I am a woman (a poem)

I am a woman.

No, I am not an after-thought;

Not a play-thing to occupy man’s loneliness.

I too am made in His image and likeness,

I too bless and called to rule and subdue.

It was said to me too to fill the earth;

And as powerful and capable as my counterpart might be, he cannot do it without me.

I am a woman.

Yes, I opened the door for the deceiver, I let sin in;

But that did not cause God to write me off.

He gave me a promise: my seed would crush my enemy’s head;

And so I started searching.

With every son that broke out of me, I looked on with eager eyes, searching for the one.

It is for that reason that I fought bareness with all my might.

It is why I stood boldly before anything and anyone that sought to rob me of my redeeming seed.

I am a woman.

Silently and secretly God worked in and through me.

In a time when I was considered no good, He saw the good in me.

I am Deborah, I arose as a mother when men slumbered.

I am Jael, I assisted Sisera to sleep and drove him to his final sleep.

I am Ruth, humble and wise yet with a determination that cannot be moved even by death.

I am Hannah, prayer is my language, I groom prophets for God’s kingdom.

I am Abigail, with my skilful tongue I reverse the wrath of kings and so preserve that which is my own.

I am she of Proverbs 31, worth for more than rubies.

I am a woman.

I feel. I feel hard, I feel easy;

Sometimes I feel too much.

It is no weakness, it is my strength.

It is why I am your helper, your hands which reach and touch oh-so-tenderly.

Without me, it is not good, it is not complete;

Not the image of our perfect maker.

I am a woman.

Taken from Adam’s side,

Pierced out from the side of my second Adam.

Now no longer a slave of man’s desire but an equal partner and heir of this gift called life.

I am she I was created to be, she who was when He said “Let us make”.

I am that woman.