Sittin' on the Roof Looking for God

For the last few months, I've been attempting to discover how women fit in the 21st century church, specifically where I fit in. I haven't had any light-bulb moments yet, and have some books in my reading pile on the subject, but a couple of months ago a friend lent me a book that was, well, different from what I might normally choose to read.

A Year of Biblical Woman: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband "Master," by Rachel Held Evans is not what you would call a traditional book on the role of women in the church and perhaps that is why I enjoyed it so much.

Evans is a young woman who found herself wondering what the Bible said about the role of women. She decided to read it with that in mind to see what she would discover. Her plan was to pick one topic to explore every month for a year and try living out that ideal in the 21st century.

The topics she focused on were gentleness, domesticity, obedience, valor, beauty, modesty, purity, fertility, submission, justice, silence, and grace. Each month, Evans chose to learn skills, practice character qualities, or educate herself (particularly during justice month) in that month's topic. How she does that is what makes the book so funny and so real. No high-flying theological theorist, no idealized Proverbs 31 woman, Evans is Everywoman.

You must read the book to discover why she slept in a tent on the lawn for a few nights, carried a seat cushion with her, grew out her hair, and made a dress as one of her very first ever sewing projects. All of this in the pursuit of discovering what it means to be a Biblical woman.

Whether or not you agree with her methods, convictions, theology, or conclusions, you will laugh (and sometimes cry) your way through the book. I don't have the courage, creativity, or stamina to try a similar experiment, but reading Evan's book gave me yet another perspective on women in the Christian church, Christianity, and the Bible.

And that Proverbs 31 woman who is called a virtuous woman? Well in Hebrew it actually means valor. I've never felt I could live up to that virtuous woman, but I think I could be a woman of valor.

Life skills, According to Mama

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One portion of my brain is always focused on my youngest son's  transition  to college in August.  A reoccurring, panicky thought I have is, has he acquired all the basic life skills he needs?  Can he survive without me telling him what to do?

When my kids were young I kept telling them, "You better learn this.  I'm not going to college with you, you know." (One of my sons told me recently that he was always confused by that because he didn't even know what college was.  As you can see, I was planning their academic careers well in advance.)   So even though I was aware my four chicks would leave the nest someday,  I started to worry that I forgot to teach my son something important.

I thought I'd better sit down and make a list of skills I think are essential for college survival and beyond.  Then make sure he has mastered them.

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1. Laundry (how to do it)
2. Laundry (actually doing it)
3. Nutritious meals (these are not comprised of pizza and tacos)
4. Keep track of spending and reconcile a bank statement (more must come in than goes out)
5. Sleep (five hours a night are not enough)
6. Pass a class  (includes more than just studying for the final)
7. Communication (call your mother occasionally)
8. Friends (Proverbs 2:12-15, Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.)
9. Cleaning (find roommates who are neater than you)
10. Balance (make a realistic schedule including classes, studying, work, activities and other commitments)
11. Exercise (oh right, you'll be in the marching band playing a tuba, that probably covers it)
12. Faith (find a good church and plug in, pray, read your Bible)

Somehow, this is all I can think of and I'm afraid I've left off some important skills.  But, he'll learn and figure things out on his own and he can always call Mama.

Still Working on It

Two weeks ago I started to write about my self improvement projects.  I meant to finish talking about it last Monday, but, if you've been keeping up with the blog you know I got involved with the blog comment project and just couldn't keep up with my writing as well as reading over 130 blogs.

The remaining three self-improvement tasks I've set myself involve reading, my spiritual life and my future.  

Reading?  What, she needs to learn how to read?  Actually, it's the quality of reading material I want to improve.  My favorite genre is historical mysteries.  I love history, I love mysteries.  And while I think that’s fine, I know I should read more books of real worth.  I want to, but historical mysteries are like junk food to me.  I can't get enough.  Who want to eat broccoli when you can have cookies?  

This is part of the self-discipline I'm trying establish in my life.  I am lazy at heart and just want to please myself.  Can I get a witness?  

One of my reading goals is to read Winston Churchill's The History of the English Speaking Peoples (four volumes) this year.  Can you guess how far I've gotten?  Confession time,  page 42, volume 1.  Pretty shabby.

I also have started reading The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink, twice, (I love his book The Attributes of God, life-changing for me) but haven’t gotten far.

Then, I picked up David McCullough's newest book The Great Journey: Americans in Paris, 1830-1900 from the library.  This book has a two-week loan period.  Am I optimistic or what?  Do I really think I'll read this in two weeks?  Well, I might if I put aside my fluff reading and dig into something a little more challenging.

This segues into spiritual life.  Again, I need to dig in and make more time for prayer and reading and studying my Bible.  I need to stop making excuses about busyness and make the choice to put aside some of my leisure activities in favor of the better thing – God. 

I started reading my Bible-in-a-year-chronological-bible in November because I felt it was time I systematically read through the Bible again.  I don’t plan to finish in a year because my goal isn’t to see how fast I can read through the Bible but to think and study while I read.  My desire was to read it in 18 to 24 months, but I’m only on February 16 of the schedule and have been at it for four months.  Again, I’m not using my time and energy the best way I could.

If reading the Bible isn’t at the top or near the top of my priority list, what is?  Apart from taking care of my family, homeschooling, my part-time business, blogging and homemaking, the answer is doing things that are more fun such as watching TV, messing around on the computer, reading and knitting.

So, something has to change, but it won’t until I stop trying to satisfy my lazy nature and start desiring to please God instead.  All of this self-improvement takes a lot of discipline and requires making a lot of choices.

This post is getting long, so my last self-improvement area, the future, will have to wait for another day.

Exercise update : Exercise has been happening five days a week.  Day 20 of the 30-Day Shred is done and, while I'm not going to lose the 20 pounds in 30 days which is supposed to be possible, I am losing inches slowly, very slowly.  To change things up a little last week, I went to a zumba party at the gym.  Crazy, intense, cardio fun.

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