Ladies and Gentlemen

Since my family is studying Medieval History this year, our car trips have been full of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Men of Iron, and Ivanhoe.

Chivalry is not dead in these stories! Perhaps the courtesy and manners in these stories only ever lived in myth, but I still raise my daughters to be ladies and my sons to be gentlemen because I still have to listen to them chew.

On a recent cross-country trip, I took special note of the words “Ladies” and “Gentlemen” every time I saw them, maybe since I was listening to these high-falutin tales of Knights in armor and Beautiful Maidens presiding over jousting tournaments. 

I saw them repeatedly in two places: on the doors of restrooms and on billboards with curvy silhouettes and red lipstick.

Boiling gentlemen and ladies down to sex strips away God’s intent to create men and women who honor Him with every part of themselves. 

The original Gentleman said, “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Being a gentleman, then, is so much more than sex or manners or language (or chewing with your lips closed). It is a willing submission to One who emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant. 

Being a lady, too, is submitting to Jesus instead of being anxious, controlling, or demanding. It is a willing submission to One who originally showed a “gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight.”

It’s taking lessons on love straight from the source of love Himself.

What a different story the world tells!

In my stall at a rest area somewhere in the middle of Tennessee, I noticed a sticker placed discreetly on the side of the metal trash can, only visible from the occupant’s point of view. It had a QR code on it and the promise to be able to provide abortion pills to anyone, no matter their state of residence. 

I peeled the sticker off and visited the website listed. For just $150 (or less if I requested a scholarship), I could be prescribed a regimen of pills that would help me end the life of any little lady or gentleman I happened to conceive. 

“These pills are medically very safe,” and “The risks are the same as those of a miscarriage… most women know how to deal with it themselves and will not need to seek medical care…” and “The whole process is very discreet” were plastered all over the website.

I searched the other stalls for more stickers, but mine was the only one put there to derail some vulnerable lady into killing her child. I threw it in the trash. It made me wish I could also throw all the billboards for gentlemen’s clubs in the trash too. 

As we got back on the interstate, the first billboard I saw had a picture of a smiling baby. “Choose life,” it read. Choosing life begins by throwing all the cultural messages hurled at you in the trash and submitting yourself to the One who Made you so His love can shape you into the lady or gentleman He designed you to be.