He, she, they. It, them.

I’m a grammar dork; I embrace this about myself. I love words; the way they feel, the way they sound, the infinite puzzle involved in the writing process. Which one goes here? Which one fits better there? Does that wording communicate the thought in my head?

I especially love gender-specific pronouns. He. She. I think I even love them in a story more than named characters; when I see a character’s name replaced with a generic ‘he’, my mind is free to imagine that person however I see fit.

She.

She. The power of that pronoun in a piece of writing is palpable; even the shape of the letters implies characteristics of the person attached to it.

Femininity is often misunderstood; defined in terms of appearance, domestic ‘respnsibilities’, even the amount of ‘bling’.

Sorry, chickies; that ain’t biblical.

She is powerful. She is strong. And SHE is a complete representation of the glory of God, in and of herself.

Woah. What?? Did you get that??? You, my dear female friend, are a complete thought. The whole enchilada. The whole shebang.

Turn with me to Genesis 1 (I’ve always wanted to say that). Look – there, in verses 26 and 27: “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness … So God created man in his own image; male and female he created them.” (ESV, emphasis mine)

I’m a bit of a stickler for chronology, so here’s my nugget: These verses come before Genesis 2, where the whole “It is not good for man to be alone” thing happens. You remember – Adam looks at the animals, doesn’t find anything (what??); God puts him to sleep, does some surgery, and fashions (hee hee) a woman from Adam’s rib. Bada bing, bone of my bone, bada boom, there’s Eve.

Yikes. You mean, contrary to some teachings you and I have likely heard, Eve wasn’t an afterthought, an addition, an ‘oops, I forgot’ on God’s part? Even if it wasn’t stated that overtly, it sure was implied.

Nope. She was part of the plan from the beginning.

I have a friend who puts it this way. She pictures the Trinity sitting around a table (round, of course), having a conference. God the Father says, “Hey! I’ve got this GREAT idea. WHAT IF we fashion creatures, in our image?” The other two agree, so Father pulls two sets of blueprints out of the paper tubes, hangs them up, and says, “There!”

TWO sets of COMPLETE blueprints. Not one set, then modified to create another. Two complete sets, both representing complete aspects of the image of God.

There was a popular movie several years ago, where the big ‘romantic’ moment had the lead male telling the lead female, ‘You complete me.’

Did you hear me gagging? Yeah, gagging. This perpetuates the myth that somehow, I’m lacking in myself what only a partner can make up for me.

But that ain’t God!! Yes, we are lacking; there’s no doubt about that. But no other human being can make up that lack; only God can. But way back at the beginning, when he designed human beings, he made each of us to completely represent a part of his image. Together, we make a complete picture of his glory (at least as complete as we can, this side of eternity), but neither one of us are missing anything in and of ourselves.

Wow. That was muddy.

Ok. Let’s look at this another way.

In Genesis 2, when God says he’s going to create a ‘helper’ suitable for Adam, that word has little or nothing to do with who cooks dinner or washes the undies. Unless, of course, washing undies is a military tactic.

Which it might be.

See, that word there, ‘helper’, is the Hebrew word azar, which, translated, means ‘to surround, to protect, to succor.’ It’s used in a military context when the reinforcements come in. Reinforcement. Shield. Protector.

Huh. Ain’t no dish washing there. We’re in a war, folks.

This is not to say you shouldn’t wash dishes. I believe in clean dishes. I just don’t necessarily believe that ‘barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen’ was God’s design for Eve. I don’t believe it wasn’t, either; but I believe my God’s design for me had a much more significant purpose.

I’m a fighter.

I’m designed to come in after the first wave has ‘taken the hill’ and support, bind up and encourage. I’m built to be a shield, to hold the enemy at bay for those under my keeping.

See, all the way back in Genesis 3, after Eve ate that blasted apple, God cursed the serpent with my enmity. John 10:10 says, “The enemy comes not except to steal, kill and destroy; but I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

The enemy doesn’t even show up unless he’s gonna try to steal from me, kill me, or destroy me and those under my care.

