Our Responsibility to Younger Women

This morning I was reading in Titus 2 about the responsibility of older women to teach younger women valuable life principles.  Things like how to keep a home, how to care for a husband and children, how to comport oneself with grace and dignity.  I got to thinking about how I never would have considered myself an "older woman".  That title was reserved for the sweet elderly generation of women...those with grey hair.  Then I considered that there is always someone physically or spiritually younger than us, looking to us - whether consciously or unconsciously - for guidance and direction.

I am an older woman to my daughter.  She will learn things from me of which I'm not even aware.  I can, and should, teach her how to cook, wash clothes, sew a button on a shirt, pump her own gas and manage her finances.  These are things I want her to master before she leaves our home.  However, what about the other things I'm teaching her by my lifestyle and attitude?  What impressions am I leaving on my impressionable 13-year-old daughter about how a wife relates to her husband?  How to handle adversity and disappointment?  How to set aside time for a true relationship with God?  She will learn far more from my daily example in these areas, than oral lessons at this point in her life.

I am an older woman to my church family.  We are a covenant community of believers; thereby I am a surrogate "mother" to the girls and teenagers in our church. What am I teaching them about appropriate and feminine dress?  Am I demonstrating by my actions a willingness to serve the church even when my service may not be what I would consider perfect?

I am an older woman to my blog readers. Although some of you may be older than me, I am still imparting wisdom (or what I consider wisdom) and lessons that I've learned through my 36 years.  In this way I can encourage others and maybe help to effect change in their lives. All through simply writing and publishing what I'm thinking about on a given day.

There are plenty of opportunities for us, as women, to assume the responsibility of the older woman. And what a great calling and responsibility it is.  We never know who is watching us, emulating us, or learning from us.  Make sure that what you are teaching - both in your words and actions - is worthy of being followed!