She

She (1,140)

May 8th, 2011

She was born human.

She became a woman.

She decided to allow herself the status of wife.

She chose to have a child.

She learned to be a mother.

It was not natural.

It was far from being an evolutionary or creative certainty.

For she spent the first twelve years of her life in dominance.

She was faster than the boys—stronger, taller, smarter, more athletic.

Then a change.

Yes, a transformation that might render most creatures paralyzed with fear or stagnant in productivity.

She pressed on.

She watched as her brothers were empowered with muscle, sinew and respect.

She became softer, more feminine and was thrust into a world where praise was given with the lips, but the heart of society was far from her.

She allowed herself to be invaded.

Certainly she never acted like there was an actual intrusion going on.

But her space was entered by a lover, and eventually, by the placement of a child within her womb.

While a man is only required to bring a seed, a woman must offer her entire body.

The young embryo drains minerals, vitamins, energy and often … purpose and will from its host.

She is promised a child but for a long season, only given discomfort, weight gain and pain.

And the child is born.

Generations of previous females had told her that she would know what to do when the infant was in her arms.

She didn’t.

For it is not natural—it is something she discovers how to do out of love, giving of herself in a Christ-like way—a sacrificial act for the salvation of another.

And what does she receive for her great gift of maintaining the integrity of our species?

Religion demands that she take a place as a weaker vessel.

Corporations limit her value to cosmetics and accessories.

Politics, after years of refusing, solicits her vote, while giving her no place at the table to be part of the “deciders.”

And society asks her to revel in her womanly virtues and motherly demands without ever tapping the true depths of her human capacity.

She tries not to complain.

For she knows she lives in a world where her objections are deemed “bitchiness.”

She attempts to find her sole purpose in her gender, only to feel melancholy slip into her heart at the end of the day.

She looks for brothers who will understand and accept her as an equal.

She desires that the scriptures be translated correctly to proclaim that God is “no respecter of persons” and that “in the Kingdom of God there is no male or female.”

She is often refused the opportunity to preach and teach, although it is demanded that she perch herself on the front row to receive the brunt of instruction.

She is remarkable, receiving very few remarks.

She was born human.

She became a woman.

She decided to allow herself the status of “wife.”

She chose to have a child.

She learned to be a mother.

It was not natural.

Thank you, dear lady, for doing what was unnatural to maintain the integrity of our natural world.

Happy Mother’s Day.