God's Greatest Gift to Humanity

3-8-2010

I weaved in and out of the crowded streets, looking at my naked wrist out of habit, but only being reminded of the fact that I forgot my watch. Large bundles of heart-shaped balloons floated in the air making everyone feel a sense of sappiness. Today I came within 5 feet of a camel, a horse-drawn carriage, and a Kazakh bride. What is the cause of all this excitement? There can only be one answer—Women’s Day! Most of the country gets the day off to spend time admiring the special women in their life. I, however, am not most of the country. Our English center is more persistent than the U.S. Postal Service. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, sleeting, snowing, a national holiday—our classes meet! I was hoping (and praying) that nobody would show up and that I would get to go home early, but to my surprise almost every student that was supposed to be there was there. It was a hard day because my former level 4 is now level 5 and I didn’t have a level 5 book so instead of going through the exercises I had to turn it into discussion. The same happened with my former level 1 who has just become a level 2. We ended up talking about American and Kazakhstan economy, cars, and college education. I like my students and regardless of the fact that I never look forward to going to work, and even sometimes want to jump out the window while I am there, I somehow like being a teacher. Go figure? I don’t get it either.

In discussion today the logical thing to talk about was women so that’s precisely what I talked about. I had two ladies and one man and I posed the question, “What would the world be like without women?” Once Captain Obvious cleared up the fact that no births would be take place, and the absence of birth would mean the absence of life, then Captain Imagination was allowed to put in his two cents. Unfortunately my students don’t seem to have a great imagination, but I was able to pry a few answers out of them. They came up with answers like, “There would be more war and fighting” and “Dirty.” My question got me thinking and I arrived at the simple answer of “Ugly.” Women add beauty to this world, and I don’t just mean in their physical appearance. Women brighten up everything. They put flowers in vases and curtains on windows. They add spices to food, paint walls, take the time to wear nice clothes, and smell good. I am completely in awe of women. Without them I think we’d have some cool houses, but inside the living room would be dull, probably solid white or beige walls, with maybe some blankets nailed to the windows and a TV sitting on a moving box. Most likely, it would be a mess—not only because most men are lazy—but because we don’t pay as close attention to detail. I can’t imagine what Adam went through for that period of time when he was naming the animals and had no female companionship. I love how God made him wait—how God pretty much made Adam feel loneliness before sin ever existed. I think God did that because he wanted Adam to realize his great need for a woman. Not only need, but I think God wanted Adam to get all these pent up boyish feelings so that when Eve finally arrived he would be enthralled and entangled in his wild feelings for her. So that when this bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh took her first steps in front of him he would realize what he had. He would realize what he had and do everything in his power to protect her and love her and shower her with the kind of selfless passion that his Creator showered on him. It’s sad that today, in every part of the world, women are unappreciated, unprotected, unfulfilled, and unloved. I myself have taken women for granted one too many times. But, today I realized how much I appreciate, rely on, and utterly love women. (Please, don’t take that the wrong way!)

I have always hung around a lot of women. In high school many of my friends were girls and ever since birth I have unashamedly been nothing short of a "Mama’s Boy". I am convinced that I have the greatest mother to ever exist. I am so lucky that God put me in the hands of a woman who understands love and dispenses it so freely. I am thankful for her love, her friendship, her guidance, and wisdom. Her care and support is what has fueled my passions for life, God, and love. Along with her is an entire team of women set up by God to contribute to the beauty of my life. I could go on about my precious grandmothers, my fun-loving aunts, my compassionate cousins, and my best friends. While some good guy love and man talks are necessary, I am convinced that women are God’s greatest gift to humanity. Their complexity, horrid mood fluctuation, unreachable expectations, untamable emotions and perplexing communication tactics are high prices to pay, but like anything in life—high quality demands a high cost. However, it is the bewildering things about women that make them special; that make them women, and like I said—this is God’s greatest gift to humanity--aside from Jesus, of course!