Walking into an Oscar Oscar party at the Versace hotel on the Gold Coast last night, after reading Lauren Hesep's moving post, I felt inside my jacket pocket and found a Destiny Rescue bracelet. God has a unique (Godly, you might say!) way of reminding us what matters most to him, and therefore should matter most to us. The bracelet represents a global movement aimed at abolishing the sex-trafficking and exploitation of women and children. Contemplating the importance of the bracelet and its purpose as I walked through the glitzy party with its 7ft-tall model attendees, champagne and canapes crammed into Cullinan's newest salon, I was 'rescued' myself by two gorgeous young girls, Rachel and Jo, who shared with me their position near the outdoor heater and their frustration with Gold Coast boys more interested in their muscles and spray tans than courting the affections of young women such as themselves (a very worrying trend; and more on that to come).
The girls reminded me that wherever we are, particularly when our defenses are down or we're feeling vulnerable or out of place, there's another girl close by to alleviate your angst, if she chooses to. How powerful we can be when we are open to each other; when we look for the signals to step in and rescue a fellow girl, casting off our own insecurities, doubts and preconceptions in the process. Often wonderful friendships – or alliances – flourish in the process.
You can do it at your high school, or at a party, or in your work place. And with all that love flowing through you, it can spread globally, too. The key, I think, is being confident in your own value as a woman, and how necessary it is that other women feel that, too, with a willingness to forgive each other's faults, and demonstrate empathy to each other, easing the way for grace and love to flourish in your life.
Grazia beauty editor Tracey Withers is a gracious girl. And smart (not that that needs pointing out). Talking to her last night, she suggested that if we each just found our thing – the small thing we feel is important for us to contribute to – devoting our money and time to that, rather than taking a scatterbrain approach, then the world would be in better shape. I agree.
Withers lamented that it's easy to return to your "old life" even when we return from life-changing charity trips; amidst the deadlines and functions and humdrum of life, it's easy to lose perspective on the greater purpose we can and could be serving. Yet in her work she helps to nurture aspiring young writers through internships – sharing her knowledge and her skill.
There's always something more we can be doing. I think most women have good intentions – letting go of the sense of guilt about it is a start in the right direction. We don't have to strive to fulfill obligations; whatever we've been designed to do (write stellar beauty copy; serve at soup kitchens), should flow easily from within. God gives us everything we need to do everything he wants us to do to the best of our ability.
My husband will be going on a mission trip to Thailand with Destiny Rescue later this year. We were not all created to be Indiana Jones in the slums. I don't know I'd have the tenacity or resilience for the work, though sometimes we are most alive outside our comfort zones, pulling our weight in ways we'd never imagined we could. There are opportunities for us everywhere to get more involved with life and uplift each other in the process.
We can all be a part of the spirit of the sisterhood in some small way, and it should emerge naturally when we find in ourselves a peace and confidence that comes from knowing we are loved: a smile at a stranger in the supermarket queue, buying a coworker a coffee, penning a note of love to your mother, an email to a girl who brightens your day, buying a gift, sharing an outdoor heater and some conversation, buying someone lunch, healing lost friendships, repairing broken hearts, seeking to amend the wrongs dealt to our less privileged sisters at home or overseas.
I think a good way to look at it is as if the sisterhood were a living organism, much like the body: "Do the cells of the body tell the blood how it should work? No. Does the blood carry around everything possible just in case? No. The cells and the blood work together to provide optimum conditions for correct functioning of all the cells – with their different requirements – in all the tissues and organs of the whole body, including the cells of the blood itself."
We do get easily distracted from the plan God has for our lives and the special assignments He's allocated each of us to bring justice, peace and love and light to the world. Be brave enough to stand in the gap, any gap, big or small, and help build a bridge towards equality.
"Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love." Ephesians 4:2
See also:
Faith Talk: What you value = what you nurture
Faith Talk: I came, I saw, I Hillsonged
Girl With a Satchel
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