She is Thy Life

By: Jonathan Shepard

(Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this article do not reflect the ideals of Midnight Garden Publishing House. The Ideals that Midnight Garden Publishing House do uphold is freedom of speech as well as freedom of religion and equally from religion. Midnight Garden Publishing House is an American Company who upholds, supports, and stands for our American Constitutional rights and its people.)

(Jonathan Shepard, Local Kansas CIty Poet and Midnight Garden Publishing's I.T. Manager. Jonathan enjoys dissecting Poetry in his free time and recording it on his youtube channel in hopes that it will help others enjoy the art in a more meaningful and personal way.)

Everyone puts expectations on each other, to the detriment of all. Employees are expected to have transportation to work, yet insufficient wages to obtain it. Parents are expected to be perfect, children are expected to be quiet. Politicians are expected to pay lip-service to things they don’t believe in, and their lies return to their souls as corruption. Respect and honor are due unto fools. But what I’d like to talk about today is what we’ve done to our women.

Women are expected to run the household while paying holy deference to a man who is not present for many hours of the day. They are expected to be beautiful by unnatural standards - every cell of a woman is under judgment. They are expected to fulfill the offices of men under pain of going without respect, yet maintain femininity and grace - gentleness and power at once. All of this is nothing new to say, as we have been reckoning with these realities for decades, with women bearing the brunt of that reckoning.

Is there a means to understand the cornerstones of western civilization in a way that is less destructive? What does the Judeo-Christian scripture really say about women? How can we heal from the wounds caused by this scripture, and the work that had to be done to heal those wounds? Read on…

Rather than offer cheap platitudes and empty promises and such, I would rather like to approach this topic from my personal perspective. My personal perspective is completely entangled in the Bible. The curses that women are under are heavier by the misapprehension of the message of scripture to women. So, if you can hear me, let me lighten your burden just a little bit, my sisters, my friends.

In the beginning, the ideal was this: Men and Women were created in perfect equality of dignity as the images of God, proposed to rule the Universe on behalf of God. When Adam met Eve, he said plainly, “Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.” There was harmony between humanity and the cosmos, and women and men were partners. The fall happened with the famous story of the snake and the fruit, and a dynamic arose between men and women, where men began to lord themselves over women. Women ached for the authority they lost. The story is nuanced and tragic. But a promise was made: It would be the Seed of the Woman that would defeat the serpent, and restore the Universe to its correct order.

In the book of Proverbs, the biblical view of women is openly expressed. This Bible that has been the weight of the world on women’s backs says something completely different than what our culture might say about it. So much of the Bible is about Yahweh, the God of Israel and the Universe, a character that’s male in the story - but in Proverbs, there is a character Hokmah - Lady Wisdom. She is the tree of life, the giver of all good things. She was there with Yahweh at the beginning. Yahweh by Wisdom founded the Earth, by Wisdom established the heavens. And now, to this day, she cries out to the men of Earth, that they would turn to Her, and gain understanding, and all of her blessings.

Now I know the Bible might not be your favorite book in the world, so I’ll leave the theology behind and conclude with a word of encouragement to the women who have been overlooked, overburdened, who have lived in a shadow of anxiety, and at worst, despair. To such women, feeling unseen in the threats you face, on top of the responsibilities shovelled onto you by a world that often hates you, the lies you have to navigate, the foolishness of men who neglect the truth about you, hear this: The curse is not forever. May your strength return to you. May your light be clear before you. May the world hear you when you speak. Do not despair, my sisters, my friends; but know goodness in the land of the living - freedom, laughter, joy and peace.

Much love to women around the world, and happy Women's History Month!

In honor of Women's History, here is a link to a reading by me of one of Shakespeare's most famous sonnets about the timelessness of the beauty of love. There you can find my YouTube channel, where I discuss poetry, mental wellness, and theology in my own poetic works. It is my place to share my most personal self with you and the world. Welcome in!