A Woman of Strength and Softness

Surrendered heart

Not surrendered identity

A strength to be reckoned with…

She does not demand respect

But you want to give it to her.

Her presence invites you to rest

In fact, she is like a tree

Holding forth nurturing branches…

Not a spider web

Trapping you for her soul food.

Her vulnerability is so lovely

You cannot keep your soul out of hers.

She is marked by a genuine kindness…

Of one who has already forgiven you

For how you will fail her.

She exudes the kind of strength

That trusts, and waits, and suffers…

As unto God’s purposes…

Not her own.

She lays her life down

Like a lamb

Not a dog…

Her surrender flows from her love…

Not fear or desperation.

Her surrender is a chosen thing.

She lives in the vulnerability of her longing to be treasured

Her longing to be known

Her longing to be invited in…

But she lets her disillusionment tenderize, not toughen, her heart.

She does not hold the objects of her love captive

She does not make them pay

Or tie them to her with guilt

Or keep them in terror of her critical eye…

But rather lets them fly free

Enjoying all the more the reunion.

They get to choose to be with her.

She lives at the mercy of no one…

She is captive only to the Father

Thus she is free to love…

Even if it means she loses.

She chooses doing love over getting love.

By Lottie K. Hillard