Tuesday, July 31, 2012

feminism


My journey began as a child of the 70's; during the rise of feminism.  It was a confusing time for a girl, but an empowering time as well.  Back then I remember a story about my friend and me making the cut to be the very first girls to play on the Little League in our small New Hampshire town.  We had two teams back then due to the large interest, the Little League and a a farm league. We played on the farm league.  And me being left-handed I played first base.  But just the fact of having girls in the league at all was progressive for our little town.  I remember the jaunts and jeering well.  But we were pretty good handling and hitting the ball.  And we loved the game and team, and in the end that's what mattered.  Boys are all about balls.

Darrow L. Miller and Stan Guthrie in the book "Nurturing the Nations: Reclaiming the Dignity of Women in Building Healthy Cultures" exposes the age old misogynistic lie that men are superior to women.  A lie that has been passed down and bought by every culture, every religion, every nation since the fall of humankind in the garden.
Boys are not better than girls; and girls are not better than boys.  However, in our world today there are many instances where the preference for men is so deep rooted we don't even recognize it within our family structures. Not to mention the exploitation, abuse, oppression, and murder of women is the global norm.  Global gender inequality is a huge issue--what can one person do to turn the tide?  What can the Church do? Where is our responsibility?  Where do we even begin?  The work is great for even in the Church, many have embraced this very lie.

As for me, my passion has been rekindled; empowering women to speak out while exposing the lie in the our societies, churches, and communities. Today I stand with the feminists, seeking to promote gender equality and exposing oppression in all it's forms.  May God go with me. 

changing channels

Therapy is an interesting and wonderful thing.  Introspection, insight, and talking it out has a power, an energy that fascinates me.  I have always been one who thinks deep and probing thoughts. 

I entered therapy with a well-seasoned therapist whose religious background was not like my own.  It was completely intentional to see someone who would not give me the pat answers often found in Christian circles.  I needed to go to places most Christians dismiss as selfish, sinful, and forbidden.  I needed to find me.

At one point, I was done. Full. Afraid, really. I went into our space intent on not returning to it again.  When she asked me why, I answered that I wanted to change channels--I was done with this show. She laughed; I went back. 

The funny thing is, my therapy was on a time constraint because I was moving overseas in August. We started it knowing it was going to stop after a few months. But I wanted to stop earlier than we planned. Quite frankly, I never wanted to start to begin with so I was always looking for an out.  In fact, I had to 'prepay' in order to keep going because I was certain I would have blown her off.  So therefore, it was good for me to 'finish' our time instead of cutting it short. That, in and of itself was therapeutic.  But now the time to part has come.

She helped me see me as I am.  She was so good to me and for me.  And I can say that because of her help, I am so much more aware of who I am.  I will miss her and our time together.  But I must move on from this place and focus elsewhere. It was time well spent, a show worth watching, a channel to consider.


Sunday, July 15, 2012

silence

It's good for me to be quiet.  Often times my mind becomes so full of thoughts that I need to be silent just to think them.  Even if I were to speak my thoughts, I don't think I could speak them fast enough.

Perhaps silence is the language of God?  Plants reach up to the sun in silence; the clouds pass, the sun sets, and the stars orbit in silence; even babies are conceived and silently grow into individual humans.  Growth and change happens in silence.  

Silence is where I find God. My soul craves for quietness every day.  I need it in order to hear the still, small voice of God whisper deep within. For when I am quieted, God speaks. And when God speaks, I listen.

Psalms 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God"