feminine appeal

I had wondered how i would raise my feminine child. Beyond the brids and the bees, there is a whole lot more to being girl-lady-woman. But today, she threw me off with her question:
"mom, why do the women do all the work?"
Thankfully i composed myself - for this is one of my personal peeves with many men - and prodded where the question could have arisen from. She has been watching the adults around her, and yes, what she has noticed; being a young girl who spends her life between school and home, is that the women are all abuzz with hecitivty.
Here was a chance for me to plant compassion, hope and truth, or to dampen her spirit with my own sorry complaints and pietous views of justice.
"Men and women have different strengths. The men work very hard too, but outside the home.... Each of us should work hard in our way"
"But so-and-so just...[she recounts a routine she is familiar with]"
"Some were not taught to do much cooking and cleaning.... Is that helpful for them and others?"
"No"
"This should tell you to marry someone who can also cook and clean huh?"
"O, i want to marry someone who can do everything so i can just play with the kids!"
(laughter)

still applicable: wrote this in 05

Entering 2005, nearing 40..

How did our world become so broken?

Every which way I turn, I confront brokenness: lives embittered and hardened struggling to go on – with busyness, with alcohol, with apathy. Lifeless marriages and listless youths ensnared in the unending downward spiral of unmet expectations and confused emotions.
[08 update: in the month of January i befriended two mothers with woes in marriage and children. serious woes.]

We are a generation that can eat a global spread but remains hungry for the next new sensory experience. We are a generation that can learn at byte-speed but remain directionless. We are a generation that cares for the body with extreme extravagance but remain sick in our hearts.
[08 update: see for yourself]

And, now, suddenly, an earthquake - and - tsunamis – and some we love are lost without a trace. Others we could not care less about disappear into oblivion it seems. In the thousands! It seems even our physical world is in travail.
[08: thankfully only hard hitting rains and a strange chill so far]

We long for harmony, a zen-like quiet within and outside us. But Life has a way of shocking us. God has a way of shaking us out of our stupor of endless vanities and chasing after the wind. There are troubles within. There are troubles outside.

Desperate, i turn to God’s word for solace. Sometimes I come away with greater understanding. But mostly, I come away humbled by the awesome greatness of God and drop to my knees again to repent of the stubborn sins that are both private and universal: like trying to live the way we want. Like trying to gratify our desires without regard for others, and the environment. Like loving so badly and poorly…when people are what matters most.

Even as I write, there is a strong wind howling about. It reminds me of the fire of the Spirit of God that can blow and show up the hollowness in us that makes the wind shriek and curl in howls. O puny person, humble yourself. There is much you cannot control, engineer, conceive, anticipate. This is Life: God’s design – full of surprises that enthrall and also frighten – the gift of God’s breath; to be lived with, not apart from the God who gave it in the first place.