It’s a funny thing, this being the lone lady in a family of boys. I get treated like a queen, but am also often reminded that I’m the only hen in this house. I have a deep and abiding desire for my boys to grow to be good men. In my day to day, I very much live in the headspace of raising boys. But, for them to grow up as good men–isn’t it important that they know what a good woman looks like? What it means to treat a woman well? What they should expect from a woman and how to love her? And, when I think like that, I swing into another realm I also love.
I’m enamored with the history of women, both globally and domestically. I am interested in our work history, our family history, and the modes of communication we employ.
This inevitably brings about questions and topics of conversation that my husband can only engage in for so long. Questions about a woman’s role, her role in the home, and her home in the church.
I firmly stand against the brand of feminism that looks to diminish men–and that’s only right as a mother of (soon to be) 4 boys. I can’t stand sitcoms that portray every man as a bumbling, disengaged but jolly, idiot. However, is there a brand of feminism that encourages women to be strong but soft? Is there a brand of feminism that will speak life into good women that my boys will one day (possibly) marry? Is there a way to reconcile the voice of the church and the voice of the world–and that will help women make sense of where they fit in it all?
I ask this, because I’m still trying to figure it out. I am a woman in a house of men, and a woman in a faith that has traditionally deferred to men. I know that my business and strategy giftings are God-given and are not in contradiction with the Good News of the Gospel (or my marriage). However, I’m not 100% of how to walk that out in culture and the culture of the Church. I so want to get it right, but I’m confident I’ll simply be stumbling ungracefully in (hopefully) the right direction.
I’m learning. I’m listening carefully and prayerfully. I’m feeling the tension.