We stayed dry…a bear licked my teeth.  A cub.  Really.

But, he said, because of Clinton’s campaign, “My daughters and all your daughters will know there’s no barrier to who they are. … They will take for granted women can do anything that the boys can do, and do it better, and do it in heels. I still don’t know how she does it in heels.” SacBee.com

Did you catch that?

Girls will take it for granted that they can do anything that the boys can do, and do it better.  Hardly the words of “equality”.

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As a Christian-come-lately, I spent my life before Christ having it my way. During the 70’s Second Wave of feminism, I studied the gospels according to deBeauvoir, Freidan, Millett, and Firestone; together they formed a New Testament to the Old Testament of the First Wave feminists who’d won us the vote, but it seemed not much else.

Humility and contriteness of spirit stood diametrically opposed to the Women’s Movement logo – the fist inside the woman symbol. Helen Reddy’s anthem captured the take-no-prisoners approach of the 70’s feminists:

I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an’ pretend
’cause I’ve heard it all before
And I’ve been down there on the floor
No one’s ever gonna keep me down again

As a philosophy major then, I created my own one-woman women studies department, wrapping any course I happened to be taking – existentialism, Hegelian logic, Dewey and the Amercian experience – around my core passion: to see women delivered from the condition the Rolling Stones described as “Under My Thumb” into absolute freedom and a level playing field with men.

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(These are all possibilities…I may update as we go)

Complete with agate beach.

Why do I simply say “single”?  The answer is complicated, and yet simple.

Since being single, I have discovered being one of the “second class citizens” of the church.  And even among that class, there are some that are lower than others.

I choose to let others assume a “divorce” because in doing that I have gained such humility and understanding for those who are not accepted because of their divorce.

I am not a member of the “I’ve lived a better life than you” club, nor am I assumed to be.

I am reminded every time somebody “assumes” before they act that I also should not assume before I act.  Many times I fail.

I wrote about a couple of my experiences (one woman scolded me for not sending my kids to see their dad…”their dad is in heaven with Jesus…I would do hard time for sending them there…”)

I have been ignored by a particular woman at work who thought I was divorced…until somebody told her otherwise.

Being divorced is not a sin.  Sometimes the reason for the divorce is, but that is not to be assumed.  Grace asks us to assume otherwise.   My silence of the issue of my own singleness reminded me of that grace.

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Some people believe that intelligence is innate. You are either gifted or you aren’t. Smart is a property of who you are. Others believe intelligence is malleable.

The first crowd is scared of tasks that cause hard work because expending effort implies you are dumb. If your intelligence is innate, and you want to be intelligent, then you will tempted to be defensive about the state of your intelligence. Not only will you tend to avoid tasks from which you could learn (because the effort expended might make you look/feel dumb) but you may also handicap yourself from success by purposely not putting forth all of your effort. If you tried and failed, but didn’t really care, then you cannot be faulted for being dumb.

I’ve always thought of it like this:

“Intelligence” is what you have; “smarts” is how you use it.

A person can have a very high IQ, score high in standardized tests, but have so little skill at applying that brain power that he/she ends up being not-very-smart.

on the other hand…

A person can have a very average IQ, hate standardized testing, but have so much “common sense” that she/he grows to be  one of the wisest people around.

It’s not what you’ve got…it’s how you use it.

This being Independence Day…

The British military was the pride of the king.  One of the most feared on earth.  Well trained, well supplied…and up against the colonies.

Admittedly they were far from home…but they were fighting a “home-grown” militia.

The minute-men.

Well-trained and skilled members of the military up against farmers who would grab their hunting rifles in a minutes notice.

The “red-coats”, using time-honored military “intelligence”

The “militia”, using ad-hoc “sneaky” techniques.

It’s not what you’ve got, it’s how you use it.
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Who do you work for?

- My lead teacher is Terri

No…who do you work for?

- The principal of my school is Karen

NO!  Who do you work for?

- My school is overseen by the intermediate school district.

NO!!! WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?

- GRPS.

THANK YOU!!!

~~~~~~

Who is your head at church?

- my group leader is Laura.

No, who is your head at church?

- my pastor is Ken.

No, who is your head at church?

- the board consists of…

NO!   WHO IS YOUR HEAD AT CHURCH?

- Christ.

THANK YOU!!!

~~~~~~

Point being that having a group leader does not keep Christ from being “head”, any more than having a lead teacher prevent GRPS from being my employer.

At the same time, my principal is an authority figure - with real authority - who also works for GRPS.

~~~~~~

Likewise, complementarians teach that the husband is the head of the wife; a wife is to submit to her husband as the church submits to Christ.

The husband is an authority figure - but they both “work” for Christ.

(This post is set for all comments to be moderated until I return from vacation…July…something…you can comment, it just needs to be approved.)