Seamless Blend.

It's been a little while since I've shared a good thought... I pulled out my Ruth study again last night... and retraced my path through it, finding myself landing on a quote I had loved and underlined.

"[Ruth] was a seamless blend of confidence and humility, strength and deference, knowing what she wanted but knowing her place."

Something about this was clarity, was peace. It was such a good description of... woman. Of that balance of character, of pushing and pressing and pursuing... and pausing and praying and presence. It was that distinction of the direct connection of all levels of who we are, finding their nitch together and woven as one. It was there that I paused, nodded my head, pondered, and waited. Wondering through my thoughts and wandering through the things in my life, wondering where I stood along this teeter totter, lured so many directions, but knowing, needing, and wanting to achieve that balance...

I think, perhaps, what that balance lies in for woman, is... peace. It takes distinct contentment of life and self and God to find that kind of rest between the opposites. It takes a certain knowing of self, commitment to self, and value of self to be complete in that space. And it takes God shining strong, like piercing light through, in order to cement and guide and direct and bring that strength.

Women like this seem to release an aroma of... wisdom. They are those who grow old with depth and thought, and who others want to grow to. Others linger near them to catch what it is that has let their heart free, what has summoned them with gentle strength. Women like this can be seen, simply by the way they carry themselves. By the way they walk, they hold their head, they interact, they share, they laugh, they gesture, they love.

They are strong women, soft hearts (titled Paula Rinehart). They are Proverbs 31. They are Eleanor Roosevelt, Amy Carmichael, Catherine Marshall, Esther, Sara Groves. They are women who I call my friends. They are Love. They are Peace. They are Known. They are Woman.