shattered long ago.  That is how God intended for women to be treated–lovingly, gently, like a special gift.

When God calls us a weaker vessel He isn’t saying that we are weak, but that we are precious.  He loves women just as much as He loves men, and He proved it time and time again.  Although women were often treated as second-class citizens during Bible times, Jesus never treated them so.  In every interaction we read about, He treated women with love and respect.  Think of the Samaritan woman at the well, who most would not even dare to speak to, yet Jesus loved her and accepted her.  Remember the woman taken in adultery and thrown at Jesus feet, waiting to be stoned for her sin.  But He loved her and forgave her.  Two of the closest followers of Jesus were Mary and Martha, and it seems that he spent many hours in their home.  And when Jesus died, one of his last thoughts was for His earthly mother and her care.  He showed the ultimate love when He included all people, including women, when He died on the cross.

So you won’t find me marching for rights.  I have all the rights I want already.  My husband loves and respects me, and he teaches our boys to do the same.  I don’t need to demand the right to have an abortion–bearing children is a privilege.  I don’t need to demand equal pay–my husband sees that I have all that I need and most that I want without having to work outside of  my home.  I don’t need to use vulgar language or rude gestures to get his–or anyone else’s–attention.  I receive love and attention from my husband, as well as my Heavenly Father.  I don’t need to carry a sign demanding that I be treated the same as a man.  I am proud to be a woman.  I’m proud to be feminine.  I enjoy being shown deference and respect when a man opens a door for me, or lets me in front of him in a line.  I know this view isn’t politically correct any more, but it is still Biblically correct.

Friends, don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s somehow wrong to be a lady, and to treated like one.  Being a woman is not a curse, nor does it make you somehow less than a man.  God created us different and special.  We are the only creature He made to meet a specific need.  The Bible says God saw Adam was lonely, and needed a “help meet for him.”  So He made women to fill all those empty places a man just can’t fill.  He gave us tender hearts and a special, gentle love for our children.  He gave us the ability to soothe a husband’s soul and kiss away the tears of a child.  He gave us a desire to serve others and show His love through our actions.  We are the daughters of a King, and it’s time for us to stand up and wear our shiny crowns with joy.  Let us be ladies, and be proud of who we are.

Free Stock Photo courtesy of picxclicx.com

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