Ann’s Encouraging Words

From Ann Voskamp:

There’s a world that wants to force women into smothering plastic molds and whisper that she wants to be a shape and not free.

There’s a relentless refrain that wants to cage women into polished skin, into glossy boxes, into cheap ornaments and tell her that she really wants this, they know she really wants this.

There’s this beat that beats up women… and you can tell the real men from the immature boys: Real manhood never objectifies women but edifies women.

Real men actually ask women what they want.

Real men hear what women really want is their words and ideas and dreams to carry more weight than numbers on a scale.

Real men hear what women really want is there souls to be appreciated, not their skin to be assessed.

Real men like you who adore women with Einstein-hair early on Friday morning, who think nothing of finding the toilet plunger and braving the back mudroom washroom, who make pancakes on Saturday morning and, real men like you know that sharing a vowed life is the wildest affair of all.

True love isn’t found.

It’s carved.

Carved out of sacrifice. Carved out of covenant. Carved out of two dying to the loneliness of self to be made into one.

You and I, we could let our feet find each other’s under the cotton sheets and we could carve into forever together.