We had girls group again tonight. We were planning on having minestrone soup... but it didn't quite go as planned. First, too much pasta was added to the soup, so the pot just got more and more full as the pasta expanded. Eventually, we turned if off and added some cheese... but it still tasted somewhat like plain pasta that'd been through a dishwasher... so, after a quick trip to the shops we tipped in a can of tomato soup and a whole lot more cheese, shoved it all on a tray and turned it into 'minestrone pasta bake'. Suprisingly, it turned out to be really nice! Improvised cooking is the best kind.
After we'd eaten, we pulled out our book again. This weeks chapter was on beauty. At first, the chapter was all about how girls wished to be princesses; not necessarily with tall hats and floaty dresses, but with beauty abounding and princes willing to devote their lives to us. The chapter then went on to talk about Eve (as in 'Adam and-'); about how she was God's ultimate and best creation. She was beauty personified, more lovely than anything and made in God's image to complete Adam. We should recognise the Eve within us all, her beauty and strength flows within us all and we've chosen to ignore it, to let society stamp it out of us. This is something that we have to rectify if we really want to see true beauty.
The book didn't say that we had to be beautiful to be loved, nor did it say that a woman's purpose in life was to complete a man. It did, however, say that every woman was beautiful in her own way and should learn to realise her own beauty, both inside and out. It said that we have to recognise that beauty, regardless of whether it meets society expectations.
The book talked about the way that girls lead with their emotions; they focus on their relationships and friendships, they can judge the emotion in a situation and could tell you what was going on in the lives of the people around them. Men, however, are much more likely to be found talking about concrete driveways rather than what they're feeling. And those same traits come out in relationships that we have. We want a man to love us, to give everything to us, to desire and cherish us more than any other, with a level of devotion that is higher than any friend. We want to talk and talk things through, while men prefer to leave a conversation hanging while the woman 'cools off' - a dangerous thing, because that only gives us time to stew!
Something else that the book said, that we all took to heart, was that God wants us to love him, just like we want to be loved. When we despair, because all we want in the world is someone to desire us and to want to love us more than any other, we long to be with that person. That's how God feels about us - that's how much he wants us to love him. One of the girls likened the joyful feeling that we get when we recieve texts from a man we love to the feeling that God must get when we turn to him, pray to him.
Personally, there was probably a great deal that i could have taken away from this chapter. I don't see the beauty in myself in the way that i should, i don't liken myself to Eve - who completed God's creation - at all and i desire someone to love me more than anything else in the world, but don't expect them to. While the book waxes on and on in flowery 'love the world, love yourself' language, if you can look past all that you can see some important values. The book isn't telling us what we should and shouldn't be doing to be a good christian, it's not passing judgement on us and it's not telling us that we're failing. Instead, it seems to be trying to put us on a path to loving ourselves as people and as christians. Corny, yes, but i'm starting to think that if i can believe what the book is saying that maybe i'll be better for it.
The girls group isn't yet at the point where we're completely comfortable with each other, where we refer to 'the' book as 'our' book, where we share personal stories or laugh unrestrainedly. But we're still finding our feet in this group and i think that maybe things will work out ok.
After we'd eaten, we pulled out our book again. This weeks chapter was on beauty. At first, the chapter was all about how girls wished to be princesses; not necessarily with tall hats and floaty dresses, but with beauty abounding and princes willing to devote their lives to us. The chapter then went on to talk about Eve (as in 'Adam and-'); about how she was God's ultimate and best creation. She was beauty personified, more lovely than anything and made in God's image to complete Adam. We should recognise the Eve within us all, her beauty and strength flows within us all and we've chosen to ignore it, to let society stamp it out of us. This is something that we have to rectify if we really want to see true beauty.
The book didn't say that we had to be beautiful to be loved, nor did it say that a woman's purpose in life was to complete a man. It did, however, say that every woman was beautiful in her own way and should learn to realise her own beauty, both inside and out. It said that we have to recognise that beauty, regardless of whether it meets society expectations.
The book talked about the way that girls lead with their emotions; they focus on their relationships and friendships, they can judge the emotion in a situation and could tell you what was going on in the lives of the people around them. Men, however, are much more likely to be found talking about concrete driveways rather than what they're feeling. And those same traits come out in relationships that we have. We want a man to love us, to give everything to us, to desire and cherish us more than any other, with a level of devotion that is higher than any friend. We want to talk and talk things through, while men prefer to leave a conversation hanging while the woman 'cools off' - a dangerous thing, because that only gives us time to stew!
Something else that the book said, that we all took to heart, was that God wants us to love him, just like we want to be loved. When we despair, because all we want in the world is someone to desire us and to want to love us more than any other, we long to be with that person. That's how God feels about us - that's how much he wants us to love him. One of the girls likened the joyful feeling that we get when we recieve texts from a man we love to the feeling that God must get when we turn to him, pray to him.
Personally, there was probably a great deal that i could have taken away from this chapter. I don't see the beauty in myself in the way that i should, i don't liken myself to Eve - who completed God's creation - at all and i desire someone to love me more than anything else in the world, but don't expect them to. While the book waxes on and on in flowery 'love the world, love yourself' language, if you can look past all that you can see some important values. The book isn't telling us what we should and shouldn't be doing to be a good christian, it's not passing judgement on us and it's not telling us that we're failing. Instead, it seems to be trying to put us on a path to loving ourselves as people and as christians. Corny, yes, but i'm starting to think that if i can believe what the book is saying that maybe i'll be better for it.
The girls group isn't yet at the point where we're completely comfortable with each other, where we refer to 'the' book as 'our' book, where we share personal stories or laugh unrestrainedly. But we're still finding our feet in this group and i think that maybe things will work out ok.
1 comment:
There's a pastor in America who compared our relationship to God to a junior-high school dance. To a guy asking a girl to dance, letting his feelings be known because then he's open to rejection. Imagine all powerful God opening himself up to rejection - but that's what love is. It's making yourself vulnerable because that love can be returned or rejected, and yet that's what God does for us.
If we make that our reference point, the thing that gives us our identity, how much would that change our lives? It's interesting how John in his gospel refers to himself (a little weird - always in the third person). He will say "and the disciple Jesus loved did this" or "Jesus turned to the one whom he loved". That's how he talks about himself - never his name.
We too are ones that Jesus loves. Imagine if that was the thing that defined you - even more than your name. If we think of ourselves as "one Jesus loves", and not John or Sally, or someone who isn't pretty enough or smart enough. To say "to hell with the world, I am one who Jesus loves and he made me to fit his plan. God doesn't make junk and he made me. All my imperfections and the pain I've experienced are working towards his plan even though I don't see it now. My job is the unrelenting pursuit of being who God made me to be. Because I am one Jesus loves."
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