The Circle of Sisterhood, excerpts

The Circle of Sisterhood, excerpts

CONTENTS

SECTION I: UNITY
Let’s Come Together
Solidarity Breeds Strength, Division Breeds Deficiency 3
When Rumor and Gossip Come Knocking 11
Covetousness, Envy, and Jealousy - Oh My! 17

SECTION II: SELFLESSNESS
Ode to Self
Selfishness Isolates Us and Hinders Progress 29
Simple Living, Selfless Giving 35

SECTION III: ENCOURAGEMENT
An Intercessor’s Heart
A Wise Woman Builds Her House… 45
Love and Acceptance Cover a Multitude of Faults 51
Did That Really Just Come Out of My Mouth? 55

SECTION IV: SERVICE
Duty and Desire
The Lost Art of Servanthood 63
Seek to Maintain a Teachable Spirit 71
The M.D. Factor 77

A FINAL THOUGHT

A Note From Phylicia …

Dear Sister Friend,

Thank you for your willingness to read this book. I hope that as you turn its pages you will laugh out loud, identify with the women portrayed, and perhaps even shed a tear. If you should discover any nuggets of wisdom or have an “aha, this is right where I am” moment, that’s all the better.

As a mother of three growing daughters, it brings me great delight to see them enjoying their own bond of biological sisterhood. However, it matters not if one is related by blood or marriage to another woman. Rather, genuine sisterhood is the solidarity of women based on shared interests, experiences, and concerns. It is devoid of “cliquish” behavior and transcends blood ties, ethnicity, age variance, or socio-economic status. The circle of sisterhood is simply your female circle of influence. Your interaction with these women drives the dynamic of the circle as you influence and impact each other’s lives... One woman can be involved in many different circles if she has broad and varied interests that allow her to encounter a diverse group of women.

The circle of sisterhood is also characterized by the unity, encouragement, service, and selflessness of those within the circle.

Solidarity Breeds Strength but Division Breeds Deficiency

There was a funny jingle written back in the 1970s: “United we stand, divided we fall. We’re tighter than pantyhose two sizes small!” I know that in twenty-first-century America, pantyhose are becoming more and more unfashionable, but I still wear them. In fact, my three daughters also wear them. The only difference between mine and theirs is the size. It goes without saying that theirs are smaller. I can’t even count the number of times I have accidentally gotten a pair of theirs and attempted to pull them up. You talk about tight and uncomfortable! My girls ‘hose’ aren’t just smaller; they are also shorter, but I wear them anyway. It is such a pain to pull them off, hunt around for the right size, and then put those on. I never have that much time in the morning while I’m getting dressed, so I continue to wear them while they are squeezing my legs and sliding down my rear. I think the visual image evoked by that jingle would be more powerful and effective had it said, “we’re tighter than compression hose two sizes small.” For those of us who have twisted, turned, and gyrated ourselves into an aerobic frenzy trying to get those things on WITHOUT GETTING THEM TWISTED, we know what tight means — quite a funny sight.

I can remember a rather embarrassing episode where I literally pulled a hole in the thigh of a pair of stockings while my family was enjoying dinner at a Chinese restaurant one Sunday afternoon. To this day, I still don’t know how I did it. The restaurant was located in a shopping strip, and there was a small ‘dollar store’ located a few doors down. I gingerly walked to that store as the hole continued to inch its way down my leg. The lady behind the register directed me to the very limited selection of women’s pantyhose; by limited I mean they sold only one color (black) in only one size (the package gave no indication). I shouldn’t complain — they were only a dollar, but you do get what you pay for. I went into the public restroom in the store and put them on. Even after pulling them up as tightly and as carefully as I could, they still only just came up over my hips. I debated putting the others back on, but by then they were unraveling on the floor. Through all of this, I never even considered just going barelegged.
The changing room was large, so I could walk around and try out the new pantyhose. Every time I took a step forward, they would slip down below my hips. When I say slip down, I mean waaay down. There was no nylon or support in them at all. I don’t really know what they were made of. I knew that if I walked out of that store like that, by the time I reached my car, those stockings would be puddled around my ankles, and my husband would accuse me of doing a hilarious-looking ‘Carol Burnett as the cleaning woman’ routine.

I just needed something, anything to keep them up. I began to rummage around in my purse, and I found what I thought just might work: a black binder clip like the ones sold at office supply stores. Eureka! Thank God it was a small one and not jumbo-sized. I pulled those pantyhose back up, grabbed the front waistband of my underwear, and attached them to the front waistband of the pantyhose with that binder clip. Problem solved. New problem — I couldn’t walk and bend my knees. No worries; I didn’t have that far to go. I proudly walked out of that bathroom straight legged, thanked the cashier for her help, and kept my head held high because I was not walking out in public with a run in my stockings!

If we will be united as women, we will be a tight-knit force (just like those pantyhose) that makes an impact in our communities. However, if we allow our circles of sisterhood to become plagued with division and strife, our efforts to impact the lives of others will be weak and less fruitful.

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