Embracing Your Feminine Vocation
BY: LILY ERICKSON
When I was nine, I told my dad I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up. He chuckled and told me that someday I would meet a boy, and we would get married and all I would want is to stay home while he does the whole Career Thing. For years I have bristled at the shockingly prevalent idea that as a young woman, I must simply wait around for my husband so I can get to the really important work of my life. I do not mean that motherhood is unimportant work—it certainly is extremely important. But throughout my time at Hillsdale, I wrestled with feeling stuck on the sidelines just because I was single. Eventually I began to understand that my vocation, or calling, as a woman is much more than what my biology allows me to do. The vocation of womanhood is the cultivation of order, beauty, and life in places where it did not exist before, and it is a glorious calling.
To understand what women were made to do or be, first we must understand how women were made at all. Biblical history tells us that in five days God spoke creation into existence, and on the sixth day he formed human beings—first Adam from the dust, then Eve from his rib. The subsequent creation of Eve was an intentional choice by the creator. She certainly could have been made simultaneously, but the creation narrative is a carefully ordered progression in glory. Eve is not made after Adam as an afterthought, but rather because she is the glory of Adam. Eve, as the final creation, is the very pinnacle of creation. Before Eve was created, Adam was placed in Eden to “work it and keep it,” (Genesis 2:15, ESV). It is not until after God creates Eve that the creation mandate was given, or even possible: that they should “be fruitful and multiply...fill...subdue...and have dominion over [the earth],” (Genesis 1:28, ESV). Eve was the difference between maintaining and expanding the fruitful land that God made. Because of the woman, the expansion of God’s glory on the earth is possible.
That is your unique and mysterious vocation as a woman: to expand the glory of God on the earth; to bring life, order, and beauty to the wilderness. Clearly, motherhood fits neatly into this calling, but I want you to realize that is not where it ends. If you are reading this you are most likely not a mother, but that does not disqualify you from this calling. You are able to answer the vocation of your womanhood right now, as you are.
Throughout college I had a painfully broken relationship with my younger sister. That was one wilderness I fought to glorify. As she and I wrestled through conflict in our relationship, I prayed for the strength to love her well despite her less-than-lovely behavior toward me. I thought carefully about how to spend time with her so that she would feel important and valued by me, despite the lack of reciprocal effort. Showing her love and kindness has brought forth the fruit of friendship in what was a wilderness of bitterness and strife.
I am now living in my second rental property that I furnished from scratch. I have taken bare walls and empty space and worked hard to make them a home. To make a place where people feel welcome, where relationships are built, where burdens are lightened. This is not really a function of the furniture I brought in, although a good rug can do wonders in making people comfortable during a casual meal. Really, though, my apartment is home to many people because of the way I have shown them that they are welcome here. There was nothing fruitful about my empty apartment on the day I signed the lease, but I have cultivated a place where beautiful things can happen.
These are just a few examples from my own experience, but I challenge you to use your imagination. Seek out the wilderness around you and cultivate glory there. I know that you are capable because this is your calling.
