As a writer, I know exactly what you mean! It is sometimes very difficult to explain oneself. :)

In my focus on trying to be short I realize I wasn’t clear ! Thanks for showing where I was confusing and that helps in explaining things to people ! I did NOT mean that women are to wholesale submit in everything to men !!! But I do like your explanation- brought up some things I hadnt thought about . and I do agree with your points. I’m still trying to process it myself – the problem I have is trying to be clear and usually I end up making the waters even muddier !!

Thank you for explaining your thoughts, Shirley. One thing I do want to say is that I don’t believe our relationship with men should be likened to the angel’s relationship with God. The angels are inferior to God, for one thing. Their submission is mandatory, with dire consequences for disobedience. God’s authority over them is absolute and eternal. A better comparison for a woman’s submission is the submission of Christ to God the Father. Christ did this even though He himself is equal to God. He did so for a limited time for a specific purpose. A woman’s submission also is limited. She should not submit if doing so is ultimately harmful to herself or her family or in anyway goes against God. Her submission is specific to her husband, not to all men, and it is voluntary. She is equal, not inferior, to the one to whom she submits.

Thank you for your thoughts. Humility and graciousness. Yes. And I hadn’t thought about that sentence being universally Mennonite…the thought made me laugh. Maybe there is some truth in that in a general cultural sense. Like how we as a culture don’t generally seek positions of leadership in the church. But there is a wide variety within that framework, and some people are definitely more confident of themselves and their ideas than others.

Those are very interesting thoughts. In the area of spiritual gifts, one area of confusion for me is discerning between natural gifts, which everyone has, and spiritual gifts endowed by the Spirit. Dorcas mentioned in her comment the idea that spiritual gifts often show up unexpectedly and apart from natural talents. In the case of the people you mentioned, for example, wouldn’t a desire to organize be a personality trait as much as a spiritual gift?

I would like to hear a fuller explanation on the covering being a symbol of authority if you have one to give. I follow your thought and it makes sense to me, with the reference to angels that follows, that the covering is a sign of spiritual authority. But I don’t think I have ever heard it expressed by others in quite those terms, or if I did, I didn’t absorb it. I have also heard quite a different explanation for that verse.

Interesting allusion to the gift of administration for a nonverbal person who spent their entire life in an institution. Sounds like a specific situation…yourself? I will keep endeavoring to listen to God, one day at a time. Whatever the spiritual gifts he’s given me, I don’t feel particularly competent in them. I know I lack a depth of abiding in Christ which I wish very much to grow into.

I suppose sensitivity and creativity do go hand in hand, since sensitive people are by definition always busy sensing things. Like a rabbit with its ears to the wind, perceptive of nuances. :)