Women do what needs to be done. We see with our eyes what needs tending to and we do it because it has to be done and someone has to do it. When we're looking for something we move things to see if what we're seeking might be behind. But children and husbands will insist the thing they are looking for isn't where you say. And when you go and move something, there it is behind. "Where did you find that?" they ask.
Women make do much of the time. How can we do anything but make do when we don't have resources to do more? We do the best we can and, often, hope for the best.
Sometimes there are rewards. And is there really any satisfaction from the knowledge that a husband who thought his wife might not be very good at budgeting but discovered she was much more efficient with what she had to work with than he?
All any of us can do is our best. That's all there is.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Patriarchy
Patriarchy. Until I went back to college in 2007 I hadn't thought about its application to the Patriarchs, Old Testament variety. And when I think about how women are to be treated with the respect such as Jesus addressed women, when I think about how women are to be, I think of the Noble Wife in Proverbs 31. I consider the stories of Naomi and Ruth, Esther and Martha. They were strong women who commanded the respect of the men in their lives.
Problems arise when men don't respect and appreciate their women. They have difficulty understanding that God made man, both male and female, in his image. Each is a part and when two parts are joined they become one whole unit, equally-yoked and working toward the same goals. Men do not own the market on Intelligence.
When one of the parts isn't working properly, that part is hurting the whole unit. When a part on a machine fails to do what it is supposed to do, it is replaced by a new part for the machine to work properly. Many husbands have been replaced. The work or job is not the only obligation of the worker.
In thinking about how, as a nation, we moved from an agricultural to an industrial society we need to look at the whole picture. Prior to the Industrial Revolution husbands and wives worked together on their farms to produce what they needed for their family's survival. WORKED TOGETHER. When Pa took a job working in the factory for a paycheck, everything at home fell on the shoulders of the wife. And eventually we have evolved to where we are today...Ma is working for a paycheck and too many of us have all the burden of responsibility at home, too.
Take a look at good, old Benjamin Franklin. Who ran his business and kept the home fires burning in Philadelphia, Pa. USA while he lived with another woman in England and spent the last 12 years of his wife's life living in Europe? He came home only after Debra's death and only because she wasn't alive to run his business ventures for him. She waited for him all of those years.
For centuries men have abused the meaning of a woman answering to her husband. Jesus said the man is to be the head over his wife, as Jesus was the head of his church. He loved his church (the people, not a building) so much he was willing to lay down his life for it. The OTHER part of that? The part so many seem not to recall? The husband is to love his wife just as Jesus loved his church. He never intended that women not speak what they thought, rather, that there would be peace in the household when the husband and wife discuss things and make the right decisions together. Husbands are to be responsible, to stand up and be men rather than place blame for all bad things on their women.
Does that sound like women get a fair deal with their men?
Problems arise when men don't respect and appreciate their women. They have difficulty understanding that God made man, both male and female, in his image. Each is a part and when two parts are joined they become one whole unit, equally-yoked and working toward the same goals. Men do not own the market on Intelligence.
When one of the parts isn't working properly, that part is hurting the whole unit. When a part on a machine fails to do what it is supposed to do, it is replaced by a new part for the machine to work properly. Many husbands have been replaced. The work or job is not the only obligation of the worker.
In thinking about how, as a nation, we moved from an agricultural to an industrial society we need to look at the whole picture. Prior to the Industrial Revolution husbands and wives worked together on their farms to produce what they needed for their family's survival. WORKED TOGETHER. When Pa took a job working in the factory for a paycheck, everything at home fell on the shoulders of the wife. And eventually we have evolved to where we are today...Ma is working for a paycheck and too many of us have all the burden of responsibility at home, too.
Take a look at good, old Benjamin Franklin. Who ran his business and kept the home fires burning in Philadelphia, Pa. USA while he lived with another woman in England and spent the last 12 years of his wife's life living in Europe? He came home only after Debra's death and only because she wasn't alive to run his business ventures for him. She waited for him all of those years.
For centuries men have abused the meaning of a woman answering to her husband. Jesus said the man is to be the head over his wife, as Jesus was the head of his church. He loved his church (the people, not a building) so much he was willing to lay down his life for it. The OTHER part of that? The part so many seem not to recall? The husband is to love his wife just as Jesus loved his church. He never intended that women not speak what they thought, rather, that there would be peace in the household when the husband and wife discuss things and make the right decisions together. Husbands are to be responsible, to stand up and be men rather than place blame for all bad things on their women.
Does that sound like women get a fair deal with their men?
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