Part 3..this is where I sell myself short

Chapter 3: A Woman's Power

Food for thought-

Like a solo rock star, [a male] must devise a bower, song, and dance that wows the gals. Among bowerbirds and most other animals as well, its the females that do the choosing.

-National Geographic

Chapter 3 is all about what the title states. The power we have as women. This is something that I never realized. But not to worry, I do now :)

There are many women in powerful positions, professional, educational, political. But there seems to be one area in our lives where women hesitate to claim power. A power that is uniquely ours, the power that arises from our sexuality. It cant be aquired, or copied, and its glory is that it makes you different from a man.

When you think of power, you think winners and losers...at least I do. True sexual power is a different thing. It rises out of the innate attractiveness God gave you as a woman, an allure that is incredibly desirable to a man. The attraction goes way beyond actual physical beauty. What a man is usually drawn to in a woman is two steps past her physical appearance. While he may lack words to express this, intuitively he knows he has stumbled on someone who can glimpse his heart, who seems to know him in ways he has always longed to be known. A man has a hunger that can only be touched by the innate kind of beauty we possess as women. WOW.

Sexual power adds to both individuals and subtracts from neither. It leads to great things. It creates something infinately valuable for everyone involved. But when women mess with thier sexual power by doling themselves out piece by piece with nothing true and lasting required in return, everyone loses.

When a woman fully understands her beauty, she sees that she has something incredibly valuable. The longing to realize this beauty makes us aware of an even deeper longing. We long for a man to see the worth in us and to cherish it. Cherish it so much that he returns over and over, always wanting more. Its a scary thing to realize how deeply you want something we cant guarantee.

Its important to see that this tender, inviting beauty does not originate within ourselves. But we owe it to God, to his very image imprinted at the depths of us.

Chapter 3 questions:

1.What are some of the negative and positive connotations for you regarding the idea that you, as a woman, have a sexual power given to you by God?

-Negative---Temptation. Its everywhere.

-Positive--To have the power to say yes or no. I dont really know?

3. When Bruce Springsteen wrote about a womans "secret garden," he was decribing the deep essence of a woman that is so inviting to a man. How would you describe the "secret garden" in your own heart? What do you want a man to take the time to get to know about you?

-Love song references :P Hmm. Im not sure what about me would be inviting to a man...let alone anyone else. Other than maybe my loving and caring nature? My mama hen type personality lol. I am a lover. And when someone comes into my life that I think is worth my time, I am 100% devoted to them.

-The one thing that I want someone to take the time to figure out is what makes me happy. I voice a lot about what makes me sad or angry. But no one has bothered to look any further than that.

5.That God allows a man's sexual vulnerablilty to be subject to your permission, your reception of him, is a huge thing. What do you hear in this? How does this motivate you?

-I think that it gives me the control to see a right man from a wrong man. To judge what his intentions are.

-It motivates me to think twice when it feels like Im not in control if I dont give in.

It is really hard for me not to touch on every subject written in these chapters. I feel like Im leaving something so important out. Im realizing things that stem back to when I was a teenager. I was never taught any of this from my mom. She never once said to me that sex was a sacred thing, meant to be shared in marriage. Sex was sex, be smart about it, and be safe. Just make the right choices when it came to sex and who it was with. Thats all I got. Now, at 25 years old, I can look back and realize that was the most damaging thing she could have been so lenient about. But, Im learning it now. And can teach my girls these things, so its not a lost cause yet. :)