In Eden's Garden
the woman persuaded,
using clever words to conquer Adam.
By mere talk she tore him from his God
and destroyed Paradise.

Such is the force of words that spew from
seductive conversations with Satan.

To ponder is our creative joy.
To question is no sin.
But to make up answers
apart from God . . .
that is the potential evil of logic
and the inevitable ruin it births.

God gave us a splendid mind so that
He would have a volitional companion.
He is a "speaking Father" and
relishes conversation.

He delights to be the answer to our questions.
And He Himself is the answer.
I AM knows everything.

Eve ingested a forbidden fruit -
the sweet juice of mental independence.
It turned within her
to a poison of forceful domination
and her daughters have
inherited its addictive taste.

It was woman vying for God's position over man.
And the horror is that she won,
by the use of mere words!
But she who wins by persuasion has no victory.
Though she gains God's throne,
she loses her own position . . .
and earns her husband's secret contempt. 

Now the inherent power to dominate by the
pressure of wearing talk
resides in the female soul. 

So in Christ, the woman is called to abstain
from her power to help God
with an unbelieving husband.

". . . without a word, (the husband) may be won . . . ."

Her drive to persuade is so insistent that
silence is a terrible sentence,
an angry prison and her worst nightmare.

Silence is death to her throne and the end of her hope
to take God's place as Master of the man.
Without her words, how can she recreate the man
into her own image?

More . . . it is not merely a cessation of words God requires,
but a "meek and quiet spirit, which is very
precious in the sight of God." 

Only an internal hush will quell her insistent words.
For woman to be silent within is
a drastic relinquishment
of her only power
to the God she cannot rule.

It leaves her bereft of strength
and is the perfect cast of her life
onto the Original God whose tender
desire is simply . . . to protect her.

The overthrow of opinion, the loss of presumption,
this is the secret humility of heart
that ushers a woman into the
rest of an unambitious quiet
that relies solely on faith in her Personal God.

The quiet spirit is a heart of trust
that lays its peace . . . at last . . .
on the Divine Words of Another.

Mary of Bethany used no words for her defense,
nor any explanation that might have
won her critics.
Jesus spoke for her.
His assessment is unassailable

and His Word is the last word. 

God is the fervent advocate of a vulnerable woman.
She who has God, has no need for selfish words.

Silence is her friend and her beauty. 

But remember, sheep, that what is said to the wife
is an inclusive command to the
Church of male and female,
for she is the Bride and Wife to the Son.

All are gathered into this mandate of the quiet spirit.

Copyright © 1999 Martha Blaney Kilpatrick