Come, Read the Bible with Me!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

A wife of noble character who can find?



I have recently, again, received the above graphic forwarded to me by email. (click on the picture for easier reading)

In the following weeks, I will commit to examining each point from the biblical perspective.

Make no mistake, I was raised in a feminist America. Feminism is the air we breathe. It is very much like trying to think like a tree to see things in another way. However, just because I am a woman of unclean lips, and everyone around me also has unclean lips, doesn't make unclean lips alright. This is not like wearing a kilt in Iowa, or jeans in the Buckingham Palace. These are things that have far-reaching, and commonly denied effects.

The funny thing is how simple little steps to make the home a pleasant place to gather have become, not only a lost art, but a laughing stock. The main reason is that we are a culture that teaches us to live for ourselves, for the most part. Even philanthropy is based on what's in it for me (WIFM) with tax breaks and incentives.

Some of the suggestions in this 1955 advice can simply be tossed, but we should not have thrown out the baby with the bath water. Reading these, makes my natural self, cry out, "Why?" or "But what about me?"

Mere nostalgia is not a hill I will die on, but this is really more than nostalgia. There are lessons to be learned from what we learned in '60s and '70s. "You've come a long way, baby!" Can we even see where it has gotten us? Women do not hold the place of honor that we used to. We have given up sacrificing ourselves for our children in order to grow old alone. We have given up serving our husbands, in order to raise our children without the strength of the father.

We have become all we need, to become all we have.

We have come a long way, baby!

5 comments:

debbiekay said...

I don't llike to think of all the years of cultivating my rights as a woman are lost and wasted years. Rather I hope that I have learned to value that which the feminist movement told me was not valuable such as the value I place on myself. Or the value I place on others in my life. Or the value of women friends. The value older women have...the knowledge, wisdom, life lessons, sensitivity, kindness, comfort..that I can partake of but for the asking.The years are not wasted ones vecause I have learned from them. My regret is that the lesson took so long to learn.

Rachel Pierson said...

Deb! You honor me with your comment. Thanks.

I was one of those who rode along on the wave of cultural trends, like feminism. For me it was the air I breathed; it was the way things were. Whereas you say that you cultivated your rights as a woman. Hopefully we can have a discussion and learn from one another.

I have regrets that stem from that way of life. My hope is that God brought me down that path to refine me, and so that I may serve as a light, that others may not go the way I did. (or at least that they may go that way with full awareness).

I can be one of those wise older women, who can teach and guide from experience; and can comfort with sensitivity and kindness those whom God brings into my life.

debbiekay said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rebecca Nugent said...

Hi, Rachel. I have to admit...that list was a little difficult to read. I certainly don't consider myself a feminist or egalitarian by any stretch of the imagination, but when I read the list from 1955, I really wonder about the wisdom of a few of them...especially "you have no right to question him..." or "don't say anything if he is out all night." Huh? Didn't God give men wives to be (respectfully) their counselors? I'm not trying to be arugmentative or anything. I have much respect for you, and I definitely enjoy your blog. Maybe you can elaborate a little more by emailing me, if you wish. (rdnugent at gmail dot com) Thanks:)

Rachel Pierson said...

Hi Rebecca! I didn't know you lurked around this neighborhood! I hope everything is well with you and your little general!

I know exactly what you are saying. I have to actually work some of these things out. "Housekeeping Monthly" didn't make it into the cannon, so I think it is open season. Heck, "A good wife always knows her place" naturally rubs me the wrong way.

I hope you will stop back for further discussion. I haven't got it all worked out, and my heart is desparately wicked so I want to study up a bit.