On Being a Woman
Standing in church on Sunday I was suddenly overcome in mid-song by an inordinate sense of pride that I was a woman. It was so strange and overwhelming, I was close to tears.
I don’t give much thought to the fact that I am woman. I just am. But in the last week, I have given it a great deal of thought and have come to realise that a lot of us really don’t appreciate just how unique we are. And this is the reason why we take ourselves for granted and put ourselves on the back burner.
Take our bodies for instance, I look at mine in the mirror and I am blown away by the knowledge of what it can do.
I start at curve of my little (well not so little anymore) belly. It conceived (with some help), incubated and carried a child for nine months. The skin on it stretched so taunt and the belly so distended it’s a wonder it didn’t rip. The faint silvery white lines living on as proof.
My eyes graze my body and I remember the strain, stresses and pain it went through during labour and childbirth. Pain and pressure so intense you think your eyeballs will pop.
I study my breasts that produced the milk to nourish my baby, the arms that rocked (and still do), the voice that sung (and still does), and the heart that loves (and continues to love). Pre-childbirth, my breasts were no more than two mounds of flesh that gave pleasure and made an outfit look good. However, post-childbirth, they have become to me symbols of life. And that thought is just so mind blowing.
Women have an inordinate capacity to ‘keep things together’ when it appears to others that there is nothing worth keeping together. We keep marriages, relationships, friendships, businesses, communities and yes, even whole countries together with the glue of our tears and the strength of our minds. We stay when others leave, we comfort even when we are broken, we keep things together in the midst of seeming chaos. We fall, we get up, we pull through, we press on, we survive.
I love being a woman. If there is life after death, I want to come back as a woman because, to borrow the words of God, we truly are fearfully and wonderfully made.
If you are a woman and reading this, I invite you to take time out today to celebrate who you are!
I don’t give much thought to the fact that I am woman. I just am. But in the last week, I have given it a great deal of thought and have come to realise that a lot of us really don’t appreciate just how unique we are. And this is the reason why we take ourselves for granted and put ourselves on the back burner.
Take our bodies for instance, I look at mine in the mirror and I am blown away by the knowledge of what it can do.
I start at curve of my little (well not so little anymore) belly. It conceived (with some help), incubated and carried a child for nine months. The skin on it stretched so taunt and the belly so distended it’s a wonder it didn’t rip. The faint silvery white lines living on as proof.
My eyes graze my body and I remember the strain, stresses and pain it went through during labour and childbirth. Pain and pressure so intense you think your eyeballs will pop.
I study my breasts that produced the milk to nourish my baby, the arms that rocked (and still do), the voice that sung (and still does), and the heart that loves (and continues to love). Pre-childbirth, my breasts were no more than two mounds of flesh that gave pleasure and made an outfit look good. However, post-childbirth, they have become to me symbols of life. And that thought is just so mind blowing.
Women have an inordinate capacity to ‘keep things together’ when it appears to others that there is nothing worth keeping together. We keep marriages, relationships, friendships, businesses, communities and yes, even whole countries together with the glue of our tears and the strength of our minds. We stay when others leave, we comfort even when we are broken, we keep things together in the midst of seeming chaos. We fall, we get up, we pull through, we press on, we survive.
I love being a woman. If there is life after death, I want to come back as a woman because, to borrow the words of God, we truly are fearfully and wonderfully made.
If you are a woman and reading this, I invite you to take time out today to celebrate who you are!
posted by hundred and one at 12:48 pm
4 Comments:
Very powerful and true. Well written!
Nicely-expressed tribute to the strengths of women, both physical and emotional.
What a wonderful celebration of woman hood! A fantastic antidote to all that plastic anorexia that is held up in the media as some sort of ideal of beauty.
Thanks so much also for your beautiful words as you came by my daily practice blog. It means a lot to know that I'm inspiring someone!!
that was very nice to read
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