Be Not Afraid! - It IS Worth it!
In a political environment as
exists today, it is much more comfortable (at
least for those of us who cringe at conflict) to just observe, to give our
opinion only to like-minded friends and to say "heck with it" to the
rest of the world. Yep, that is more comfortable. It is definitely easier. You
don't have to worry about hammering out your arguments with those who disagree
with you nor try not to take it personally when they attack you. You don’t have to wonder how to forge a new
line of thought that takes you in a peaceful direction. You wouldn’t have to worry about being
labeled with unkind and untruthful stigmas.
I mean really, who would you
convince anyway? Why bother about
speaking out against the popular trend of idea (however wrong it may be)? If
you know you are living your life exactly how you think best, then why
bother? Is it even worth it?
Well, is it?
Maybe not. But is that really the right question? What if you did decide to speak out? What if you took a small risk? What if in all the negative feedback that you
might receive during your lifetime, what if just one, just one person was
affected positively? Would that be worth
it?
I think it is. (Oh, I
know, I can just see the shocked expression on your face! ;-) You know why?
Because despite the loud, prominent voice of those you may not agree
with, there are tens of thousands of people who have never heard your point of
view to even consider it. When it comes
to New Feminism, so many women look at me in a disgusted shock when I explain
the thought and history of the feminist movements and why Pope John Paul II
found it necessary to call for a New Feminism. They had never heard that before; they had
never heard it that way, and that made sense to them. Something clicked and they saw the topic in
an entirely new light.
This is why I wrote Woman
How Great Thou Art. It’s not
easy to write a book, but even more difficult (at least for me!) to know that now everyone else gets a chance to
read it and critique it according to their understanding. There is a strange sudden impulse at times to
go climb under a rock and not have to face any of it … ever. Yet, the Holy Spirit inspired many different
authors in the Bible to tell us: do not be afraid! That line appears more than 350 times
throughout the Bible – God must have meant it!
St. Augustine had a beautiful line about truth: “The Truth is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.”
There is more that women can have
than what they are getting from our culture.
Yet, they do not know about it.
However, when you take the time to speak (non-judgmentally,
embracing-not-condemningly) with them, you only have to open the door. The truth is out there … and indeed in
here (okay, pretend you can see
me pointing to my own heart). Something
seems untrue about disconnecting men from their very own children when women
are deciding about abortion. Something
seems off to cheer “I had an abortion. Do
you really need to inconvenience yourself for the next 18 years?” (as an
actually pro-abortion image stated.) No
woman ever regrets having her child, but there are so very many who regret the
ones they never had. A woman might not
be able to verbalize it; she may not even be able to begin to pinpoint why it
makes her slightly uneasy, but open that door slightly (even just slightly!) to
the truth of her glorious womanhood as God had planned for her, and truly – the
Truth will be let loose and defend itself!
This is why we must not be
afraid; we must stand with courage, walking ever onward in our march of New
Feminism. We are not to belittle, use
nasty language nor alienate anyone. We
are not to judge others or use “us and them” attitudes; instead, we are here to
love and to open that door and let the lion of Truth loose. God is preparing us for something that is
nearly upon us. We do not know when, but
we know it is coming. He needs
courageous women who are not afraid to seek the truth and share it with others.
It will not be easy. Speaking out when most of “popular” thought
disagrees with you is never “easy”, but it IS worth it. And let us always remember that courage is not the lack of fear, but
doing what we know we ought to do despite it. If you feel afraid, nervous, or just nauseated
by the political scene, I totally get you!
One thing you can take heart
in is that we can speak to women one on one.
We do not have to fight the “political battle”. Instead, we just share with one woman at a
time. We can take courage knowing that
we will always be loving, kind and compassionate in our words; we will build
women up, not break things down.
So, as the Bible and Blessed
John Paul II often reminded us, “Be not afraid!” Be courageous! Take heart!
God has opened a door for you and it is a door that no one can
shut. God’s Truth is at your side and
with Him, there is indeed nothing to fear.
People may disappoint you. People
may attempt to belittle you and minimize your words. Don’t you dare give them a second thought. Shake it off like a wisp of a leaf that fell
on your shoulder. Let it fall to the
ground. You can be confident in your
kindness, confident in your love for women and the truth, and confident in
God. Steadily, persistently, slowly
marching onward … nothing can stop what God has put in motion, and watch out, I
think I hear that Lion roaring …
xoxo,
your friendly new feminist,
Theresa
Get the book! Woman How Great Thou Art! Order on amazon today! (& it still says "out of stock" but it's not. They just did not expect the book to sell so well, so they are continuously ordering it and shipping it out. Order now and you should have it in around a week!)
Well, that’s my view of it and I welcome yours! (Please comment below! And please use initials or first name or even pseudonym instead of simply “anonymous” so we can have some way to distinguish each person in the discussion. Thank You!)
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