Two: Something to be Celebrated

So humanity has two genders.
And each gender finds its origin and uniqueness in the heart of God. The first question when I began to wonder what it meant to be a woman was: do women show what God is like just as much as men do? I’m not sure how I grew up as a Christian and never knew the answer to this. Part of the reason for my confusion was because woman’s purpose is often spoken of as being “a helper suitable for {man}.” (Genesis 2:18) 1 Corinthians 11:9 comes out and says why woman was created: “for indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake.” There is obviously a context for that verse, but that was not always how it was presented.

Even though women have a special ability to grace a man and bring honor to him that is not her ultimate goal. Women bring glory and joy to the heart of God first- for all things have been created for His glory and renown. Surely if the whole of nature was made for this purpose then women would not be the only excluded creation. Isaiah 43:6-7 says: “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory.” And God has said in the chapter before: “I am the LORD, that is my name; I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8) Women bring glory to God by being like God, because God of course is everything excellent and praiseworthy. But women do not only reflect God’s nature back to Him in a general or moralistic sense. We do that by being outstanding women. God is given glory through many other generic human and moral qualities also, I am not saying that femininity or masculinity are the most essential ways we bear God’s image or worship Him, they are just one. But realizing, and believing, for the first time that God was glorified, and the world—somehow bettered, because I was born a little girl was deeply moving to me. Seeing gender as something to be celebrated—everyday—and especially on the first day, of a persons life, is meaningful because it is a testimony that God is deep and wide, and spills over out of Adams ribcage and into Eve. It makes me smile to think that maybe angels join the heart of the father when He rejoices too over little boys, and baby girls.