"You Look Like a Nun!"

I’ve been in the acquaintance of a number of girls lately who don’t look like or act like girls. They are muscular, dress in gender neutral styles and colors, act macho, hate feminine activities, and basically are attempting (consciously or un) to be men. This bothers me to no end, but I don’t always take the time to think through why.

Most Americans are easily swayed to believe that in many areas, men and women are fungible – that means they could be swapped for the other without consequence. I disagree! I think women are BETTER at cooking, cleaning, nesting, etc., and that men are BETTER at lifting, being stable, making money, etc.

My efforts to look and act like a girl lead me to wear skirts, jumpers, and dresses more often than not, and the more I am surrounded by non-feminine females, the more I want to look different.

I was thinking about nuns and realizing that they live and dress the way they do because they believe God is their husband and they live and work only for Him. Isn’t that how we should be as single women? We don’t dress to attract attention (especially of men), we don’t hold ourselves in a way that would make us look important, we don’t try to do “men’s jobs� in order to somehow impress them with us. On the contrary, I think true men are far more impressed with a feminine woman! (We need to remember, though, that our motives come through in our behavior. If we are acting feminine only as a facade to try to attract a man, that will also be visible.)

Nuns have set out to obtain holiness in their actions, demeanor, and dress. What a high compliment for us to be mistaken for one who officially has given her life for this cause!

Isaiah 54:5 says, “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.� What an honor and a privilege we have to be daughters of God and part of the bride of Christ. After thinking about this, I looked in the mirror this afternoon to analyze what I had on. I wondered, “Do these clothes visibly say ‘I belong to the Lord and He is my husband?� Do they speak to people about my pleasure in being a woman? Do they say “I am not a man�? If not, I should probably change.

Of course, we don’t need to look frumpy or unkempt (in fact, we ought to look the opposite – pleasing!). But we do need to look (and act) like a girl, like one who has been bought with a price, like one who has been called to give her life for the service of Christ – and is thankful for the privilege of doing so.