A friend once asked for a portrait to be made from a small photo taken forty-four years earlier. It was a photo of his wife when he first met her. Years later this was how he still thought of her on her 62nd birthday, the most beautiful woman he had ever met.
So often in life women are busy with a multitude of tasks that keep families fed, clothed, and functioning. Many have very responsible positions in society, but most have the continuous responsibilities involved in raising families. Without the influence of women in our societies, families would fall apart and cease to exist. The following poem is in honor of these sweet heroes of a strong society.
Gentle Gifts
By Al Vester
I dreamt I saw a shining creek
Which she did cross on dainty feet
Quickly hopping from rock to rock,
Never daring to pause or stop
To see the bobbing elfin fleet
Of golden leaves beside the peat.
The dream’s too true, I’m sad to say,
For she does hop from day to day,
Failing still to pause or stop
To see what fleeing time has brought,
Those gentle gifts so bright and gay,
The precious thoughts that come her way.
Womanhood
More than a year ago, a convocation was held in the Vatican about the importance of families and marriage. One of the quotes that was read during this convocation is as follows:
By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.
Because men have historically taken the lead in protection and providing for their families, men have dominated most societies. Being a great warrior or a skilled hunter has often required greater physical strength and concentrated focus on immediate tasks. But what about the daily worries involving the future generation? This has been the job of the mothers and grandmothers. Are these tasks any less important to the future of our society? No, not in the least.
The greatest general or leader owes at least half of his natural abilities to his mother. This includes his intelligence, his physical characteristics, and his desires to learn and improve which he learned at his mother’s knee. Fathers also have a tremendous impact on their children’s self-esteem. So no one can rightfully say that one half of humanity is more important than the other half. Men and women are two equal halves of a complete unit, a family.
In jobs that require more intelligence than brute strength, a woman may be able to perform as equally well as a man, and often better. The key to true equality for women in any society is education. Given equal education, a woman can perform a multitude of tasks as equally well as a man. Also, an educated woman has far greater impact on the educational desires of her children than her husband. As I studied to obtain professional certifications, our children seemed to assume that their father was just a studious person. But when my wife went back to college after our children were all in school, our children took notice that mom thought completing homework was really important. As a result, their grades began to improve. Now all of our children have graduated from college. Most have gone on to obtain masters degrees, and one is now a professor teaching at a state university. All of this because of a mother’s desire to learn and improve has influenced our children’s feelings about education.
I love the following quote: (Old Testament) Proverbs 31:10 “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.” I personally count the value of my wife’s influence in my life and in the lives of our children as far more precious than mountains of emeralds and rivers of rubies.
The scriptures are filled with symbolic teachings; this is especially true with the story of the creation of Eve. In the story of Adam and Eve, Eve was created from one of Adam’s ribs. The choice of the rib is significant because it is under his arm where she can be protected and near his heart where she can be loved. She was not taken from a foot bone to be trodden upon or from his skull to rule over him, but from his side where she can stand next to him as an equal partner in all things.
Although men have often been the rulers, generals, or business tycoons of society, women have also been known to fill those same roles with energy and wisdom, when given the opportunity. We need to judge each other as to fitness for one position or another not by gender but by qualifications of integrity, honesty, intelligence, and ability.
The apostle Paul declared, (New Testament) 1 Corinthians 11:11 “Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.”
If you want a stable society, you need to recognize that both men and women are equal partners in building future generations.
