SuperWoman ... or superwoman?

I was recently conversing with a friend who was, to use her words, "really bummed out."  Lots of issues, actually, including the time of month, and problems with a couple of agrarian products.  Much of it amounted to impatience.  But the root problem, underlying it all, was the vision of SuperWoman which has been foisted upon Christian women by the culture of the world around us.

 

You know what I am talking about.  SuperWoman wears a business suit to work, where she negotiates contracts that effect changes that are felt around the world.  Then she jumps into her SUV, and picks the kids up at daycare, and gets them to ballet (one day), piano lessons (another), the soccer game (a third), etc. ad infinitum.  She has a marvelous meal prepared when her husband, the lawyer, gets home from the office.  And after things are cleaned up ... well, you know how the story goes.

 

This model of womanhood is very prevalent in our culture.  This is what every woman can have, if she wants it.  My friend ran in those circles for a while, and she could actually be a player in that world.  But she left it for something much better.  Unfortunately, this model still plays with her mind every now and then ... particularly when the house is a wreck, the kids didn't obey 'cause they had something fun to do, the products for customer A were not ready because she forgot customer A was coming, the product for customer B flopped, and there is lots of product C, but it is not selling as well as she had hoped it would.  Sound familiar, agrarians?  Agrarian sisters ... does that SuperWoman model pop into your head and cause you grief because you don't measure up using those standards?

 

I actually think my friend is superwoman.  Notice, though, that I didn't capitalize that.  Not SuperWoman, but superwoman.  Not the world's vision of the ideal woman, but the woman who is pursuing faithfulness before God, instead.  Let me tell you about the real superwoman.

 

She does not leap buildings in a single bound.  She does not have a huge career, and an SUV, and a soccer team that she coaches, and "quality time" with the kids for a few minutes each night.  Rather, she makes it her ambition to lead a quiet life, to work with her own hands, so that she is not dependent on outsiders.  She endeavors with her husband to train her children to love the LORD God with all their hearts, souls, and minds.  And she endeavors to serve others ... to let her light so shine before men that they might see her good works and glorify her Father who is in heaven.  Which might seem to contradict an ambition to "lead a quiet life."  But there is no contradiction.  The motivation for the "ambition to lead a quiet life" and the motivation for "let your light shine before men" is the same: that her Father may be glorifed.  That His kingdom would come, and His will be done on earth ... as it is in heaven.

 

She seeks to faithfully love the God of creation, and desires (not always successfully) to have a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight of God.  She is more concerned about faithfulness to God, and faithfully receiving and training His blessings, than she is with maintaining her high school wardrobe sizes.  Oh, she struggles, to be sure.  But there would be no struggle if she hadn't chosen something more important to focus on ... a fuller quiver, lots of arrows with which to do war in the King's army.

 

Her husband and children rise up and call her blessed.  Because she is faithful.  She may not be SuperWoman, but she is superwoman, and that is a whole lot more important.

 

My hat is off to all the wives and mothers in agrarian land, indeed, throughout the Church of Jesus, who are faithfully loving the LORD God and their husbands.  You will undoubtedly receive a ton of blessings in this life.  But for every struggle you face, you will reap an immense eternal blessing, measured in souls who will come not only because of your service, but faithful covenant-keeping souls who come from your very self.  God bless you!