Titus 2 Women

During my four years at college, I was surrounded by women my age--maybe a couple of years older or younger, but for the most part, all at the same stage of life. These were wonderful challengers and encouragers on my faith journey.

This season of my life is much different--full of a wide age range of women, and I love it. Of the women I work with at Project Respect, two are old enough to be my mom, and they're so wonderful to work with. My Bible study at church has introduced me to some more godly women, also significantly older than me--I'm the youngest there by at least 15 years.

And then there's my Wednesday night Bible study. Composed generally of Steve's female relatives, and their relatives (it's kind of complicated so I won't try to explain), these ladies are exemplifying Titus 2 in my life: "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be selfcontrolled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."

The oldest woman there is Steve's granny, who's probably in her 70s; the youngest is his 18-year-old cousin. And despite these huge generation gaps, we sit around a kitchen table together for two hours or more every week. We laugh like crazy; we discuss family and church and the state of the world; we dig into Christian living books and God's Word--and we sharpen each other. And I love it.

Being surrounded by women your age is a wonderful blessing, for sure. But there is just nothing like sharing a cup of hot chocolate with a group of women of all ages. You can learn so much and be so blessed by the faith journeys of women significantly older than you (though they probably wouldn't appreciate me labeling them as such!) who have walked this road many years before. It must be exactly what Paul had in mind.