Who’s Holding Your Ladder

15 Mar Who’s Holding Your Ladder

It’s still March and we’re still celebrating women! It’s very exciting to see how many of us are being recognized on social platforms.

My church hosts a women’s conference every year around this time and this year I was able to attend. I had the pleasure of hearing Counselor Barbara Green speak about holding the ladder for other women. It was a reference to the book, “Who’s holding your Ladder?” by the author, Samuel Chand.  Listening to her speak, I immediately thought to myself, ‘YAAAAASSSSSSSSSS, this is what women’s empowerment is all about!’

Then she asked a question that left the room speechless. She asked, “What did your mom teach you about women?”  The answers that began to break the silence in the room, were full of the old-school wisdom of broken women. Women who passed down advice about not trusting other women, from their moms, and those women, from their moms, aunts, and grandmothers (and so on…and on).  I don’t believe that receipt of this kind of advice is unique to any of us.  Some of us even thought that we weren’t listening or that we were above such nonsense, but what we didn’t realize, is that we were being trained – simply through observation.

Now, now! I know our mothers did the best that they knew how to, with the tools that they were equipped with, but as adult women, we must decide that some of that advice, those generational strongholds and insecurities will STOP with us. Let’s identify those ‘life-lessons’ and do the work to change the subtle behaviors that come from hearing some of these things for years. Let us make the choice to trust, support and pray for other women (although some of us were taught not to). Going forward, hold the ladder for other women, just as someone held it for us.