Spark, Spunk, Freedom, Fire, and Wild Women

Jane has brought something up that I'd like to address.

She has noticed a lack of spark/life in the artwork of many Christians who blog. And she brings out the fact that many times, instead of allowing ourselves freedom of expression, we police ourselves to the point that we kill that spark of creativity within us. She makes a good point.

There is a saying I found somewhere and I keep it in the back of my mind:

"Marriage and Children can tame a young, wild woman. But who can tame an old, wild woman?"

Now, I'm going to have to define wild.
Many Christians hear the term wild and they shut down. They picture an alcoholic, party girl who sleeps around and never stays at home. But that's not what I think of.
People with addictions to alcohol and party living are not wild and free. They are controlled by their addiction, their need for constant stimulation.
To me, a wild and free woman in Christ DOES take care of her family. She doesn't shirk responsibility. But neither does she let the responsibility weigh her down and sap her life. She's connected to the Vine, her life source and lives fully, more abundantly, with spark and fire.

I read a book once. I'm not recommending it at all because I'm not sure others will get from it what I got. God used it in my particular situation. But I've seen others come away from it with completely different thoughts.

The book was called "Wild at Heart". It was written by a man for men and the women who loved them. But what the writer did not expect was that women would latch onto this "wild at heart" theme.

When I was in college one of my professors had a cartoon picture on his door of a character with a ball and chain attached to his leg and on the ball was written, "Truth". And the caption was, "I thought the truth was supposed to set me free."
At the time I saw it, it made me angry. I was young in the Lord and my relationship With Him was new and fresh and I did not understand what that cartoon meant. Now I know. Religion brings bondage. It brings bondage to women AND men. And men in bondage have the tendency to turn on their women so that the women are in more bondage than the men.

Anyway, this "Wild at Heart" book was trying to deal with the hearts of men and trying to get them to throw off religion and be the men God created them to be, and Jesus redeemed them to be. The message was good. And his intentions were totally good. He felt that if the men were wild and free then they would also release their women to be free along side them. Problem is, the message many men got was, "I'm free he-man. You, woman, respect my freedom and understand it because I'm a man! Don't get in my way. Don't slow me down. I can say what I want, do what I want, and if you don't like it, too bad."

But anyway, back to what I got out of the book. God was dealing with ME and MY self-policing and MY self-limitation. God was calling me to a level of freedom that I did not know but that was always available to me if I would turn and look to Him for it.

Oh, and the reason I put the word "Spunk" in there is because my pastor said that he likes women with Spunk. And so far, he has been open to the bits and pieces of my areas of freedom that I have shared with him. Spunk, I think for him means, freedom, spark, that part of a woman not controlled by a man that can surprise and bring joy in it's newness, freshness, unexpectedness.

So, Jane, even though I know Spark, Spunk, Freedom, and Fire are all not exactly the same thing, I still think they are related. There is an openness, a life force that we are afraid to express. We don't want to sin against God or man. But in our exuberance to keep from sinning, we stifle. And it doesn't help that there are also men who want to stifle women and put them in boxes (patriarchy). And there are other men who don't WANT to stifle but DO stifle, unintentionally because they are stifled themselves (Well-meaning but thoroughly misguided Christian men).

Are we thinking along the same lines, or am I missing your point?