She has met Love. Deep
love, true love, voracious love. Love
that whispers into the depths of her heart that she has been chosen from the
beginning—chosen to be loved into existence and chosen to be herself.
She binds herself to Love, promising to go where Love leads
her. Suddenly, in this act of binding she is gloriously free—free to be
herself.
When she surrenders to Love, Love teaches her how to love
back. The act of loving back hones her,
chisels her, transforms her—so that she becomes more of herself.
Because no force can contain Love, because Love must fulfill
itself in reaching outside of itself, when the daring woman binds herself to Love,
she finds herself knit into the people that Love has made. This people frees her to be, teaches her to
be, and needs her to be herself.
This people is a tall, tall, tower—rising, proclaiming,
worshiping, witnessing unabashedly. This
people is a wall—solid, unmoving, protecting what is precious, not crumbling
under fierce attack. This people is a shelter
—a resting place, a growing place, a transforming place where new life emerges
in triumph. This people is a bulwark,
and their bulwark is a school for radical love.
The daring woman dares to learn
this lesson.
The daring woman
dares to love her sisters—radically. She loves them with a love which draws
them in and knits them together. Her love ministers to their wounds, responds
to their needs, and always reminds them of their infinite worth.
Because she is free
to be herself, she is free to love her sisters with a love untainted by
comparison. When her head is full of truth,
she has no more space for the long mental checklist by which she once tallied
her merits next to others’. The former
envy has died, and the old smugness has run out. She is free.
She is free to love and free to receive the love her sisters
have to offer her. She is free to serve
them in their needs and to let them serve her own. She knows that sisterhood behind the bulwark
means that she can share openly about her life (as it truly is)—the victories
of grace and the struggles of sin—and she dares to do it, because she knows that
her sharing builds her love and builds the bulwark.
She knows the difference between a sister and a friend is
not in how she feels, but in the bond of the radical love that she chooses, in
the companionship of those called by Love.
She knows that their sisterhood is not yet perfect, but her love is
bigger than hurts and disappointments.
Her love steadies her when she wavers and renews her when she stumbles. She delights because her once-secret desire
for more of the Lord has found its dwelling place in a culture of sisterhood
that hungers and thirsts for the face of God and adorns itself in its pearl of
great price.
The daring woman
dares to love her brothers—radically.
Because she is free to be herself, she is free to be a gift to them and free
to honor the gift that has been given to her in them. Her joy brings them refreshment and
encouragement, and her beauty adds richness to the life they share as a people.
Her love allows them to take their place as men—to lead her,
to guide her, to take the next step first along the path the Lord has marked
for them to walk together.
Her love submits to the mentorship of Wisdom. Wisdom teaches her what to say, and what to
leave unsaid. Wisdom steadies her,
helping her to cast her anchor in the endless sea of her Lord’s delight in her,
and not in the shallow waters of men’s admiration. Wisdom reminds her to love her brothers in
the Lord’s concrete now, and not in
her own dreams for the future, to protect her heart from attractions and longings
that would cheapen or dissipate the greater love the Lord has for her. Radical love helps her not awaken romantic
love before it is ready, before it is time.
The daring woman
dares to love the world—radically. Because
she is free to be herself, she is free to love with a love that extends to all
that she encounters and shows them the love of Christ. Her love dares to make the first move, to risk
rejection, and to give itself—to stretch across wide gaps with kind words and
true friendship. She says hello and
means it to the woman at the cash register.
When she walks through the streets, her eyes search constantly for
Christ in others, that she may smile at Him.
Each morning, she delights in small things while the barista in the
coffee shop wonders about her unquenchable joy.
She asks questions about the person she sits next to in class, because
she wants to know others as she has been known. When she meets brokenness,
insecurity, and cynicism, she offers a humble dose of radical love. Her prayers of intercession surround the
professor who criticizes her beliefs, the coworker who tells her to have more
fun, and the lonely looking girl who lives at the end of the hall. Her confidence invites others to come behind
her bulwark even before her words do.
Her words say, “Come and see. Come and taste the goodness of my God and the
fullness of his life. Come and find a
home in his people, who are my people.
Come and meet the source of my love.”
