Proverbs 31 Women. . .

Yesterday I spent some time on Evangelical Outpost getting caught up on reading some earlier posts. If you haven’t been introduced yet – I strongly encourage you to pour yourself a mug of your favorite drink and plop yourself down in front of your computer screen and get acquainted.

The Proverbs 31 Woman post caught my eye and held my attention long enough to read Joe’s perspective on an article about the dangers of marrying a career woman. I anticipated a lively debate in the comments. Yikes! There was some blood drawn on every side of the discussion.

Without getting into the particulars, (because you should read it yourself) I wanted to comment on the tone of the comments. This is something that has been with the church as long as the debate about the spirituality of sisters Mary and Martha – exactly the same, only different. (Sarah has some good things to say on that topic, so I will leave that to her in a future blog.)

Part of the issue involved is a question of semantics – everyone seems to have their own working definition of “career woman” – no pun intended - with each individual shading the definition just a tad. That right there is enough to cause a train wreck.

It seems to come down to the validation of my opinion riding on the devaluation of your opinion.

If God is as big as we all seem to think He is – can’t we trust Him enough to work in and through the people sitting across the table from us? Somehow I think we have lost sight of the fact that the position of THE Holy Sprit has already been filled. We don’t need to take pot shots at each other because we are traveling down the same road with slightly different baggage.

I was a stay-at-home mom. Some days it was fun and easy and some days it was not-so-fun and difficult. But even with my staying home, Dave and I chose to send our kids to public school. We did so with the understanding that we would be very active in their classrooms and PTA. We did so - not because we were lazy but because we determined that was best for our family. We take full responsibility for that choice.

A home-schooling mom from our church had been misled about our family’s education choice. She thought she recognized a kindred spirit in me and went on to share that she wept for the church kids who were forced to go to public school because their parents were not in-tune with God’s will for families. That was just as offensive as public school parents saying that home-schoolers are legalistic control freaks when it comes to their children.

I have dear friends who are home-schooling their children and it is a wonderful testimony to God’s leading in their family. I also have dear friends who teach in the public schools and chose to educate their children there and have had a phenomenal impact on the schools and their districts. Isn’t this a little like God’s divine plan for Peter and Paul?
Same Gospel – different divine strategy plans.

Women need to start at the core issue – new life in Christ. And then we need to stop being so judgmental about the paths each of us choose to take. Finally, we need to be supportive and open and give God the opportunity to allow us to learn from each other.