Shots fired. Canons released.
These are the sounds that are familiar to me.
Because we have been fighting since the day we were born.
Fighting for peace.
Fighting for justice.
Fighting for things worth fighting for.
When we go to war we may not have swords and shields to lead us in
but our words and our passion put us at the front of the battle field.
We spent a time studying kings and putting into context what they stood for.
This is not about them.
This isn’t about kings or armor bearers.
This is about when queens go to war.
One morning I was opening at work.
Trying to understand why the world is the way that it is.
Why poverty has the face of a woman and the compassion of a thief.
Why, according to the United Nations Development Program, 70% of the worlds poor are women.
70%.
This alone keeps me up at night.
This 70% wont let me sleep.
Maybe it’s because I can feel their fire burning in me or maybe it’s because I have the perfect opportunity to speak.
It’s like we have this untapped resource, bursting at the seams.
It’s like we have a secret weapon we leave on the shelf because we don’t exactly know what it means.
Desmond Tutu once said, “If we are going to see real development in the world than our best investment is women.”
I think it’s time we start investing in good stock.
Let me venture to say that we did not start out this way.
Eve wasn’t born a slave but a woman.
She was created and that’s when things started to change.
Esther’s weapon was her voice.
With it she saved her people.
Mrs. Proverbs 31 was a homemaker, business woman, and wife.
Imagine telling any of these women their duty was
“to be seen and not heard.” and how well that would’ve gone over.
Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa, Harriet Tubman.
You don’t hear these names and think poor.
I bet you thought fighter and remembered the legacy they left behind.
I wish I could sit down with world leaders and policy makers.
Maybe one day we could have dinner.
We would make small talk and I would compliment the chef.
And after a while I would stake my claim.
I would say,” I don’t want to tell you how to do your job because you’re doing so well.
But I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I have some suggestions.”
I would tell them about my mother and how strong she is.
And how she works 60 hours a week to provide and is still ashamed
of the lack.
How this world has led her to believe that Adam keeps asking for his rib back.
The definition of poverty is “to be inferior or insufficient in amount.”
And right now women are insufficient in equality,
even though we have been fighting since before we could breathe.
If speaking and taking action means that our future daughters won’t have to start on their knees than sign me up.
And I hope you’ll agree.
Because Jesus didn’t lock us into “the lesser.”
He wants us to be free and lose ourselves in his love.
He wants us to walk in who he has created us to be.
He has created us to be queens.
