As International Women’s Day rolls around, my phone chimes its annual chorus.
Notifications. Campaigns. Discounts. Reminders. Motivational quotes in pastel fonts. Right from the local vegetable vendor to the traditional jewellery store to the convenient shopping apps to popular women’s groups, everyone seems to be busy hashtagging the power of women.
#Celebrate you
#You are enough
#March to your own beat
#Rise and be unstoppable
#Carve your own path
As the buzz continues, I remind myself that the last thing I attempted to carve was a roast chicken at Christmas!
As I scroll through my phone, I realise that two images are created.
On one end of the spectrum is the polished corporate honcho—suave, empowered, smartly dressed with not a hair out of place and effortlessly multitasking.
On the other end, the proverbial Proverbs 31 woman–the perfect homemaker. She rises before dawn, her household is well fed, well dressed, and cared for; she is hard-working, kind, and generous, buying fields, selecting merchandise, and doing it all with serene ease.
And then there’s me. I realise with a pang that I don’t fit into either mould.
The danger on days like these is the subtle comparison. The "I could have" and "I should have" echo loudly within. And yet, Scripture quietly interrupts the noise.
Isaiah’s timely reminder steadies my spirit: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:16)
Scripture reminds me that He laid out the plans for our lives even before the foundations of the earth were laid. Scripture tells us that He chose us in Christ before the world began. Our thoughts are ever before Him, and He knows all our ways. Before a thought is in place, before a word rolls off my tongue, He knows it completely. Even the very hairs on my head are numbered!
He chose me. He created me to be His workmanship. He calls me His child.
My Heavenly Father celebrates me every single day, and He rejoices over me with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). He loves me just as I am and is at work in me to make me more like Him.
The God who placed the stars in place knows my place in His heart.
And that is enough. Not just today. Not just once a year. But every single day.
Long before the world recognised women’s worth, the cross declared it, redeeming everyone who believes in Him, irrespective of gender, race, background, education, profession, region, and everything else that divides us.
So this International Women’s Day, may we remind ourselves to be confident and secure, not because of the titles we hold or the glass ceilings we shatter, or the linen we wear, or the way our homes run, or our appearances, but because we belong to Him.
Our worth is settled. Our value is eternal. Our identity is in Him. And that truth will always be enough.
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