Titus 2:3-5 Older women likewise are to be reverent inbehavior, not slanderers or slaves of much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. ESV
Who is the older woman?
What decade qualifies you as older? 30? 40? 50? 60? 70? 80? 90?
As I sat behind my 7-year-old and two young college-age ladies yesterday, Titus 2 came to my mind. I realized how blessed I was as a momma, and how blessed my daughter is to have these “older women” in her life. They are teaching her to be reverent as they allow her to sit between them. She is seeing how they choose to sit front and center. They have their sermon outlines in front of them, and she gets to witness them worship. She had her little sermon notebook out taking her own notes. She was blessed to be able to sit between them and witness them worshipping God as she sang her little heart out doing the same.
I’m not an older woman, am I?
These young ladies probably don’t think of themselves as “older women”. I certainly didn’t at their age. However, I realize as I am now twice, ok more than twice, their age I still don’t feel like I’m an “older woman”. This has more to do with feeling qualified than it does my age.
As I talk to women I look up to and admire I realize maybe no one feels qualified. So many women I talk to feel like they are getting it all wrong. I shouldn’t not look up to them because they got something wrong. We all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but that doesn’t mean that God’s grace and mercy don’t cover the gap.
Maybe part of teaching young women is to share where we did fall short so that they don’t fall into the same. I have not done everything God’s way. I have shared with my children, here, and I am an open book I will share with anyone I feel it would help in some way. I am not proud of what I have done wrong, but I am grateful that I got a chance to repent and turn away from those mis-steps. If I can use that to help someone coming behind me, praise God for the opportunity.
A Lady in Training
My daughter always reminds me she is a “lady in training”. Maybe we never outgrow that title. Maybe we are always in training, always room for improvement, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help those walking the path behind us.
Even as a 7-year-old my daughter has younger girls watching her. Watching how she treats others, watching how she acts during worship service. Is she kind? Is she reverent? Is she self-controlled?
Do you have older women in your life who have taught you? Women who have welcomed you into the fold, no matter your age or maturity, and been willing to lead you closer to God by word or deed?
I am not going to ask if you are an older woman, because if you’re old enough to read this you are older than someone.
Who can you take under your wing? How can you teach these things God has called us to?
One of my favorite quotes (from an unknown source), “Preach the gospel everywhere, and if necessary use words.”
Teaching younger women to be reverent, not slanderous, not given to much wine, to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their husbands is probably best done by example. What we see, especially those things we see working, we are more likely to emulate. Even more so when we see people who love us and whom we look up to do those things. I can almost guarantee someone is looking up to you. What are they seeing?
Moving forward into this year my prayer is that I can see the examples around me and God opens my heart to where I ned to make improvements and how so that I can be the best older woman I can be.
Dear Lord, Thank you for the many older women who have taught me through the years. Thank you for the older women you have put in both of my daughters’ lives. Please open my heart and mind to what I can do to be a better older woman in younger women’s lives. I ask for wisdom and courage to do the things you ask of me. In Jesus’ name.
I am a faulty human. I am grateful for the grace and mercy of God my Heavenly Father. I want you to know. God loves you, despite your faults, and will never, NEVER leave you. If you aren’t living this life in Him, you can. If you’ve never committed your life to Him, he’s waiting for you. If you have made the commitment and then broken it, he’s still lovingly waiting for your return. Go to Him!
Meet Melinda!
Melinda is a Christian, a wife, and a mom of 6. She has a blended family. She's a recovering perfectionist who is far from perfect, but it makes her that much more grateful for God's grace and mercy in her life.