Preface
A woman's life no longer follows a given pattern. Stereotypes do not fit the woman of this decade. A whole new world of opportunity has opened for her, and many voices compete for her attention.
When walls that have defined a person disappear, life can seem unsafe. It is still an uneasy world out there. Women are doing things they never did before, including going to war and fighting along side of men. Roles offer some protection; when roles no longer seem relevant, choices have to be made that can make or break us.
It may be an uneasy world, but it is also an exciting time to be a woman. Freedom is always exhilarating. Some people are fearful that it is also dangerous, and they are right. The danger lies in the choices that need to be made. Will women use their new freedoms wisely?
The excesses that immediately follow new freedoms have already spent themselves for the most part. Women, so eager to "have it all," have found that some of what they wanted isn't worth the price they are paying for it. They have seen the results of their choices. The liberal faction is still trying out shocking lifestyles and a few keep on shouting slogans, but the women's movement on the whole has lost its steam. It is doubtful that women will retreat to their former role-oriented life, but the venom has been taken out of the rhetoric which at one time was either compelling or upsetting, depending on your life's circumstances.
Some issues still need confronting. For some people old
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stereotypes die hard. When men still see women as sex objects, rather than persons, more education needs to take place. However, women have shown an ambivalence about this issue, which also demands some education. Many give themselves away too cheaply, send mixed messages, and are themselves confused on the values of life.
A good marriage has taken on more value than it had for a time. Most college women remain career-minded, and are willing to marry later and put off having children so that they can try their wings in the marketplace. Some carry this too far. One forty-year-old woman having her first baby said to me, "I didn't know if I would like being a mother; now I think it might be the most important thing I have ever done!"
Her reluctant motherhood came from the unhappiness and brokenness of her family background. We can expect to see generations of young people groping in their own marriages and with child-rearing because of the hurts that have come from the excessive divorce rate of the last two decades.
Still women want families, and the size of families is even increasing. A balance is returning to life. But choices still have to be made about quality life, and quality is my concern in writing this book.
Quality life is always the result of making the right choices. Many voices compete for a woman's attention, and life on the fast-track can blur the significance of our choices. Sometimes we don't see the big picture — the immediate pressure focuses our attention on the minutia of life.
This book focuses on your inner life and the choices facing you. It reminds you of what is really important, of what is genuinely valuable. God's point of view, His resources, His promises, His practical help — that's what I
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have written about. I am convinced that the One who made us is the best qualified to help us through the maze of life.
I am grateful to all the women who have shared their lives with me and trusted me to understand — friendships in the student world, in rural communities, in suburbia, and in a university community. I have seen in their lives the struggle, the beauty, and the challenge of being women in a complex world. Their lives have illumined my own; sharing God's truth with them has made it more true for me.
Gladys M. Hunt
Ann Arbor, Michigan
