Some Things To Think About

Have I believed the myth that I am the same as men?

Do I embrace the ways in which I am different from men?

Do I complement the men of my life?  Or compete with them?

Do I believe the myth that being girlie is stupid?

Do I believe the myth that I am of less value than men?

Do I use my feminine attributes wisely?

Did I squash my girlie side long ago?

Can I be girlie and smart?

For what purpose did God make me a girl?

Why does being girlie bug me?  What am I really struggling with?

What can I learn from Esther?

Am I ready to get my girlie on?

Ask Ellen: Why do Catholics take a new name at Confirmation? Anne, PA

This is a great question and one that deserves an answer because it is a really cool thing.  Throughout the Bible God changed people’s names;  Abram to  Abraham. Sarai to Sarah, Simon to Peter and Saul to Paul.

The question we need to ask ourselves is why did God do this.  God changed people’s names when they were called to a change in vocation.  People received new names at the same time as they received new missions, when they were called to something greater.

In Confirmation we are called to something greater.  We are made full members of the Catholic Church and are sent to witness Christ to the world.  Talk about a vocation change!

We select a new name at this time to commemorate the occasion.  Often times we select a saint’s name.  The saints are great examples of people who took this change in vocation seriously.

I encourage you to find out more about the saint you chose for your Confirmation name.  If you didn’t understand the significance of this before do so now.  Take your vocation to witness Christ to the world seriously and enjoy your new identity in Christ.  Allow the change of name to change your life.

Girlie But Not A Girlie Girl

So far this week we have met two types of women: girlie women and girlie girls.  The video at the start of the week gave us a great example of what I call girlie girls.  These are women who like to play stupid.  They do the coy dumb blonde thing.  They make people think that girls really are the weaker sex.

 I blogged about being girlie, which I see as accepting your feminine side.  It is the pretty side of you.  It in no way means you need to play stupid.  In fact, it means quite the opposite.

We see these two types of women in the story of Esther.  She is so cool she has her own book!  Esther was girlie!  She was beautiful and loved girlie things.  Her girlie side won her the heart of a king.  The Bible tells us that she was lovely.  That word is girlie!  I want to be lovely, don’t you?  Sorry I got carried away there.  Esther spent 12 months having beauty treatments to prepare her to meet the king.  Can you get more girlie?   Her girliness “won the favor of everyone who saw her.” (Esther 2:15)

But Esther was also smart.  A smart girlie, just like you!  Her guardian, Mordecai, instructed her not to tell anyone that she was a Jew.  Esther was smart enough to keep that secret.  Esther quickly became an invaluable advisor to her husband.  Unfortunately, the king was tricked into signing an order to kill all the Jews in the land.  This put Esther in a very difficult predicament.  The king didn’t know that he  signed his wife’s death warrant.  Could Esther “have come to a royal position for a time such as this?” (Esther 4:14)  Our smart girlie, Esther, did a very smart thing.  She asked her fellow Jews to pray and fast for her BEFORE she went to the king.  Oh, if I only remembered to pray BEFORE I did something! 

Esther resolved to approach the king.  “And if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16)  That doesn’t sound like a damsel in distress, girlie girl to me.  She convinced the king to not only save her and Mordecai but also all the Jews in the kingdom.  Our girlie, Esther, has a Jewish feast in her honor to this day, Purim.  Purim is meant to celebrate the day when the Jews “sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration.” (Esther 9:22)

Esther made girlie work.  I want to too.  How about you?

Tomorrow we will reflect on what this means in our everyday life.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” is a song by Cyndi Lauper.  I liked that song in the 80s when it came out.  It summarized where I was in life.  I was a young girl with the world in front of me but what I really wanted was to do was to have fun.  As I grew up the focus changed and I would have told you that the song was ridiculous.  I would have told you that there was much more to life than having fun.  I even believed that girls had to prove their worth in a man’s world.  I went to college with this in mind and spent four years in this type of environment.  We girls believed that we were the same as the boys we were sitting next to in class.  We believed a myth.

Since that time of my life, I have felt the freedom that comes from accepting the fact that I am different from men..I’m a girl.  I like soft pink and pretty paper. (just look at the page surrounding this post)  I react to situations differently from the men I know.  And it is a good thing.  Having children has really driven this home.  My husband and I approach our children in radically different ways.  My children are blessed to have each perspective…some may say, “no duh that’s why God designed it that way.”

I have gone to great lengths to embrace my girlie side.  This website was a huge step for me.  To design it for women and have it look so girlie was going to define my mission.  Was I Ok with that?  I wasn’t sure.  I drove my partner crazy with my back and forth on this.  But when I really thought about it, I decided its what I like and I’m going with it.

Does being girlie bother you?  Why?  I doubt that you will find peace until you accept the fact that God made you a girl.  He made you to complete the men in your world not conquer them.

I’m going to listen to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” now and dance and thank God that I am a girl.  I’m grateful that I get to be soft, play with make-up, wear cute shoes and make pink websites.  I am free to be me. 

Tomorrow we meet our girlie biblical heroine.  Who is she?  I’ll tell you tomorrow.

Are You A Smart Girlie?

After I recovered from the brain cramp that this video induced, I realized that this is the difference between being girlie and being a girlie girl.  Girlie girls can be idiots!  Europe, a country, really?  I do not want to be a girlie girl.  But in avoiding that do we go too far?  To prove that we are smart and capable do we try to become like men?  Do we deny our girlie side?  What does God have to say about this?

Keep checking back throughout the week as we discuss if it is OK to be girlie in today’s world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqi0DwNLJdM

Girlie Girl

Welcome to our girlie week.  Click the link above for this week's Gracenotes podcast.

Sabbath Sayings...

“Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” John 2:10