Society’s Antidote

“I believe today’s world is hungering to be transformed by the spirit of femininity.
What better antidote for an impersonal and violent society than warm, gentle feminine strength?
What better cure for urban sprawl and trashed out country-sides than a love of beauty and a confidence in one’s ability to make things lovely?
What better hope for a future than a nurturing mother’s heart that is more concerned for the next generations than for its own selfish desires?
All of these qualities – gentle, strength, love of beauty, care and nurturing –
are part of the spirit of femininity.”
-Emilie Barnes,

 

In a world where women are encouraged to be loud and fierce, to step on anyone in the way of self care, to have a feeling of “I deserve better” and “You are enough”,  I want to my raise my daughters to be the exact opposite.

{And ladies, you are not enough – that is not Biblical. We must turn to God for all our help and you cannot get through life without Him. Colossians 2:9-10}

Despite what the world is doing, we are raising counter cultural daughters in our home.

 

It is time for Christian women everywhere to step down – not up – and be the women set out in Biblical standards, to be keepers of our home and loving our families.

“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”
-Titus 2:1-5

I am working on  training myself – and my daughters – to be soft and feminine, to be the women God has designed us to be … to love our husband, adore our babies, to nurture and tend faithfully to our children, to take care of the home with a cheerful attitude and to be the woman God has designed.

When I was a little girl, there was a beautiful young mother who attended the same church who caught my attention. She was a stay a home mother and was enjoying her role and tasks. She always spoke softly, she wore beautiful (not fancy) feminine dresses, she had a handful of adorable, bouncy children– and when I was blessed enough to babysit for her – I was enthralled with her decorating … pretty colours, florals, delicate details … she seemed the picture of femininity. I saw there was joy in being a mother, there were gentle treasures in being a wife, there were sweet blessings in keeping a home!

 

All these tiny interesting facts remained in my mind, engraving a feminine portrait for me to copy. Of course, I have always loved old fashioned living – and books along the lines of Anne of Green Gables and Polyanna – and therefore, my thinking, as a young girl, was admittedly shaped by reading of such gentle books. Staying home and taking care of my babies and children, tending to my home, was something I knew I would do someday.

Wearing skirts, pretty florals and ribbons was always something I wanted to do – and even if I was teased by others as a young lady, I still managed to look past the mocking and continue on in my journey. For a while, I dressed like the world, but soon found it was not modest, not becoming, and certainly not the style I wanted to train my daughters to wear.

 

And yet while feminity, yes, does come from the outside appearance, it also must radiates from within. If you are hateful, it will show up on your face. If you are bitter, it will change your lovely expression to one of despise. If you are rushed and stressed, it will erase your work of gentle ways. If you are being friendly to someone in person but speaking poorly of them when they leave, all while wearing beautiful feminine clothes, you are not being a godly, beautiful woman.  If you are busy and loud, your flowing dresses and pretty hair will not amount to much.

This is a journey I am on and have by no means reached the end – every day is a new opportunity to embrace my godly calling and erase the ideas of the world’s image of a woman that is constantly portrayed.

 

Embrace your God-given role, ladies!

“At its best, our femininity arises natural, out of who we are,
and finds its natural expression in the way we live our lives and make our homes.
But in our hectic, hard driving society,
it’s easy to lose track of our gentle, feminine side.
The spirit of felinity is something we must nurture ourselves and in our homes,
and celebrate God’s gift to us.”
-Emilie Barnes

 

 

So today … embrace your femininity.

Love your husbands. They work hard for their families.
Raise godly children. They are the hope for our future.
Make your home a happy, beautiful place, a shelter from the dark and weary world.
Spread joy and happiness to everyone you meet in the outside world.
Enjoy the beautiful life God has given you.
Plant flowers and more flowers in your gardens!
Wear beautiful clothes and throw out your sweat pants! Dress up for your family!
Share the love of Jesus, as He is our only true and lasting hope for a lost society.