Men and Women

Often times I think about the struggles my daughters will face because they are women.  I think about the struggles my son will face because he’s a man.  I want to raise my children to know their worth, regardless of their sexuality, although I do believe that there is intrinsic value in being a woman and intrinsic value in being a man.

I don’t pretend to believe that a man and a woman both share all the same values- on the contrary I think that when God created us that we each were made in his image; reflecting different aspects of a whole.

Together I believe man and woman can make a stronger whole: in the workplace, at home, at church.  Men and women were created differently and together we are a better representation of who God is than when we are apart.  And by together I’m not talking about just marriage; I’m talking about in business, on a construction site… in the church.

Unfortunately because of a myriad of reasons men and women have been devalued; devalued because they are women or devalued because they are men and because of that we have been separated from each other.  We insult each other because of our differences and are driven apart by our ignorance.

There are so many innuendos ingrained in the way society thinks from years of prejudice- it can be very difficult to wade through.  For some reason men aren’t supposed to be sensitive and women are supposed to be domestic goddesses with bodies like Barbie.  These unattainable goals create chasms because we begin to judge each other based on whether we attain these unrealistic goals.

It’s amazing if we stop and think about the way we see each other.  I’ll catch myself judging other women by their beauty, body type or clothing; and I’m really not superficial!  Or judging a man by how meek or timid he is.

Why don’t we put more emphasis on character- a man like Hosea who marries Gomer to show the unfailing redemptive love of God or a woman like Esther who convinces a king to stop passing laws that persecute the Jewish people?

It’s refreshing and inspiring when I meet men and women who are so comfortable with themselves that they are free to do risky things because they are not held back by what other people think of them or -just as importantly- by what they think of other people.

We are better together than we are apart.  It’s not good for “man” to be alone, and likewise it is not good for “woman” to be alone either.

We need each other.  We were made to be in community together.