David Hayward (http://www.nakedpastor.com/ ) has done it again. He’s drawing a series of a woman…Sophia…who is finding her way. Today’s drawing hit me right in the solar plexus. It’s of Sophia before she escaped…imprisoned by the dictates of men using scripture to enslave her. It hit hard…it hit deep. And it coincides with a discussion amongst a group of women who are at different stages of finding their voices as women…as sexual beings…as the wonderful creatures they were meant to be.
I haven’t yet figured out how to post pictures or sound on here or I’d post David’s drawing as well as a sermon I gave on Mother’s Day several years ago. The Divine Feminine is important…no, it’s essential…to our spiritual growth. In negating the voice of women, men have also muted the feminine within them…and this creates an imbalance. Suppression of the feminine leaves us with only part of the equation. We need the balance. We’ve created feminine archetypes that are impotent except for childbearing and servitude and if a woman chooses to step out and exercise her gifts, she has to rely on the male archetype within her.
We need strong women…spiritually strong women…to raise strong sons and daughters. This will enable men to approach the spiritual on a deeper level. The masculine tends to lead with the intellect. Men need to be able to go beyond that. With out the feminine fully developed they struggle. Women need to be urged out of the role of servant and second class citizen. They need to be encouraged to develop ALL of their gifts. How many women know that God has told them to exercise these gifts only to have men tell them it’s not allowed…that if they were to venture out, they would be disobeying God? By silencing the women the men have denied a crucial part of themselves.
We all need to find our voices…the men as well as the women. Men…encourage your wives and your daughters. You’ll free yourselves. Women…stand tall and become all you can be. The sky is the limit. You don’t have to stay in a mold that men have said you must fit. In the Spirit we are equal. It’s time we lived it.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m learning that I am more than I ever gave myself credit for. We all are, men and women alike. Whenever we suppress someone else, we are denying a part of ourselves. And the consequences of those actions are long lived.