Oh, and don't get me wrong, I think our society absolutely needs these special months and days to serve as reminders of all the wonderful ways these groups of people have acted throughout history and the struggles they have had and continue to have to face. I just wish we didn't need to relegate it all into one month or day out of the whole year.
That said, we do need to take a month or a day to force society, especially those in society with privilege and power, to see the problems that our less visible and less powerful brothers and sisters have to deal with on a regular basis. This was made clear to me today at youth group when one of the teenagers (a young woman) was reacting with a kind of joy that can only be described as euphoric upon hearing the youth pastor (a man) simply state facts such as "Women make less than men do internationally for doing the same job" or "feminism is important". It was as if she had never heard anyone in authority over her in her own life say those things before (and definitely not in the church). It would have been beautiful, if it wasn't so sad that the bar to elicit that kind of a response wasn't so damn low.
Today is International Women's Day, and March is Women's History Month, so today seems as good a day as any to give a shout out to the amazing women in my life. And there are a lot of them. I've been blessed with strong female role models in many aspects of my life.
In my family, I have the best mother a guy could ever ask for. One who has continuously supported me and encouraged me to follow my dreams and passions. I have also been fortunate enough to grow up with grandmothers on both sides of my family that who have shown me numerous times what strong women look like. I could go on and on about the wonderful female role models I have had in my family.
Academically and professionally, I have also been blessed with strong female professors and bosses. In school (high school, college, and seminary) the majority of my favorite professors have been women. Whether they're teaching me regents physics, proper vocal technique, theory, sightsinging, or challenging to look at Scripture in a completely different and new way, my female professors have made a lasting mark on me. And don't get me started on the amazing bosses and coworkers I've had who are women. My supervisor at my office job at AU was a particularly strong influence on me, and she served as a great role model.
I have also been extraordinarily lucky to see so many strong women in the various churches and ministries I have been a part of throughout my life. From the two women associate pastors at my home church (and I was baptized by one of them), to a host of female youth counselors who were invested in seeing to it that the youth at my church were taken care of, to a fantastic seminary intern at my campus ministry, to a predominantly female pastoral staff at the church I'm at now (and they were the stars of worship this morning and it was absolutely incredible to be a part of that today), to the witness and ministry of larger organizations like the United Methodist Women, I have been surrounded by the love of and have looked up to many women in my spiritual life.
And then, of course, there are my female friends and peers. They are pretty much all 10x more smart, dedicated, driven, and awesome than I'll ever be.
I am so thankful for the women in my life. They inspire me to be a better person on a daily basis. Ladies, you all are awesome and keep on doing what you do.
Gentlemen, take note.
Society, stop hating on women.
Everyday, but today especially, I saw God in the amazing and awesome women in my life.
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