When The Announcement was made at our ecclesia of a sisters’ weekend, my initial reaction was: “What is a Sisters’ weekend?” Is it a good idea for sisters to leave their husbands and families to go away for the weekend? Will there really be good scriptural studies? Will the conversations be uplifting?’ I read the details and decided that the best way to find out all about a sisters’ weekend was to attend.
I was encouraged to learn that the studies were to be “Commitment to God, our Family and our Ecclesia” and that the Brant ford ecclesia had agreed to send two brethren to preside and exhort at the memorial service on Sunday morning. It was comforting to me knowing that our brethren were actively supportive of the sisters’ needs.
During our studies, we learned that the “commitment” can be defined as “an engagement or involvement that restricts freedom of action; a promise to follow through, to the best of our ability, with a decision which was thoughtfully made; not free to do our own thing or go our own way.” How different that is from popular thinking that we should be free to please ourselves and make our own life. Through our commitment and disciplined desire to submit our human thinking to the divine word, the living active seed of God will produce in us a holy child of God. We can then appreciate that the trials and troubles we experience in our lives, like the children of Israel in the wilderness, are to humble and test us so that our heavenly Father can do us good in the latter end (Deut. 8:16).
We heard how our brethren and sisters in the Philippines endure great hardship to serve our God in their corner of His vineyard. If we are ever tempted to complain of our circumstances, we can remember the sister who walks down the mountain to work long hours, walks back at the end of the day to her fatherless family, earning only enough for a very bare existence. What does she hope for? Surely there is only one real relief for her — the return of our Lord and the establishment of righteousness and peace in the earth. How real is this hope in our lives?
How does our commitment manifest itself in our families and ecclesias? Are we waiting for the day when we can do some great thing to show our love for our heavenly Father and His family? Is our life cluttered with all kinds of insignificant concerns which, in the great purpose of God, hardly have any relevance?
In our workshops, we considered the education of our children, the stresses pressing upon us by having so many balls to juggle that we are bound to drop some and feel worse for the failure. How do these affect our relationships in our immediate family and also our ecclesial family?
In the exhortation at the memorial service our brother encouraged us through the lessons of the daughters of Zelophehad. Their sincere desire to share the inheritance was pleasing to God; for their part, His favor was precious to them and they were willing to protect the blessing.
The “Women at the Well” weekend was not only encouraging to sisters to drink deeply of the wells of salvation around the Word of God, but gave us the opportunity to fellowship with sisters young and old from near and far. Like the women of old who walked daily to the well while their brethren sat in the gate, we talked together, shared our burdens, even shed a tear together, and returned home more resolved and strengthened to serve our heavenly Father, our families and our ecclesia. Linda Cadieux, Mississauga, Ontario
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One