Not in my house, dude.

That’s my role, right there. Not in my house.

I’m a shield. I’m created to fight back, to be fierce. To war for those I love with everything I have, even when the clouds look blackest and I really just feel like throwing in the (dish)towel.

But here’s the deal. The other half of that little ‘curse’ back there? Yeah, that one. The one where we got pain in childbirth and all that other stuff that makes me kind of want to go kick Eve in the shin. The other half of that was that we’d ‘desire our husband.’

Yeah, not that kind of ‘desire’. The wording there indicates that we’d desire his position and authority. But wait, girls – this doesn’t just apply to married chicks.

Ever since then, women have had an innate desire to control. Sure, yeah, not you. Of course not. But the rest of femalekind fights daily with all different kinds of control issues, whether we’ve got a husband to aim them at or not. The feminist movement, although vocal, wasn’t the first group of women to claim superiority over men anytime they could. Check out Proverbs; it’s chock full of warnings about women.

We seek that control in a myraid of ways, too; manipulation, emotionalism, non-emotionalism, sexual issues, self-righteousness, bullying (yes, we bully, girls. You know it and I know it), verbal vomit. She can be angry, she can be a martyr, she falls easily into any of the ways she knows how to gain control. We elbow our way to the front, no matter who we trample on in the process. We can be jealous, competitive and petty.

And by doing so, she’s abdicated her place as a shield and taken up a weapon never intended to be hers.

Ladies, if you’re offended with me right now, and I’m willing to bet my favorite over-priced latte that some of you are, I challenge you to examine your own heart. You’re yelling at your screen right now (I can hear you in my own voice), saying things like, “I’m not gonna stay home and wipe noses!” or, “I can be the CEO, thank you very much!!” Or my all time favorite, “I need a man like a fish needs a bicycle!” (What?? I never understood that one, even in my psuedo-feminist days.)

Truth is, no, you don’t. You have all of God there is to have, and you reflect all of the image of Him you were intended to reflect. Completely.

But in order for the body of Christ to function as it was intended, we women need to understand our function and embrace it.

We’re warriors.

I don’t care who goes in first or who goes in second. Each line is necessary for the victory to occur. Your function, ladies, is to be encouraging, supportive and to build up.

Can you do that at home, while wiping snotty noses? Yes.

Can you do that behind the counter at Starbucks? You betcha.

Can you do that as the CEO of a major corporation? Absolutely. And you’d better.

See, it’s not about what you do, it’s about who you are (Huh. Think I’ve heard that one before). You can function the way you were built to function wherever you function.

The men in our lives, whether they be husbands, co-workers, friends, bosses, underlings, sons, what have you, need us to function in our role as a shield. My husband needs me to take my place behind him, weapon at the ready, to support and encourage him when he needs it, and to have his back when the enemy attacks. My son needs me to hold the enemy at bay, saying, ‘Not in my house!’

My guy friends need encouragement from me to be who they were created to be. Men that I might happen to come into contact with need me to have resolved my control issues, and be a safe place to see Christ. It doesn’t matter where I draw my paycheck from, or if I draw one at all; it matters whether or not I have settled my identity as a woman.

Head back to the rib thing. What’s a rib for? Support. Without it, the body collapses. Ooh, that’s good, right there. Without the rib functioning as a rib, the body collapses. The rib doesn’t get to say, ‘Nope, I’d rather be a kneecap.’

Ok, I know that analogy breaks down a little. But don’t let that distract you from the truth – you were made to hold things up. Not by forcing your way in, elbowing your way to the front. No. You were made to hold things together with encouragement, support, love. Kindness.

That’s how you fight the enemy. When he comes to steal, kill and destroy (which he will), pull out your sword, stand your ground, shielding those in your care, and fight: ‘Not in my house!’

Embrace your she-ness. Embrace the ferocious warrior within, and stand your ground. Be willing to be the encourager, supporter and shield you were meant to be. Lay down your need to be ‘first’ (elbows can really hurt, by the way), and face your control issues.

Fight, ladies. It’s what you were built for.

Nancy Smith

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