A little trip out to the country

Today we just came back from a trip to the country side. It was a very interesting time.

We went with a couple who are good friends of ours. The purpose of the trip was to visit his the husband's parents home for a big celebration of their baby's birth.

It was interesting on many levels. It was interesting because of going to our friend's home, and meeting relatives and friends (there were some 200 people that came for lunch.) It was interesting because we got to spend some extra time with our friends. And it was interesting because we were in the countyside. It's different than the city. Simpler. And some of the old traditions are more prevalent there.

For me, one of the hardest things about being in this part of the world is seeing the status of women. And how men are favoured over women. Certainly there are countries and people groups that are far far more extreme, and given to injustice, but still there are some things here that just grieve me.

Let me just say this to start: people here love their babies, they adore them, they heap attention on them and dote on them constantly.

With that said, it is true that there is still a big problem here with many people prefering baby boys over girls, especially in the countryside. As we were driving around our friend's old village and surrounding area, we noticed a slogan written on one brick wall "Baby boys and baby girls are equally good." This was written by the government. Sigh. Propaganda to convince new parents about value of their babies.

Our friends' baby that we were there to celebrate is a boy. But they would've been happy either way. But as we were celebrating with all the neighbours and relatives, I wondered how the comments, and general feel would have been different if the baby was a girl?

There were other things that I saw and heard that also hilighted the inequality between males and females in the family unit here. And, I have to admit, as our time there wore on, I got angry. I was enjoying being there, and I know that what God requires of me is to love people...but this whole issue really gets to me. I can get really riled up about it, (And i mean really Riled up with a capital R) As most women can, I've noticed.

I know that our God is a God who hates injustice. He does. Hates it. and it's good to hate injustice too. One thing that I've realized that I have to be careful of, is to not hate the people who I think represent the injustice. Hating injustice= healthy.... Hating people= cancer...... this is very hard. I know I can only do this by God's power. Because I'm tempted to swing one way or another...either hate both the people and the injustice or just let it all go and be apathetic. Neither is a good option.

Ok, so I'm wrestling with this one. But I have firmly decided I will not be an angry woman. I will not be an angry woman. I will not be an angry woman. Period.