Saturday, June 4, 2011

Ladylike

This morning during our devotions a concept came across that has proven very interesting to me. It's not something completely new, of course, all of we ladies have heard these sayings at one point in time. "Be ladylike," or, "That's not ladylike" or "You're so ladylike!" (Said with a tone of pride.)

On the other hand, these days, girls are encouraged to step away from their femininity in many different ways. They have to prove that they're as good as a boy, can work as hard as a boy, can wrestle (not necessarily in the physical sense) with a boy and win. They are not only proving that they're better than a man - they're taking his place.

When God made man, He made him masculine. When God made woman, He made her feminine - for a reason. We girls should respect that, trusting that God knows best, enjoying the blessings of our place and knowing that "feminine" is our label. (Not "I am feminine but I can be as good as any man - and I'll prove it.")

Stepping out of one's place as a lady can ruin family life, cause self-esteem issues, warp a child's sense of how life should be inside a home (causing the errors to reoccur in the next generation) as well as lead up to divorce and ultimate heartache.

Obviously, the average woman doesn't have these detrimental side effects on her list of things to cause in her home. Can you imagine anyone trying to do this to her own loved ones?

I think true "ladies" - minus a few - have been lost to our modern day society. (This statement seems redundant after just taking a peak out the window.) Perhaps it is that women have forgotten what a true lady is comprised of, it could also be that they just don't want to be true ladies anymore.

Either way, it is important that we - young as we are - should begin developing ladylike conduct. This seems rather impossible to me - in myself. Sure, a few days of the week - maybe not even that long - I can try to manufacture a lady's dainty patience, kindness - all of the fruits of the spirit - in myself. However, without something to keep me going, the first sick day or bad hair day or hard school day that rolls around will kill the little, dry, twig that I was trying to water into a tree.

So we can't be real ladies in ourselves. What will make us truly ladylike, then, if all of our own efforts fail? The answer can be found in the definition of a lady, as follows:

It is my firm belief that a true lady is a born-again Christian who is so in love with God that she follows every single commandment that He has given her - for fear of causing Him heartache by turning her back on his perfect will for her life.

If a woman would take God at His word, believing that everything He says in it is true, and live her life as the Bible - God Himself - tells her to, you would see a true lady.

And that, my friends, is the key to being not just "Ladylike" but a real Daughter of the King.

1 comment:

Bailey said...

This was JUST what I've been thinking about this afternoon. A girl was struggling with becoming more womanly, more girly, more ladylike. She didn't know where to begin.

I pointed her to 1 Peter 3:3-4. There's no way our ladylikeness will impact the world if it is reduced solely to tea and lace --- it's an inside-out transformation of a girl in love with Christ and willing to embrace the radical notion of Biblical femininity.

You handled this topic so excellently. And eloquently. Be blessed.