Being Second Doesn't Mean You're a Loser

Get up at 5:30 AM. Brush my teeth. Wash my face. Take a shower. Get dressed. Wake the children and husband by 6 AM. Put on my makeup. Check on the kids’ progress. Blow dry hair. Check on kids’ progress. Flat iron, tease and spray. Check on kids’ progress. Put on jewelry and shoes. Get kids moving to the kitchen for breakfast. Breakfast. Make sure all items for school are located in the cubbie. Make lunch. Go to work. Pick up children. Go to grocery store/library/etc. Start supper. Work on kids’ homework with them. Start a load of laundry. Review assignment pad with kids. Eat supper. One kid in tub. One kid helps to clean up. I clean up the kitchen. Transfer laundry. Swap kids in tub. Sit (maybe) for a moment. Then bedtime routine for kids. Fold laundry. Make list for the next day. Prepare for bed. Goodnight. Remember the commercial from the 70s – “I can get up in the mornin’, fry bacon in a pan, get the children to school, and be at work from 9 to 5 ‘cause I’m a woman. Enjoli.” (We bought that hook, line and sinker, didn’t we?)


Barring any unusual circumstances that is my typical day out of any particular sport season. You throw in sports or any type of enrichment, and that typical day has additional elements.

Wife. Mother. Employee. Sister. Daughter. Friend. Cook. Housekeeper. Taxicab driver. Financial manager. Pharmacist. Dishwasher. Conflict strategist (aka referee). Educator. Stylist. Organizer. Nutritionist. Counselor. Protector. The list could go on of all the roles I play, but you get the picture because you are a mom or you have a mom and have seen how hard she works. She doesn’t have a 9 to 5 job. I have a 16 hour days, 7 days a week. How many hats do you wear? How many plates do you keep spinning at one time?

And it’s not easy to be a woman in this day and age much less a godly woman. It’s not easy being a Christian mom, but I’m thankful because I had a good role model. I have resources and people whom I can call when I need guidance, assistance or support. But what about Eve? She was the first woman. No role model. No one she can call for the 411 on fixing a healthy meal out of vegetables only. No one to call 411 for when she didn’t understand her husband. No one to give a shout out when junior hits the terrible twos. You may have felt like that yourself at some point in your life. When I was going through fertility treatments and then the adoption process, I didn’t know a soul who had done either. I would have loved to have had a godly woman walk beside me through that, but God didn’t provide it. Instead, He was my source of comfort and strength and wisdom. He is after all the One who made this crazy body of mine. He knew what was going to happen. Why wouldn’t I have consulted Him first?

I want to look at Eve. I want to study her. Put myself in her shoes…I guess she really didn’t wear shoes. Put myself in her designer, fig leaf dress. Care to join me?

In Genesis 2, we see God made Adam from the dust of the field. We also see that God doesn’t make Eve right away. Say what? Nope. God parades the animals in front of Adam. God already knows that Adam needs a helper, but Adam doesn’t know he needs a helper. Adam sees males and females of the beasts of the field and birds of the air. He names them, but none are suitable to be his mate. Sometimes people have to be shown they do have a need. God performs the first surgery. He puts Adam to sleep and takes a rib.

A while back I read something that said God did not take a piece of Adam’s skull because God didn’t want the woman to rule over man. God did not take the bone from Adam’s foot because God didn’t want the woman to walked on. Rather, God took a rib. The rib is protected by the man’s arm, and the rib protects the man’s lungs (his breath, his life). AND the rib is close to the man’s heart. Kinda gives us how man and wife are to relate to one another…doesn’t it?

Eve, womankind, was made special. Adam was made from dirt. Other animals were spoken into existence or created in mass (birds of the air, beast of the field). But woman…God took Adam’s rib and formed Eve. When Adam would see Eve, he would know that he was part of her. They were joined…connected. God made woman special.

I saw something on Facebook or maybe Pinterest. It was a saying, and I wish I would have written it down, but the gist of the quote was this…If somebody tells you, you aren’t worth anything. If some boy says you aren’t worth fighting for. If some boy says you aren’t worth chasing, then you tell that person that there is someone who pursues you every day of your life and that He loves you so much that He died for you. He is the one from whom you get your value and not some snotty nose boy. (I added that last part. I plan on using that with Erin.)

The point is this…God didn’t make women second to be second class citizens. He didn’t make them second rate either with left over parts. He created each individual as He sees fit. Psalm 139 says He knits you together in your mother’s womb. Women are precious to God. We are daughters of the King of Kings. So when you don’t know what to do with the strong-willed child God gave you, cry out to Him. When your marriage is strained, call on God. When you don’t know what is going on with your health, reach for Him. He is pursuing you.

(PS More on Eve is to come…I’m just struggling with it…that’s all)