Ode to the Woman – And a Message to Men

The acid’s on the man. Men stand up. All over the world we’re called to grow up and meet life honestly and fearlessly.

This is not an article flattering women. I don’t apologise for being more aligned with femininity, for my best friendships are truly with women—a more emotionally-aligned and attuned lot.

I don’t know about you—man or woman out there reading this—but by far and away I’ve been hurt more by men in this life of mine than by women. (This is not saying women don’t hurt people—some women have so incredibly hurt many people.)

That’s the negative about men, so what about the positive?

This is an important message; a message for all men to rise up and meet with the standard of the majority of women in this life who are safe with their emotions and hence strong in the Lord.

Women’s Needs of Men

Women are so often depending on men for the efficacy of their life outcomes. So many women have been thrashed against the rocks of love due the moral weaknesses of the important men in their lives. Sure, there are women who’ve acted to betray their men, but that’s not my present focus.

This is not about pitting the man against the woman or the other way around. Let’s please not use it that way. It’s about celebrating the potential men have to become real men in the Lord; a continual journey never with a satisfactory destination this side of eternity.

It’s truly about calling men, heavenward, to love more as God loves; the constant calling of our hearts. Men, we truly are the making of the Lord, here, in the strength of our more totalised weakness. Strength, real manly strength, is so fundamentally paradoxical here.

We always find our truest essence in the aberrant weakness that has God stooping down suddenly to pick us up. Raw honesty and the most pleasant and trusted integrity—it is ours for the taking. This is to the art of male competence; no arrogant pride to be seen.

Men’s Special Task

Men, God loves us and has given us a special task to always serve our women; in love, strength, unity and loyalty. (This is not just about marriage or romantic relationships, but it’s about a comprehensive respect for women on the part of men.)

More so, let us love one another in the Lord; men for men, living as true brothers accepting the good grace of the other, even mortgaging same joyfully in advance of that good cheer still coming, even if never arriving.

Perhaps when we’ve given ourselves so selflessly to our women, unto the whole demographic that touches our lives, then we’ll be given the keys to right and established leadership; for then we’ll finally be found worthy—and all this, contingent on our relationship with the Lord our God.

This is both a challenge and an encouragement.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.