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Was Women's Lib all in vain?

As a young idealist during the height of the Women's Lib days, I had a major flashback when the New York Times featured an article entitled, "Gimme an Rx! Cheerleaders Pep Up Drug Sales," learning that the pharmaceutical companies are actively recruiting and to be considered one needs to list cheerleader! on their resume.

Perhaps the starting salary has improved but what a price for all the confusion we have imposed upon the post-Lib generations. Both men and women seem to be confused about who they are, who they should be and what they want out of their personal relational commitments. The roles originally assigned by God prior to being perverted by control freaks (the libber in me hates to say this) make more sense all the time. Ouch! That's one more slam against my Frank Sinatra recording, I Did It My Way.

So how do we wipe out control issues and codependency issues and create family units based on traditional role models? Wish I knew. If every young starry-eyed couple could see relationships through the eyes of Christ, that would be a good starting place. Were both partners to assimilate the guidelines given below, Women's Lib would never have been an issue:

Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.

Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.

Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church--a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ's love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They're really doing themselves a favor--since they're already "one" in marriage.

No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That's how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become "one flesh." This is a huge mystery, and I don't pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband. --Ephesians 5:21-33 (The Message)

Jane Mullikin
Spirit - Finding Hope in a World of Uncertainty