I have only ever lived in one nation.
I have traveled abroad four times in my whole life. I would hardly call myself an international woman. Seems so exotic and fancy like I need to be able to speak another language or something amazing like that. I have lived in six states and been on three continents. My ancestry lines hail from a separate set of three continents. Maybe that will count on a day like today when I am supposed to be celebrated as an international.
I am a woman. I have been a girl, a lady, a female since my mother’s womb. I was born in the 60’s which makes me an upper middle age Gen X yet a young grandmother type. (and if you saw me, I am kind of frumpy with grey streaks in my hair) To be a woman does not always feel that extraordinary to me until I think of the long line of women I have come from. My great great great Cherokee Grandmother killed a bear with a butcher knife when it threatened her family. My maternal grandmother prayed for 25 long and hard years for my grandfather to come to faith while still rearing her five children in the church. My mother walked the halls of Nyack as the first in her family to go to college. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law faced breast cancer with such a dignity and grace that their passing became sacred and beautiful when they ‘fell asleep in the Lord.’ I personally know sexual abuse survivors, domestic violence survivors, child abuser survivors, refugees, immigrants, ex pats, heroic missionaries, faithful prophetic and preaching voices in the church, powerful prayer warriors, recovering addicts, redeemed sinners from dark places —all women— with a beauty that defies skin cream. Their faces are often craggy or wrinkled even but exuding such joy in this hardened world. So yeah, since I know so many extraordinary and rather ordinarily amazing women- being fashioned in the Lord’s image as woman does seem a cause to celebrate.
But why today? Why now? Why March 8th of all days? Does time stand still for the oppressed or impoverished, and our needy and worthy causes? Does the clock suspend in a time traveling warp as we give each other high fives and awards and place garlands over necks in praise for what we accomplished for the world? I think not.
Today is yet another day store up treasures in heaven as believing women. It is another day to be ‘little Christs’ to a hurting world and to show we are Christian by our love.
This day, we learn from a God who fashioned our womanhood. We learn from Jesus who redeemed our womanhood. We learn from the Spirit who empowers our womanhood. We learn from each other — The Body who encourages us to love and good deeds for the least of these. For in Christ, our suffrage is made complete.
God, the ultimate author of international women’s day — says that a woman will be praised because she fears the Lord. She will be lifted up because she humbles herself in His sight. Jesus praises faith, the woman who touched his cloak; his hem. He praises the persistence of the woman whose daughter was delivered from demons. He praises the widow’s love offering of two small coins for she gave all out of her poverty. He praises the gift of perfume lavished on his feet and Mary’s attention to his teaching.
I often get confused that women to be celebrated must be first in class, first in show, glam girls—above all, thin—three times a lady, smart, multi-tasking career women holding it all together. I often get sidetracked that the only women to be celebrated are all the women I am not.
But, God.
He, the Healer
He, the Lifter of my head
He communicates an entirely different economy than angry fists lifted high in protest. He communicates an entirely different metric than apathetic feelings brought low by the cares of this world.
He communicates an entirely different worldview than arduous fighting about rights and causes and political positions.
He communicates an entirely different value system than self-adulation first—a battle of the sexes that leaves us proudly superior.
He communicates womankind is made in His image, good.
He communicates that to reflect His heart of love for God
and love for neighbor and love for enemy is the ultimate aim, very good.
He communicates that He infinitely loves us.
He communicates that He deeply cares.
So, Happy International Women’s Day from me to you.
There is much in this world for which to advocate. There is even more in this dreadful place to take up spiritual arms against. In this subset blog of sexual abuse and domestic violence, we all know these heinous acts and crimes need more resources, more suffrage, more freedom, and more healing—hopefully even born from our hearts, our lips, our kindnesses, our relationships, our pens, and pretty paper.
May we take up this sacred mantle— freedom to captives and beauty for ashes. Those ashes are scattered on every social media platform, every news headline and painfully nestled in every family.
I have only ever lived in one nation.
I am a woman.
Today is my season, my time.
Maybe it is yours, too.
Happy International Women's Day!
WomanKind
Every woman fashioned in His image,
good
Every woman at some point in the Garden,
stood
And made a choice to believe
Or be deceived
To listen to the God who spoke
To weep with regret at all the life the enemy choked.
I am that woman
I come from a long line of international women
Traced by a family tree to three continents
Dozens of countries
And one lone couple,
Fearfully and wonderfully made in my mother’s womb,
A woman.
That is your story, too
In one way or another
All the places you have ever been
All the places you have ever yet to be
You are shaped culturally
Beautifully
Women are we
And the boast of this day
Is not in the accolades we have won
The suffering we have alleviated
The tireless acts we have done
The boast of this day is in a God
The holder of times and seasons
The cyclical ones, too
The Holder of this day
On this international day that honors women,
Remind me of Your Word, spoken to my femininity
Where girl-children are celebrated
Ladies are heralded
Freedom is elevated
Oppression deescalated
Remind me that You
Are freedom from bondage
You are the Savior of the oppressed
That in Christ, our suffrage is made complete
For in Christ, there is no male or female
Jew or Greek
Slave or free
For in Christ, our suffering is for good.
So today, we praise the woman who fears the Lord
We honor the woman who finds favor with her God
We bless the humble
We remember both the widow’s mite, for she gave out of her poverty
And the woman who lavished You with her perfumed hair
We give our all to the causes about us
We give our all to neighbors; even enemies
Our neighborhoods, our communities; our world
We give out of a heart of praise
Because we,
We were the one You have walked with in the cool of the day,
We were the slave girl You saw in the desert
We were the barren, You promised a child
We were the whore You did not condemn, forgave our sins
We were the woman losing blood for twelve long years
And the woman stooped over for 18 of the same
We were the women wracked with demons and nightmares and trauma
The orphan, the widow —
No matter where we are in our places, our spaces, and our world
You, You are our God and we are Your people
You are the Lord of the woman
We are the sheep of Your pasture
May we shepherdess the orphan, the widow,
The refugee and the oppressed
By Your Great love for us
May we release captives, yes even those trafficked
And minister the oil of gladness
May I be a servant to all those with a story
Much like mine
A girl made in Your image
From every people, tribe, tongue and nation--
Womankind.
2.26.24