My Heart on Paper.

Inspiration. This isn’t really a poem, rather a stream of curious consciousness but I have been working in the garden a lot this week and being in the garden always gives me time to think and ponder. So this post is about my ponderings this week.

Theme: Relationships.

I have been Wondering. 

I have been wondering how many men marry women
without the slightest intention of loving them-
for just who they are - of loving them -
sacrificially, of being prepared to protect them
to lay down their own life for them if need be.

I have been wondering how many men demonstrate 
they are devoted to their wife- above all other choices
not golf, or sailing, or the footy, or the pub- or even work!
and wondering how many other people can see-
or not see, his devotion.

I have been wondering how many men honour their wife
as a sacred vessel- able to give birth and nurture new life-
or how many of us even still think that this is an important role
I have been wondering how many women really know-
they are loved, cherished, honoured, protected - safe.

And conversely, I have been wondering how many women
marry a man without the slightest intention of respecting him
of allowing him to be the head of the home 
of supporting him to carry his responsibilities
to protect and provide for his family.

I have been wondering how many women are viewed
as convenient accessories and how many men are viewed 
as incompetent idiots who need a woman to tell them what to do.
If you wonder this same thing - watch some television advertisements 
or listen to women talking about men -or men talking about women
 - you might get a hint!

Our homes, which should be a place of refuge for 
fathers, mothers, children, husbands, wives
have become raging battlefields in a war of wills 
where disrespect, fights, violence, abuse and murder  
have become all too common.

Domestic violence is the global pandemic
we tut- tut our tongues, shake our heads
all agree it is a disgrace and throw some money at it 
to make it go away - but it just keeps getting worse
and the headlines scream- another life lost 
at the hands of someone who was meant to love.

In our foolishness of wisdom we have turned the order of creation
upside down - and wonder why it isn't working -
women need to know they are loved, cherished,
protected and honoured for who they are 
while men need to take the role of protective leadership-
to be respected and given opportunity to be a man.

In homes and workplaces all over the world men and women
have gone to battle against each other 
and the fallout is destruction upon destruction. 
Neither gender is of less or more value than the other
but we are different and have different roles to fulfill
we are meant to compliment, not crucify, one another.

It is time to step away from the norm
to have the courage to go counter cultural 
and return to the blueprint for relationships 
which come straight from the manufacturer
they're written in a special, but often unheeded, manual-
The Bible.

Poetry by Estelle M Deshon©