.educated women are dangerous.

the common philosophy until the last half-century or so was that women should not be educated. people suspected a "danger" in educating women. i don't disagree and am seeing it in my own life.

by "dangerous" i don't mean i'm a threat to society. by dangerous i don't mean that i am going to do something harmful with my education. by dangerous, i mean that because women are passionate in different ways than men are passionate and because our emotions must be factored into every decision, we don't hold back. for me, the more educated i become through



the more i get passionate about issues i knew little to nothing about before i set foot in those doors. and by passionate, i mean entire kingdom trajectory shift - like potentially moving to another country in 6 months because i truly believe that i can't plead ignorance anymore. my eyes have been opened to injustice in almost every other country in the world and i CANNOT continue to live in suburbia and drive my SUV, while i pay $150 for jeans because i feel entitled to it. there's this piece of me that's always seen the world that way, but there's been a fire ignited in my soul amidst my grad school education that is leading me to believe that i really can do something to produce change.

and maybe it's not moving out of the country, maybe it's teaching people in my own backyard to "open their eyes." maybe it's educating other young women and igniting passion in them. maybe it's attempting to mimic the life of Jesus in such a counter-cultural way that people turn their heads and want to follow, but there's not an ounce of me that wants to settle anymore. not an ounce of me that wants to live complacent.

and i truly believe Jesus is honored by that - His was a life and ministry lived passionately and dangerously. He often refused to settle or plead ignorance.

i think daniel defoe and i would have been good friends:

"And herein it is that I take upon me to make such a bold assertion, That all the world are mistaken in their practice about women. For I cannot think that GOD Almighty ever made them so delicate, so glorious creatures; and furnished them with such charms, so agreeable and so delightful to mankind; with souls capable of the same accomplishments with men"

defoe - you speak my heart. and this line from another excerpt of his "the education of women" is where i've landed for this season of my life...

"I had more need to go to school, than be married..."

so for this season - i will continue to learn, i will be passionate about the things He's gifted me to do and i will not settle. i will follow with reckless abandon.

.lingering.

i want to linger more.

today, i went to my college best friend's parents' house for lunch. she lives in boston with her husband and is an only child, so by default, 10 years ago, i became daughter #2. since i live nearby, i often benefit from having meals with them and being the surrogate, which seems to work well for all 3 of us.

after having known them for 10 years, i realized something today that i've never realized, they linger. and i love it. we sat down to lunch about 1 and we got up from the table around 3. my family doesn't linger, everyone always seems to be preoccupied with something "more important" right when the food is gone. but not them - they eat their meals slowly and in courses and they linger. i want that for my life. when it's appropriate and there is time, i long to be more intentional about lingering.

why?

because it fosters community. it makes room for conversation that goes beyond "table talk." it forces you to eat slower. in my mind it's what "breaking bread" together is supposed to be like. in Jesus' day, the tables were on the ground with recliner-ish pillows for chairs because people lingered. Jesus lingered, so in order to be more like Jesus, i resolve to linger... because it's in the lingering that we learn and we listen.