I wear the pants too, honey!!

 

Women Power! We fight for a voice, a vote, a chance to work and receive equal pay, a chance to make the decisions. Our sole purpose for existence is no longer just to stay home and make babies and be housewives. Then comes the controversy. There's been discussion for years about what it means for wives to submit to their husband.

Ephesians 5:23-33

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

Oh My Gosh! I’ve heard and read these Bible verses before, but they come to my mind every now and then as a reminder to get myself together. It hits me hard. I am realizing more and more that it is not just me, my life, my wants, needs and desires. I have a whole individual that I became one with. I may have a thought, he may have another thought. I may want something, he may want something else. It's all about coming together to make things work. We all know 1+1=2. But God sees 1 + 1 and it becomes 1! How?! As a math teacher, my students can explain to you in a minute that the only possible way that two things can be added together to equal 1 is if they were fractions. (Fractions of people coming together to try to make a marriage work is not okay.)  No whole numbers can be logically added together to equal 1 unless one number is 1 and the other is 0, which is not okay; or if we're talking about adding negatives, which is still not okay.

Ok no more math lessons. Here's the point

1. You don't always get what you want anymore. I've heard it multiple times, "I'm not submitting to a man, we are equal". I don't think that it has to do with you not being equal. I think it has more to do with you being willing to sacrifice when necessary. Not for the sake of losing your voice, but sometimes for the point of winning by building his character as the man. 

2. Sometimes submitting means silence. I am okay with holding back as to not bruise him, but it’s the internal part that I have to deal with; the fact that I feel like I'm not making my point sometimes or I'm not getting my way. But I’ve accepted this behavior from the above scripture because of my love for God and my love for my husband. It's bigger than trying to be right.

3. You have to be mindful how you speak to him. If I do say something in a mean tone, either I realize it or he notifies me and I have no problem apologizing. Sometimes things need to be said, but I try not to say it in a manner that will cause an argument. I'm grateful that our arguments are very few. If anyone knows me, you know I am very argumentative and I love to prove others wrong. I feel the urge sometimes when I want to argue but it's actually easy to shut up when I remember the bigger picture. I am honoring my husband. 

4. You just might have to cook, clean, and iron. Now the point here is that sometimes he will ask you to do something that you don't feel like doing or it might be inconvenient. But you can sacrifice and do it just out of love. The main thing is to have an understanding of how things will work for your household. It's not about making you a slave. You both have times where you'll be doing things when you don't feel like it. But it's not that serious. 

The great thing about submitting to a wonderful man of God is that I don't feel degraded. He understands me. He understands when something's wrong with me. So much so that even if I am quiet about something, he already knows I have something on my mind. He makes it very easy to talk to him. With our very open communication, we can talk about things freely and let go of things easily. I don't look at being submissive as a negative thing as a women. Not when I have someone worth submitting to. Not when I have someone who loves and respects me with the love of Christ. I don't have to feel like I'm losing when I don't say something in the moment. I don't feel diminished when my husband makes a decision that I might disagree with. I can go along with it. Just like Christ, sometimes we are given instructions based on something we may not understand yet but it's for our good. With God, we are working together to keep peace and to respect and love each other more and more. That's something worth submitting to! 

Do you agree with women submitting to men? What does it mean to you? 

Is it easy or hard for you?