I am constantly challenged by what I see in the status quo. We cannot necessarily accept the "normal" way that the majority of people around us do things. Our society has a warped picture of the roles of men and women. And now that I have a daughter I think about that even more. When a daughter comes to the age of college should our training be different than a son? Yes, I think so.
The other day I went to get my hair done and as I was getting to know the stylist a beautiful picture unfolded. She was a young woman about 25 years old. When she graduated from high school she wanted to go to college but didn't really have a specific degree that she wanted to pursue and was going to incur a lot of debt to go to school. So her parents stepped in and counseled her not to go. They didn't think it was a good idea for her to go to college, and take on a lot of debt or get into to training for a major career when God has designed women to be their husbands helpmate... so really her role as a young girl should be to look for a position that would prepare her to stand by her husband & family's side, be strong, a good worker, wise and flexible to mold herself to what he and their changing family would need over the years.
Right now, I know many of your hairs are standing on end… ins't that unfair? That seems kind of awful to discourage our daughters from getting a degree. They kept her at home?
What happened was then was that the people around her saw her gift for doing hair and encouraged her in that direction. Here was a career that she could be very happy and fulfilled doing and develop a career direction that was totally moldable to her future husband and family.
Today she has been married for a couple of years to a pastor of a growing church. In the last year he had the desire to go and study in Israel and her job allowed her the flexibility without any problem to go and come for a whole semester. Soon he will be placed in a different church plant and being a hair stylist she can pick up, move and her skills will be needed wherever they are. As they start a family she can do hair very easily part-time in a salon or in their own home. She did not come into the marriage with tons of debt to pay off or high expectations in her own career field that would take her continually along her own powerful career path. Because in a marriage the 2 are called to fulfill one vision not two… but that is another amazing topic!
I thought it was a beautiful picture of how I will soon be training my own daughter to prepare for her place in the adult world. It's not about the specific career a young girl chooses to prepare for but rather of her mindset of what a woman and a man are called to be as God designed them.
