31 Days Of Femininity: It all started in the garden

Femininity has been around since the world was created. It has manifest itself in various ways since it found its first expression in our mother Eve, but the scriptures are clear that God still intends for us as women to embrace and cultivate this quality today.

What is femininity, you ask? Here is a definition from Webster's 1828 Dictionary:

1. Pertaining to a woman, or women, or to females; as the female sex.

2. Soft; tender; delicate.

3. Effeminate; destitute of manly qualities.

When God created Eve in the garden, he made her to be a helpmeet to Adam. He did not create another man full of strength and vigor to be Adam's helpmeet. No, he created a tender, soft, compassionate female to be the loving helpmeet of Adam.

I think it is symbolic that God made Adam first, and then Eve second. I by no means think that women are any less important than men, but I do think this shows that we were created to complement men; to be their helpers, their support, their strength. Many women struggle with believing (as the feminist movement has done a thorough job promoting the idea that we are equal with men in every way) that women are just as strong, just as capable as men no matter what the task.

Let me ask you this question. If you were in the top story of a house that was on fire, would you be more confident in having a male firefighter, or a female firefighter climbing up that ladder to come and rescue you?

Likewise, if you had to go out of town for the weekend and leave your young infant in someone's care, would you rest at ease better if you left the child with a male to solely care for it, or a female?

As men and women, we have been created for different roles. One is not superior than the other. Certainly, God does not look more favorably on one sex than he does the other. The notion that feminine women can sometimes be soft, gentle and tender does not mean that they are less valuable than men. We are simply different. We were created to be uniquely separate, and to complement one another in our own respective roles.

Our calling to be submissive to our own husbands, meek, and gentle does not make us weak; rather, it makes us extremely strong in the Lord if we remain constant in filling that role. Why? We are walking in our proper God-given role as a woman. That's true strength and as such, sadly, you find very few genuinely strong women in our present society.

I'm praying the Lord will bless me as I attempt to share with you my understanding of a topic that is near and dear to my heart. Femininity is an enjoyable topic to write about and I look forward to exploring the who, what, when, and why of this quality that should always remain (and was always intended) exclusive to the female gender.