there is man and there is woman and

i have come to believe that gender is a layered thing

in every child of God.

It is a load-baring block in the wall,

but it is not a kind or a label or the wall itself.

masculine notes. feminine crescendos.

these things matter,

but in a world of education for all

and unity for love equal to function,

there is a wife who leads the family in her firm choices.

there is a man who shows tenderness for the quiet sheep.

there is a woman who seeks first the counsel of her husband.

and there is a husband who has never known why he feels.

and this is not an abomination.

this is the varied faces of God lived out in a union,

in the complexity of this human experiment.

and this I believe:

one day, the fractured identity of mankind will be made perfect,

but I do not believe the current mingling is without it's timely perfection,

and I do not believe that redemption will produce

a cold man who leads and makes no mistakes

and a sweet woman who quietly waits for instruction.

our Lord is not so boring. and not so poor an author.