I have been asked several times in recent days how a single young woman is to display properly biblical femininity even if she does not marry or bear children. This is often a difficult question, as I certainly have not made a conscious decision to forgo marriage or children. In God's providence, He simply has not brought a man into my path who either lines up with my spiritual goals, or who is interested in pursuing me for the purpose of establishing a family. I too, like many young women, desire to live out my creation design as a wife and mother. However, I cannot force or create a relationship that has not been ordered by a good and benevolent God. I may write several further posts on this topic, as I continue to study and meditate on it. For now, though, I would like to share a quote from a book that has been a huge encouragement to me in my pursuit of living out the call to redeemed womanhood:
"A woman can accentuate her femininity or she can detract from it, but she cannot change it. Our femininity is a gift of grace from a loving God. It is not only in the context of marriage that we can express our femininity. We were created feminine; that is not a state conferred in marriage. We do not wait until we reach the marriage altar to give full expression to our femininity. Though it looks slightly different when we are single than when we are married, all women are called to display their femininity in a variety of relationships." (Carolyn Mahaney)
In future posts, I will delve more deeply into the manner in which single women can express their femininity. Because we most certainly do, and we either express in ways that glorify God and validate His creation design to a lost world, or we detract from it by exemplifying a lethargic and even detrimental vision of femininity.
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