At this juncture of my life, I find myself in an interesting and unique position, “straddling,” as it were, a bridge of six generations; filled with fond and loving memories of my grandmother, the inspiration and nurturing of my mother, and my ongoing role as a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother of young women who look to me for guidance and unconditional love. All of my personal experiences with the closest women in my life are encapsulated in my being, spanning over sixty years of life.
Throughout my life and as far back as I can recall, living in a world of material goods, changing trends, technological advances and uncertain tomorrows, I have been blessed to have seen a modeling of spiritual connection and values from the women in my life. And now, from this overview of generations, I find I am able to see ever more clearly that those values have been the glue that held me together in times when I could have come apart, and that my personal connection with Divine Love has never failed me.
In my delicate years as a little girl I watched my grandmother kneel at her bedside, talking to God and praying for those in the family and those in the world who may need God’s help and comfort. Even in her later years, as she struggled to get up and down from that prayer position, she never failed to talk to God at the end of each day. Although our family did not adhere to strict fundamental religious beliefs, there was “grace” said at meals, and everyone dressed up for Easter Sunday service at the United Church. Each night my mother would kiss me and remind me to “say your prayers.” It was a cardinal rule in the family never to use God’s name in vain.
This gentle and loving honoring of something greater, something solid, something that was within me and beyond me provided a strong foundation by which to view the world in which I lived. I didn’t know it as much then as I know it now. To this day there has never been a doubt in my mind that there was a God somewhere that loved, protected, and guided me; a God I could talk to, one to one. It has been the same God that has been with me all along the way, within my very being, even though there were times I forgot to make the “call” and say hello. Now, more than ever, I reach out for that connection in order to bring the best, the truest aspects of my Higher Self into the world as a woman and as Divine Love in action.
As it is in all of our individual lives, whether male or female, my life as a woman in this incarnation has been unique and ever-changing. Navigating childhood, the teenage years, as a young woman, and ripening into adulthood, I have become acutely aware of my feminine essence and the different roles I have played as I tested that out. My relationship with men and women has also been a journey that served to define who I thought I was in this human experience. And there has been more. Much more.
As the chapters of my life have evolved, the truth of my feminine essence has expanded far beyond what the world of form has attempted to define as “me.” The programs and patterns of male/female roles that have culturally and socially played out in front of me have been at times confusing, restricting, and downright out of sync with my deeper knowing. It has taken me years to explore the truth of my nature and to honor the beauty and uniqueness of my femininity and to bring that into my world for other women and men to share.
Long ago I realized that women have a warrior within them, and that men have tenderness and vulnerability that women are freely allowed to bring openly into the world. In many cases these qualities of our natures have been culturally and socially subdued and have served to separate us as men and women. When these inner aspects are subdued, men and women cannot be honest with each other. We can never come to truly know each other as co-creators of our reality. We can never come to share the essence of Divine Love in a free and open way. We can never lead together as equals in a world that so desperately needs us.
There is a loneliness in the hearts of men and women. That loneliness is the void of separation that is caused by fear of bringing the truth of our natures into the world, together. As we turn our hearts towards each other in the ways of true spiritual love, we are free: men and women bringing the gentle strength that overcomes fear and transforms separation into a power so great that the light of that power shows the way for generations to come.
The world is not destined to be controlled by men or women. Nor will it survive under the direction of one or the other. It is destined to rise up in the light of both feminine and masculine essences in unity, for one purpose only. The Divine Light can only shine as bright as the strength of that unity.
What shall I tell my daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters about being a woman? I will tell them that they are powerful beyond measure and that true power is gentle power. I will tell them to love the feminine qualities of their soul’s nature and to stand strong in all circumstances as they unite with and honor the men on their paths. And finally, I will tell them to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind, and the men and women in their lives as themselves.