Woman of the Year?

I was in and out in five. The grocery store, that is. Just needed a few necessities to round out the Christmas leftovers. As I stood at the checkout, I noticed the cover of People Magazine. The current issue declares Sandra Bullock to be "Woman of the Year." Hmmm... I thought, I get that. She's had a year in which heartache and joy, success and defeat have all been intertwined. I don't know her personally, but she seems to be keeping a stiff upper lip. I find her to be likable and decently talented. I have nothing at all against Sandra Bullock.

But Woman of the Year? Really? Another sad side-effect of our celebrity-obsessed culture.

What about the young mother, diagnosed with cancer after giving birth to her 3rd child, finding joy and strength in the Lord as she walks through cancer treatment, struggling to care for her family? Or the devoted mother, still grieving the loss of a son, caring for the special medical needs of another son with the same disease - yet keeping her sense of humor amid the ups and downs of 24-hour nursing care? Or the single mother of four, barely scraping by on a teacher's salary, committed to raising her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? These, my friends, are Women of the Year! Yet no one puts their faces on a magazine cover and celebrates their faithfulness.

What about Christian mothers everywhere, with no serious trials to walk through, but who faithfully perform the duties the Lord has given them each day - even when discouragement, stress, and isolation knock at their doors? As they 'give thanks in everything' and do the next thing by Christ's strength, are they, too, not Women of the Year?

What about the single women? Married women longing to bear children? Widows? Empty nesters finding new ways to share their gifts? Grandmothers and great-grandmothers? Women from all walks of life serving the Body of Christ tirelessly in myriad ways? As they contentedly work in the vocation - the calling - the Lord has on their lives at this moment, trusting that His will for them is perfect -- they are Women of the Year!

So while Ms. Bullock may be a beautiful face, an award-winning actress, and all-American nice gal, I think it may be a slight exaggeration to label her Woman of the Year.

"Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Proverbs 31:30

Just my two cents. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...