The "Good" Woman
What does a good woman look like? ✨
Sometimes our pursuit to be deemed a "good" woman by society lets us forget the more meaningful pursuit- to not just be good women, but Christ-like women. 🌸
In this journal entry first written in 2017, Krizia shares her musings on the "good girl myth" and how the Women of the Bible show us the higher way to live.
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
We all know a good woman when we see one. And she is commendable, to us. We aspire to be her. But she is hard to profile for she looks different to each of us.
What does a good woman look like?
A good woman is quiet and knows her place. A good woman isn’t afraid to speak her mind. A good woman dresses modestly. A good woman dresses however she likes. A good woman works on being a good housewife someday. A good woman focuses on her career. A good woman quietly agrees. A good woman always raises questions. A good woman desires to be a mother. A good woman desires marriage. A good woman desires none of that. A good woman—
Behind the tag “good” is the bottomless pursuit of pleasing every one.
Most of these “good women” look nothing like us, because no one is exactly like us.
Imagine how confusing it can be for a woman to go through a universal life experience (heartbreak, regret, victory, motherhood, etc) and hear so many voices on how to go about it, how to react, what to say. Everything seems to have a “perfect” response to it, doesn’t it?
Imagine trying to force yourself into seven billion different molds just to please everybody. Just to hear all of them call you, “good”.
Imagine how endlessly confusing it is to strive to be something you are not created to be.
Ladies, we are not created just to be a good woman.
----
We’ve been studying Women of the Bible, and isn’t it thoroughly fascinating? None of them are black and white characters. None of them are spotless. But their names are inked in the Word of God, some of them are even part of the lineage of Jesus.
When you think about it – today – perhaps none of them would fit the good woman’s mold. Well, definitely not Eve, after that whole fruit fiasco at the garden. Esther won’t be a candidate for it, either – a jewish girl joining a king’s harem? Questionable. Nor did Rahab. Nor did Ruth. Nor did the woman at the well, the woman with the alabaster jar, Mary (who sat by Jesus’ feet when there were dishes to be done! The horror!), the list goes on.
Praise God they did not live their lives to just be “good women”.
Because this goodness is a shallow pursuit. Ladies, we are called to a loftier, more meaningful pursuit.
Let us not draw strength from what society expects of women. Let us not listen to all of the conflicting voices telling us what a woman should be.
Aren’t we so grateful that the world becomes quiet when we sit at Jesus’ feet to listen?
Women - God is not calling us to be kind-hearted, sober-minded, humble, grateful, passionate, just for us to fit the good-woman mold. He is calling us to these things so that we can go back to the original mold He formed us in – Himself.
Sin has brought us far. Sin has placed a million models in front of our eyes. A crack runs deep through our identity. But because Jesus Himself removed the scales, tore the veil, bridged the gap - we are able to differentiate wheat from chaff. Truth from lies. We can see clearly now. We can see we’re supposed to be His.
Ladies, we can allow the world to dictate us, or we can turn to our Maker and ask Him what we’re supposed to be. I am pleased to inform you that He loves answering His children.
Let me end with this, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30)
If we strive to be anything at all, let us strive to be women of the Lord - bold and humble, brave and dependent, grateful and full of wonder, fully-devoted to Jesus.
These are your wonder women.
