Water Women

We do not want to rock the boat you say
mistaking our new poise for something safe.
We smile secretly at each other sharing the reality
that for some time we have not been in the boat.
We jumped, or were pushed, or fell,
and some leaped overboard.

Our bodies form a freedom fleet
our dolphin grace is power.
We learn and teach as we go each woman sings
each woman's hands are water wings.
Some of us have become mermaids or Amazon whales
and are swimming for our lives.

Some of us do not know to swim
we walk on water.

-Rene Alla Bozarth-Campbell

My pastor sent me this poem in the mail. It comes from the bulletin of another woman's ordination and I'm wondering about her as I ponder the poem. Was she a woman who jumped in, fell, or was she pushed? Does she swim with the grace and power of a whale, or prefer to walk on water?

And what of me?

I already know this answer; I leaped overboard. Dived right in, in fact. And I know that smile the writer suggests . . .the one exchanged between women that have taken risks theologically. The ones who continue on, despite the disapproval of family, friends--some church bodies and denominations. The women who face disapproval from those who even love them . . . . They are warriors in the Buddhist sense: gentle, aware, courageous. Their actions say enough, and they stand before God unashamed. With that comes a playful mischief in their eyes, accompanying the I've-been-through-hell-but-it's-worth-it smile, and I'd like to think that they know what it means to live a life well-lived.