The Women We Are

“We must let our light shine through the cracks. Step into the light and let people see what a real God woman looks like.”

By Christina Crook

When I asked to tell her story, she said there’s not much there.

She said the same.

And so did she. And she.

But I said, “You’re wrong. There’s so much. So much you’re missing. The thriving career, working with the big-name designer. The kids kept safe, the lives you’re shaping. The Friday night make-stuff-party you host in your loft apartment.

“Don’t you see?”

But they don’t. They are women who believe they are made by the Choreographer of the Universe, but they see themselves as small.

And, in a sense, we are small. James 4, my favourite bit of the Bible, tells us that we are but a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. That our lives are ordered by God, and that the time we have here is but a breath on the wind. But we are also more.

John Wesley said that the whole world would come watch a person who had lit himself on fire. The Greeks wrote of inspiration as a gift from the muses, a kind of madness, a divine fever.

The capacity to create …

the passionate pursuit of a life well lived …

the fervour of uninhibited ambition …

These are evidence of our divine image — the breath of God which animates us.

And we live it all broken. Seeing ourselves as small; as not meeting our potential. And we aren’t. Not on this side of heaven. But this is no reason to hide. On the contrary. We must let our light shine through the cracks. Step into the light and let people see what a real God woman looks like.

Like you. 

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My dear SheLoves sisters, I’d love to hear your thoughts:

• Do you believe you have a story to tell?
• Which expression of you is evidence of your divine image?
• Any other thoughts?

About Christina:

Christina recently traded the seaside views of Bowen Island, BC for the banks of Toronto’s Humber River where she, her husband and two young children attend Grace Toronto Church. Her work has appeared in MUSE and Vancouver magazine, and is forthcoming in UPPERCASE, Geez and the Literary Review of Canada. She is the founder of SeekingEve.ca and blogs at www.christinacrook.com.

Image credit: Dance Like No One is Watching, by HDC Photography.

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Idelette McVicker

I like soggy cereal and I would like to go to every spot on the map of the earth to meet our world’s women. I dream of a world where no women or girls are for sale. I dream of a world where women and men are partners in doing the work that brings down a new Heaven on earth. My word last year was “roar” and I learned it’s not about my voice rising as much as it is about our collective voices rising in unison to bring down walls of injustice. This year, my own word is “soar.” I have three children and this place–right here, called shelovesmagazine.com–is my fourth baby. I am African, although my skin colour doesn’t tell you that story. I am also a little bit Chinese, because my heart lives there amongst the tall skyscrapers of Taipei and the mountains of Chiufen. Give me sweet chai and I think I’m in heaven. I live in Vancouver, Canada and I pledged my heart to Scott 11 years ago. I believe in kindness and calling out the song in each other’s hearts. I also believe that Love covers–my gaps, my mistakes and the distances between us. I blog at idelette.com and tweet @idelette.

Latest posts by Idelette McVicker (see all)

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