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The Sisters Wade was started to give voice to a young, fresh, conservative perspective. We invite you to dialogue, debate, disagree or applaud our efforts. Hope you enjoy!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Stronger Woman

The other day while driving I was scanning through radio stations when a line from a song I'd never heard before caught my attention. (Those of you who know me know it's the lyrics that make or break it for me). The song said, "From now on I'm gonna be the kind of woman I want my daughter to be."

Ooh, I thought, this oughta be a good one. So I stopped scanning, turned it up and prepared to be inspired. As a new mother, things like this really grab hold of me. So, you might ask, what kind of woman did the singer, who turned out to be Jewel, want her daughter to be? The chorus provided a resounding answer to that question:

I'm gonna love myself
More than anyone else
Believe in me
Even if someone can't see
The stronger woman in me

I'm gonna be my own best friend
Stick with me till the end
Won't lose myself again
never, no
Cause theres a stronger woman
a stronger woman in me

Wow. I was so shocked and appalled I nearly threw up. And I was angry. Angry at the lie being fed to women in my generation. Angry for the little girls who grow up with this model of strength. What a recipe for a miserable life.

To love your self more than anyone else? I'm not sure I've met many people who have to try very hard to do that. To be your own best friend? Comes pretty natural to most of us. To never lose yourself? So many are on a quest to "find themselves." The worst thing that could happen would be for them to succeed.

You see, I've found that what many call strength is in reality nothing more than masked weakness. It's human nature, and therefore easy, to love ourselves above all, to seek our own good at any cost. But what's hard, what requires real strength, is to sacrifice yourself for someone else, to lose your life in order to live for something greater than you.

I, too, desire to be the kind of woman I want my daughter to be, but I've chosen not to fall for the counterfeit strength my culture would offer me. I've found a truer strength, and it comes in giving everything I am in serving my God, my husband and my daughter. Instead of striving to "never lose myself", I've chosen to believe that "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). This is real strength. This is real life.




6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are pretty much brilliant. I want to be the kind of woman you are.

Brynn said...

AMEN!! You have searched and found TRUE STRENGTH!! The eyes of the Lord search throughout the whole earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. May you be like the sun when it rises in its strength. Your strength will equal your days because it is the Lord who arms you with that strength and makes your way perfect!! Your daughter is one blessed little girl!!

jenm.photography said...

awww i LOVE the wade sisters!! kacey, i live here now. when are we hanging out?!?

Kacey said...

And I love the McDonald sisters!! Why aren't we hanging out Jen? Maybe we can be in cahoots to convince our respective sisters to move here! By the way, I've been meaning to ask you if you'd be up for taking some "1-year-old" pics of Hadassah.

Unknown said...

I had previously passed on commenting on this because I thought it would be cheesy because it is so politically incorrect for a man touch on this subject. But I just had to say that I am really PROUD of my WIFE!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I heard this song on XM a few weeks ago, and I nearly threw up! Thanks for shedding light on a bad way to live...and on bad songwriting!