A few months ago, my family and I adopted a Strafford Shire Terrier. To say that this dog is stubborn and hard-headed would be an understatement. He routinely does whatever he wants to do regardless of consequence. He can also be very destructive. I cannot begin to tell you the number of socks lost, papers torn to bits, and other household items destroyed by the hands, or should I say mouth, of the tornado I named Apollo. One item that was lost in his reign of terror stands out among the rest. One day while I was at work, Apollo managed to free himself from the confines of his cage and found my $1,500 laptop. Or that is what it once was, for by the time I came home it was reduced to random pieces of chewed up parts. Unrecognizable and unable to function in its former capacity, I had no choice but to take the loss and discard the mangled remains. For Apollo, it didn’t matter how much I paid for the laptop, or all the cool functions it could execute. It didn’t matter that my children sometimes used it to do their homework, or that we had family photos on its hard drive. To Apollo, the value of the laptop was no different than the value of a sock or a random stick in the yard.
Far too often young women are deceived into thinking that their worth is defined by the wrong things. They see themselves through the Apollos of the world and assess their value as cheap which gives way to tawdry behaviors with superficial outcomes. Too many women give in to these false narratives only to be chewed up and spit out broken with unrealized potential. I understand the complexity of this issue as it is hard to turn on a television or open a social media platform without being bombarded with examples of cheap representations of a woman’s value. Let me take a moment to debunk a few examples of where women have been conditioned to find their value. A women’s value is not in how big her butt is or the shape and size of her breast. A women’s value does not increase by sleeping with another woman’s boyfriend or husband. A woman’s value is not found in how well she performs oral sex. Despite the notion put out in some of today’s popular music, a woman’s value is not found in how much bodily fluid is released from her vaginal area during sexual activity. In addition, I’ve never met a woman that truly understood her worth who said she found it by sleeping around and “exploring” her sexuality. And, before you ask, No! A woman cannot find her value in a man. How can a man understand and appreciate the true value of a woman which he had no hand in creating? A man can understand and appreciate a woman’s value by being in right relation with God through discernment. A woman must already know her worth before the relationship.
These are just a few examples of ways deception is used to devalue women. Women are powerful, purposed, and capable of achieving great things. However, an important part of a women’s ability to walk into her God given calling and realize her true potential is understanding that her value is sky high. Don’t let this world convince you that you are just a lowly rock when you are really a diamond. Don’t let our society convince you that you must give away your body to find empowerment. Never shrink for anyone. And stop seeing yourselves through the eyes of the Apollos in this life. Remember, they are just dumb mutts!
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