Grace in progress

Let’s start with me:

I use she/they pronouns now.

Most of the time, I feel like a woman. But sometimes, I don’t really feel like I have much of a gender at all. I don’t always fit into the “woman” box. And while all my friends and family are supportive, I know there are people out there who think I am wrong. That I’m not living into who God created me to be.

Most of these people will quote Genesis 1:27, which reads, “So God created humans in God’s image, in the image of God they were created; male and female God created them.”

When taken literally, it creates a binary. When taken literally, there can be nothing in between or outside. However, I think it’s safe to say that anyone who successfully passed high school English classes should know that many written things aren’t meant to be taken literally.

In fact, most of Genesis 1 uses a specific literary device called a “merism.” A merism is when a person lists two extremes of a category to signal for the inclusion of the entire category. For example, God created day AND night. But we know that dawn and dusk exist, and God created them too. Genesis 1 is FILLED with merisms, and I personally think it’s because no one has the time to write down every single thing God created because it’s just too long of a list.

But it’s important to note that God created everything that was written down AND everything in between. When God creates “male AND female,” these are the two extremes of the merism, and God also creates everything in between. For those that would deny that there is anything in between on the basis of biology, I would recommend you look into the concept of intersex individuals. There is biological proof of the existence of individuals that are not purely male and/or female biologically, and the same can be said for societal interpretation of gender.

I am mostly a woman, but even when I don’t feel like a woman, I am still included as a creation of the Divine Being that created the universe. I am not confused. I am not excluded. I am part of a story that spans thousands of years and I am KNOWN and CHERISHED by the Spirit of Love that named me and claimed me. I am LOVED as I am, without needing to change. And nothing will ever change that fact.