The Wonder Woman

Please join me over at Alisa and Christina’s on-line publication Sanctified Together. They just released their July issue entitled “Measure of a Woman.” What standards are you measuring yourself by? Are you over-whelmed? Maybe your measuring stick lacks healthy, appropriate standards? Do you struggle with “measuring up?” Please click over to Sanctified Together: Measure of a Woman and be encouraged by all the contributors, including my article, “The Wonder Woman.”

The Wonder Woman

“Be this! Be that!” Commands evoking the same kind of scattered feeling that leaves you running around trying to “Be Everything” until you feel like you can “Be Nothing.” 

 

Be Wonder Woman, Be Beth Moore, Be the Barefoot Contessa, BeMartha Stewart.

Or maybe Be more like the woman who leads the children’s ministry and Be more like the Vacation Bible School Kitchen Leader who can out-organize you and Be more like the eloquent Sunday School class teacher, and Be the heart-wringing compassionate mama who can soothe a splinter out of a finger while feeling the patient’s  pain and mean it.

Be the Stay at Home Mom! No, wait! Be Working Mom capable of everything. Be it all! At least, that is what it feels likes from all sides — pressure to Be it all. Not just excelling at one Spiritual Gift – but excelling at all the Spiritual gifts. God did not create us to be everything to everybody. We only need to be what He created us to be.

Facets of society like to promote one-dimensional roles, taking sides, creating dissension, dividing into Stay-at-Home Moms and Working-Moms. Sometimes, these two factions of womanhood clash, fall into judgmental and defensive posturing, egged on by a culture itching for a fight. However, these are just caricatures of the roles God created for women.  While the woman does indeed fill the home with heart, God created women for different roles, just like He filled each of us with different gifts.

• The Cricket on the Hearth: Hannah is the quintessential stay-at-home mom.  She wants nothing more than to be a mother — and everything that evolved around motherhood. She must have been a craft-mom because she made Samuel her son a coat every year.  Her story centers around her children, her husband and her God, Nothing lends itself to involvement outside her doorstep or position within the community.
• Spiritual Mother: Naomi reaches out to other women, like she did her daughter-in-law Ruth. She provided sound advice, a loving heart and mothering.  She might not have her own family, but maybe she volunteers at your church, is a foster mother, or is just an encourager.  She is a woman who looks beyond her doorstep to build relationships, exhort and support other women.
• Entrepreneur Mother: Proverbs 31 Woman is a home-entrepreneur, juggling family and a self-made business. She is interested in life beyond her doorstep, her family’s position within the community, but all her efforts return home to make it a better place.  Her priorities are family-focused, with her outside efforts creating enriching results.
• Heroine: A heroine never seeks glory. Like Esther, a heroine is an intercessor with initiative and courage. She not only intercedes in the prayer closet, but she intercedes with those in authority. She does not necessarily choose her mission field; her mission field chooses her. She spends much time in preparation – maybe through education, prayer, working her way up in the ranks. She is a woman who runs Crisis Pregnancy Centers, missionaries in 3rd world countries, a doctor who fights against abortion, a lawyer who fights for the right to pray in schools, or maybe a God-inspired senator, maybe one day the president of our country.  She goes to battle for others who are unable to help themselves – and that battlefield is outside the home.

God knew our heart’s desires. He placed those desires within us — and provided diverse roles within society for those skills, dreams and desires. You are only called to Be what God created you to be.  And that promise emancipates us and frees us to just . . . BE.

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