An Awesome Instrument
I have written this post more times than I can count. I should just throw up my hands and not type another word but I can’t. It is too important to give up on. So here we go again.
Some of the best meals are cooked with bare feet; and I must also state that there are few things more pleasing than a woman cooking barefooted (can I get an Amen!) The term barefoot and pregnant is attributed to a man (imagine that) by the name of Dr. Arthur Hertzler. It appears that in its original context Dr. Heltzler may have been suggesting that barefoot and pregnant was “the only way to keep a woman happy.” Well now, things have changed indeed. Wait. Have they really?
To the barefoot and pregnant condition was added the locale of “in the kitchen.” It is not clear who added this to the idiom, but the intent is obvious. Let’s break this down a second, please bare with me. Bare feet, particularly in the right atmosphere, are something that everyone should love! Bare feet on a soft sandy beach, bare feet in a plush grassy field without insect or brier - perfect. Bare feet propped up in a hammock with a soft breeze and a refreshing drink. Oh man, bare feet are awesome!
How about pregnant? Ok, so this may seem like a stretch, but an honest view will reveal the truth that there is little that makes a woman more happy than to bring life into the world. It is one of the greatest miracles entrusted to the human race and women are uniquely designed to accomplish it. There is something in a woman that loves being pregnant, at least up to the 3rd trimester and past the first month for the new moms. Seriously, woman love carrying a baby in their womb so much so that it is an enviable position.
Now the kitchen thing is definitely not the happiest place for women. But remember, Dr. Hertzler did not include that in the requisites to happiness for a woman. Barefoot - under the right circumstances - absolutely happy. Pregnant - not the best when the baby is heavy and mid summer is striking down - but the outcome is absolutely awesome happiness. Someone threw that kitchen thing in there to accomplish exactly what it does. It makes all the rest of the saying an abomination. Barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen! You can have it.
So what if women were never barefoot? What if pregnancy were removed from the woman’s capabilities? Tomorrow we woke up and no woman could be pregnant again - would there be some sad women? There would be a sad world!
Some people have connected the bastardized “barefoot, pregnant, kitchen” saying to the Biblical command of wives submitting to their husbands. This of course was/is done to tarnish God’s true instruction. Some want women to believe that God hates women and wants them all to be in servitude to men. But that would be just as false and even more despicable than introducing the kitchen to bare feet and pregnancy.
God instructs in His Word that wives are to “submit” to their husbands. Particularly in 1 Peter 3, “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct.” (vs 1) It is interesting that the instruction includes the possibility that the husband will not be “obeying” the Word? God understands men better than women understand them. Of course we have taken God’s command and bastardized it until it is no longer recognizable or even close to what He truly means. Because of this bastardization we have lost the benefits that come from following God’s commands. Women no longer see this command in the light of the glory it represents. Instead they see it as man’s attempt to keep them from enjoying that which they deserve.
However, if your desire is to be a wife, you will contend with this instruction. Hopefully if you are making the choice to marry someone, he is a worthwhile man that you will find honoring and loving. In that instance it makes submission much more achievable and even satisfying. Of course, every man has his faults. But ultimately submitting to your husband, even those with faults, is where the glory comes in. You see, the submission of a wife is to be “likewise”. Like what? “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21) Like Jesus!
Jesus was God. He could have revealed His rulership over all things. He could have proclaimed His equality with God the Father. He could have shown the world that He was indeed just as great and deserving of adoration as Almighty God. But instead Jesus chose to submit. He laid down Himself to lift up the Father and to save mankind. To be clear, I am fully aware that Jesus Christ did something that no one else was/is able to do. But God has called the wife to a purpose that is similar in function as Jesus in the earth. A wife’s submission has the power to change lives. It has the power to direct people toward the goodness of God. The wife has the power to glorify God in submission.
I believe that our society is suffering from a lack of wives accomplishing their God given, spiritually equipped calling. When a woman chooses to take on the mantle of wife, she takes on a calling that is like that of Jesus and has the power to change things just as Jesus did. A woman’s actions of submission can even change the heart of man - no small task. I believe that women are either choosing not to marry or they are choosing to not be submitted. In either instance we have lost that powerful action in our society and it has left us with broken homes, confused lives, a debase culture with no bonds of community. Men definitely have added their contribution to our debacle - I do not leave us out of the downward trend. But a woman who is a wife has a particularly powerful position in affecting us all. Whether we call her Mom, sister, friend or wife, a woman is an awesome instrument in the hands of a powerful God.