Cat Soup

One of my favorite people in NYC is Errol. He works in the food pantry, and he manages and organizes the mountains of food we receive every week. I couldn't even begin to do his job. I tell our volunteers that Errol is omniscient because, well, I'm pretty sure he is. At least, he knows the answer to every question I've asked him thus far.

I had to call him today. The conversation went something like this, or so I thought.

"Hey! Do we have any cat food in the pantry?"
"Any what?"
"Cat food."
"I don't know what you're saying."
"Cat, like the animal with pointy ears. The evil little animals. Cats."
"Oh! No, we don't," he laughed, extremely amused and somewhat befuddled. "I can make you some, but it might take me a few weeks."
"What? No, it's not for me," I responded, now also confused.
"Then who do you want cat soup for?" I heard him reply.
"Cat soup? Gross!" I was cracking up at this point. "No! Cat FOOD! For a lady who has a cat and wants to feed it!"
"Oh!" he answered. "Yeah, we have some downstairs."

I talked to him in person later that day, and he told me that he thought I was looking for cat SUITS! So, I misunderstood his misunderstanding. We talked about how, once you have the wrong words in your head, it is extremely difficult to understand the conversation. I'm sure the same thing has happened to everyone reading this blog.

Well, I believe that our view of submission is just like that. We got the wrong impression the first time, and now we hear the wrong things every time someone brings it up. At least, this is how I used to be.

My friend Dominique and I have had quite a few conversations about submission. (Why him? Great question.) He was the first of my guy friends who not only respected women but also talked to me about what submission should look like. At first, I didn't want to hear much about it. As I heard the perspective from a godly man, however, it began to open my heart to what he had to say and, more importantly, what the Bible says.

I thought that submission meant "you do whatever I tell you to because I'm in control and your thoughts don't matter." He challenged me to look at the word itself. Sub-mission. That would mean to support someone's assignment, purpose, or quest. Now, that sounds awesome.

I was starting to hear more clearly.

God wasn't done clearing the conversation, though. I was still at the cat soup phase.

A mouse chewed on my car's engine and stranded me at my camp director's house for a week this summer. Yes, you read that correctly. While I was there, I had the privilege of watching their family in action and seeing how beautiful and powerful submission can be. It made me excited about submitting.

So, I wanted to start submitting right away. My big question was this: How do I submit as a single woman?

Tomorrow, I'm going to start going through 1 Peter and discussing what the Bible says about submission. And, this song is what I'm learning about submission right now. I know I don't sound like Ginny Owens, but I do love this song. It's "If You Want Me To" and I think she wrote it for me.