day no. 16,768: the right kind of fighting

"When a woman puts up her fists to a man she is putting herself in the only posture in which he is not afraid of her. He can be afraid of her speech and still more of her silence; but force reminds him of a rusted but very real weapon of which he has grown ashamed." — G.K. Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men

Everyone is to fight the good fight of faith, but we have been given different weapons and tactics for engaging in battle. 

Proverbs 20:29

The glory of young men is their strength:

and the beauty of old men is the grey head.

There is nothing stronger than a young man. Men are strong and young men are stronger. There is nothing less threatening to a man than a woman with her dukes up. That is not how she was made to fight.

Exodus 23:19

Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

A woman can fight with her fists just like milk can be used to boil things, but neither is at their best when doing so. Milk was made to give life, not end it. A woman was made to nurture her children, not boil them alive. Her body was made to comfort not to roast her little ones.

Deuteronomy 22:5

The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man.

A man's gear is his equipment for battle. A woman was not made for warfare. She should not don the panoply of pugilist. 

1 Corinthians 11:7

The woman is the glory of the man.

Women have been given the artillery of allurement. There is nothing more beautiful than a woman. She is the pinnacle of God's creation. She possesses no greater power than when she embraces her elegance.

A man may fear the attraction of woman or the meaning of her words, but he does not fear her fighting gait. She cannot make him quake by taking that kind of stance. But she can make him tremble by standing gracefully or speaking honestly. If a women wants to impose upon a man, her force is better applied by her lips than her fists. A man cannot be moved by the bulk of a woman's shoulders, but he can be if she bares them. Beauty can either inspire our best efforts or tempt our worst impulses. It can promote noble construction or ignoble destruction.

By the grace of God, the strength of men in meekness will both build and inherit the world and by the grace of God, the strength of women in meekness will both adorn and inhabit that world in which everyone wants to live.