So, I've been wrestling with starting an entirely new blog, considering eliminating my quest for blackness and then thought, why not 'add to' rather than 'take away'. There are so many things that affect how I view my blackness and I kept coming back to my being a woman and felt compelled to share my thoughts on the topic.
Ultimately, I'm fascinated with the role of woman as it is portrayed in the media and society today and its stark contrast in the Bible. The Bible has so much to say about womanhood and I have to admit that I sometimes feel that my head and heart are more clearly directed by the things of this world rather than the things of the Father. I am hoping that the two topics (blackness and womanhood) do not come into conflict with one another and don't think they will, but I do want to explore this more.
I finally added the page with the inspiration of a girlfriend. She came over to relax my hair and I took the time to look at a couple of magazines that had been piling up. I started flipping through the magazines and we were inundated with words like "sexy", photos of stars apparently showing their independence by removing their tank top and almost baring their chest and articles about women being vulnerable but refusing to really talk about what exactly went wrong.
We sucked our teeth and shook our heads and just couldn't leave the topic alone. A barrage of images of perfect women put before us in a woman's magazine. Where are the real photos? The pictures of women that look like us, sitting around a kitchen table chomping on pork rines, sipping red wine with ones hair up in a towel waiting for it to dry. Tired, wrinkled, laughing while in the midst of some great challenges. Listening to their boys drink root beer in a contest until one of them vomits - to which they then give the vomiter a medal to encourage his participation and failure. Talking about real things, messy things, unclear things while still attempting to dream big things with and for God. Where is that magazine?
Of course, this friend is one who thinks we can pull off a magazine - she's an go getter like that - but I decided that we would begin with posts first. Find the audience of women who want to look through magazines about real women, women with missing hair or grey hairs that won't stay down, with messy rooms in their house and unbalanced schedules and areas of their lives that are just baffling no matter how hard they try. Women who are not feeling well but still (without a nanny or entourage) still gets the kids and their friends to the practice and ensure their homework is complete and at least next to their bookbag. Women who are friends with other women who are in the battle with experiences that are similar or extremely different and who talk about more than make-up, hair, outfits & nails - though they take the time to comment - and more than husbands and more than life.
Women who will challenge what they see and think using the Word of God and our perfect Father's standards and not our own or the ones that society tells us that we should have. Women who can see the lies that Satan tries to convince us to make truths and talk openly with one another about them. Women who though life repeatedly tries to beat them down with health issues, financial stresses, parenting or family concerns, work struggles and just plain drama, keep on fighting to be pleasing to God and to honor Him in this world while not being a product of it.
I am not an expert at this. In fact, if this were a certification, I would say I'm only enrolled in the class that is the pre-class before the introductory class.
Maybe its turning 40, maybe its the challenges in my personal life right now, maybe its that I've taken more time to reflect on what the Word says about women and wives in particular that I'm seeing the discrepancies between me and the woman that God calls me to be. I won't be ridiculously hard on myself, I have given up some things to detach me a bit more from the world. Things that I really did enjoy - real (to me) sacrifices. No more purchasing People magazines, no more 'Real Housewives" of any city, romantic comedies are few and far between and having the television on just to have it on really are no longer things that drive my spare time. I am even abstaining from Facebook until there is a huge change in my life (I miss Facebook). I am seriously seeking my womanhood. The womanhood God calls me to.
There will of course be some overlap between the two themes of this blog but the thing I hope is most recognized throughout is my authentic self; black, woman and all...
Ultimately, I'm fascinated with the role of woman as it is portrayed in the media and society today and its stark contrast in the Bible. The Bible has so much to say about womanhood and I have to admit that I sometimes feel that my head and heart are more clearly directed by the things of this world rather than the things of the Father. I am hoping that the two topics (blackness and womanhood) do not come into conflict with one another and don't think they will, but I do want to explore this more.
I finally added the page with the inspiration of a girlfriend. She came over to relax my hair and I took the time to look at a couple of magazines that had been piling up. I started flipping through the magazines and we were inundated with words like "sexy", photos of stars apparently showing their independence by removing their tank top and almost baring their chest and articles about women being vulnerable but refusing to really talk about what exactly went wrong.
We sucked our teeth and shook our heads and just couldn't leave the topic alone. A barrage of images of perfect women put before us in a woman's magazine. Where are the real photos? The pictures of women that look like us, sitting around a kitchen table chomping on pork rines, sipping red wine with ones hair up in a towel waiting for it to dry. Tired, wrinkled, laughing while in the midst of some great challenges. Listening to their boys drink root beer in a contest until one of them vomits - to which they then give the vomiter a medal to encourage his participation and failure. Talking about real things, messy things, unclear things while still attempting to dream big things with and for God. Where is that magazine?
Of course, this friend is one who thinks we can pull off a magazine - she's an go getter like that - but I decided that we would begin with posts first. Find the audience of women who want to look through magazines about real women, women with missing hair or grey hairs that won't stay down, with messy rooms in their house and unbalanced schedules and areas of their lives that are just baffling no matter how hard they try. Women who are not feeling well but still (without a nanny or entourage) still gets the kids and their friends to the practice and ensure their homework is complete and at least next to their bookbag. Women who are friends with other women who are in the battle with experiences that are similar or extremely different and who talk about more than make-up, hair, outfits & nails - though they take the time to comment - and more than husbands and more than life.
Women who will challenge what they see and think using the Word of God and our perfect Father's standards and not our own or the ones that society tells us that we should have. Women who can see the lies that Satan tries to convince us to make truths and talk openly with one another about them. Women who though life repeatedly tries to beat them down with health issues, financial stresses, parenting or family concerns, work struggles and just plain drama, keep on fighting to be pleasing to God and to honor Him in this world while not being a product of it.
I am not an expert at this. In fact, if this were a certification, I would say I'm only enrolled in the class that is the pre-class before the introductory class.
Maybe its turning 40, maybe its the challenges in my personal life right now, maybe its that I've taken more time to reflect on what the Word says about women and wives in particular that I'm seeing the discrepancies between me and the woman that God calls me to be. I won't be ridiculously hard on myself, I have given up some things to detach me a bit more from the world. Things that I really did enjoy - real (to me) sacrifices. No more purchasing People magazines, no more 'Real Housewives" of any city, romantic comedies are few and far between and having the television on just to have it on really are no longer things that drive my spare time. I am even abstaining from Facebook until there is a huge change in my life (I miss Facebook). I am seriously seeking my womanhood. The womanhood God calls me to.
There will of course be some overlap between the two themes of this blog but the thing I hope is most recognized throughout is my authentic self; black, woman and all...
