Maybe you’ve had the pleasure of meeting this woman. First of all, she is beautiful. Her hair is always fixed, her makeup is always perfect and her clothes are always pressed. Her home is meticulous. Every closet is organized and there is not a single dust bunny to be found, not even under the couch. She cooks a delicious dinner every night, including a decadent dessert. (And yet her figure is amazing!) She drives the car pool, she’s president of the PTA, she volunteers at the library, she’s a Sunday school teacher and a Girl Scout leader. She’s always calm, cool and collected. She doesn’t know the meaning of the word frazzled. Each night she rests her head on her pillow, smiling contentedly because she accomplished everything she hoped to that day.
Have you met her? If you have, tell me where she lives. First, just because I want to meet her and second, I’m going over to her house and I’m not leaving until I find a dust bunny!
My whole life I have been wrestling against some stupid image I created. Maybe it was from watching too many Leave it to Beaver episodes, but I was sure the perfect woman existed and I wouldn’t be complete until I was just like her. I wanted to be a godly wife. I thought that meant, a perfect house, gourmet meals and leaping buildings in a single bound. Imagine how discouraging it is when someone so flawed, feels that the only way to be godly is to be perfect. I’ve spent way too much time not liking myself because I didn’t measure up to my own ridiculous and unattainable standards.
As time went on I began to realize that I was crippled. I wasn’t moving forward in my relationship with the Lord. I knew there were things that God wanted me to accomplish, but I was stuck. Finally, I had enough. I fell to my knees and I begged God to show me who I was. I had tried to be somebody else for so long that I didn’t know myself anymore. I’m so glad God is faithful!
These past few years have been amazing. Through prayer, through the Bible, and through my relationships I have come to grips with the woman I am. I am far from perfect. Perfect hair means it has been washed within the past 48 hours (I like that nappy look) and my makeup regimen involves a tube of Burt’s Bees chap stick. I am often frazzled. How does cereal sound for dinner? Thank goodness the cleaning lady swept up the dust bunny before the baby ate it!
In my next blog I am going to give you a Biblical example of what a godly woman is. For me, it’s been refreshing to tell you first, what she isn’t. Even as I write this last sentence I’m thinking, “But maybe the woman I described does exist. I’d hate to offend her!” So, oh perfect woman, if you are out there, kudos to you. Please don’t be offended. I didn’t think you really existed.