In her Radical Womanhood blog post- "Where's My Older Woman," Carolyn McCulley talks about how many times she has read the Titus 2 passage, where God is exhorting older women to train-up the younger women in godliness:
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Titus 2:3-4
And after reading said, "Ok God, where is my older women to mentor and disciple me? I'm not seeing her." All the while expecting that some "elusive, grandmotherly type" would come and take her under her wing and teach her everything about being a godly woman, just like her. But then she realized she had never asked God, "Lord, who is my younger woman to disciple?"
Wow. Ouch. How challenging.
I honestly spent a lot of time this summer in a needy, selfish mindset, complaining to God that there weren't any older women in our church who could disciple me, while hardly even looking for a younger person who I could disciple! I love how Carolyn says:
Yes, you are a sinner, but Jesus has redeemed you.
Yes, you need to grow and mature, but God has also given you a tremendous amount of wisdom and insight. True, you will never be perfect, but that doesn’t mean you can’t by God’s grace be a loving, caring older woman to a younger woman."
She goes on, pointing to 1 Corinthians 12:12-31-
Paul explains that we are one body united by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. As a body we are to care for individual members, using the gifts and abilities God has given us. We don’t have to wait for the Christian Martha Stewart to come along and make us just like her. We have been adopted by God the Father through his Son, Jesus, and are now being made more like him (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Who knows, maybe if we all took that more seriously, your older woman would come along, too. But if not, what joy you will have in training your younger woman! Let’s not allow Jesus’ sanctification, the gifts for life and godliness that we each possess, end with us, ladies. Pray for God to put younger women in your life, who you can pursue and help point to Jesus.
I am only 21, and maybe you are only 25, or 31. But lets really take the time to ask:
"Ladies, who is your younger woman?"
4 comments:
WOW! That is really challenging! WOW! I had never really thought about it like that! Thank you so much for sharing :)
I know, its sooooooo challenging! Im going to be thinking about it and trying harder to find more younger women! And thanks for reading!
I've been mentoring high school girls (1 or 2 at a time) since I was in college. It really is an amazing experience. But to be honest, I'm still looking for my older woman. I think we really need both to be properly balanced.
Thats so great that you mentor highschool girls! I wish I knew some right now. For real. I definitely am along side you in the quest for an "older woman" as well. There just seem not to be any in my immediate circle, which is kinda icky, but God has placed some kind of older people around. Do you have anyone in your church? I feel like its true that we need to be balanced, but for me, I spent all my time complaining about not having the older person, and not even hardly thinking about a younger person until recently.
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