The Other Side Of Feminism
I don’t even know where to start with this, it’s so easy to become lost in emotions. I wanted to pen this letter to women who were failed by the feminist movement. You who sit with these guarded and secret dreams that you are afraid to share. You who want to be homemakers.
Your dreams are treated as contemptible and simple and you have forced yourself to wear ambition as a mask. But I know your longings and your envy. I know your thoughts. I have them too. I write this to those called as mothers, wives, and homemakers. Feminism failed you because it demanded you to be more, it looked at your dream and told you it wasn’t good enough.
Can I encourage you today with something you probably haven’t heard in a while? You are enough. Your dream is big enough. Your dream is an undertaking that God has deemed a blessing. You are a blessing and your calling is not simple or worthless. If God has given you the dream to be a mother, it’s not too simple. It is exactly what He has planned for you. Psalm 139:15-16 says, “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
I understand the pain and the fear of embracing that truth. Maybe you fear that the rest of the world is right and you are throwing your life away. Please don’t let the fake glitter on the horizon drag you from the road that is set before you. This is your vocation, not anyone else’s. Don’t feel ashamed of it. It’s actually an honorable role, Titus 2:3-5 highlights it:
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
Now, I recognize it’s easy to accuse this verse of being misogynistic, and accuse Paul of keeping women imprisoned in their homes. “We have rights! We can have jobs! We want to do other things!” Take a deep breath. I believe God calls everyone, regardless of gender, into different occupations, and there is space for a woman to do both. Women can have a career and raise a family. I don’t want us to get sidetracked in the immediate outcry, this verse is in the Bible for a reason. It should make us stop and do some soul searching. Am I kind? Self-controlled? How do I interact with my husband? My kids? Are there Godly older women in my life who are mentoring me in what is good? The calling for every woman is to listen and heed.
But I don’t want to forget you, the lovely souls needing some encouragement today, please catch the heart of God here. God sees you and your calling to love a husband and raise children, and it is something He cares about deeply. You are not settling for lesser things, you are embracing the Royal Way for your life. Breathe in your liberation. Even if that means being liberated to cook from scratch everyday. Do it with the same joy as the woman studying the stars.
Don’t turn your nose up at whatever God has called you to. I made that mistake and I realized that a lot of frustrations in my life are stemming from that decision. I tried adding to God’s calling on my life to make it “spicier” and “cooler” but all I am is busier.
The feminist movement failed me and it’s taken me far too long to realize that God never has, and I should have been sticking with His instructions the entire time. I thought I was planting flowers, but I planted weeds. God’s flowers were already planted in the garden, all I needed to do was to cultivate them. Now I have to multitask between pulling weeds and growing flowers. It’s hard to tell them apart and I’m not that great of a gardener. But God’s teaching me, weed by weed, flower by flower.
Don’t be ashamed to grow what God has planted within you, even if it’s “just” being a wife (Proverbs 18:22).
How has feminism affected your faith?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mia Grace loves sunflowers, words, old hardcover books, and fountain pens. She adores Jesus Christ, and seeks to listen and obey him in her life. Her life verse is Isaiah 52:7, and her prayer is for every girl to grasp the height, weight, depth, width, and power of Christ's love for them.