The REAL Church Lady Is Not Uptight, She's Upright!

The very talented actor Dana Carvey created and played a character on the long-running TV show, Saturday Night Live. He called her the Church Lady because she was created out of his childhood observations of women he saw on Sundays at church. These women obviously left a strong impression on him that they were very uptight, critical and frankly, perfectionists with stiff, pharisical personalities. In a biography, Mr. Carvey described how the women would take roll each Sunday -- in judgment of the no-shows. I imagine they must has also rolled their eyes and pursed their lips as Mr. Carvey's character did on Saturday Night Live.

Dana Carvey as the Church Lady

Carvey's Church Lady was his model of "religious" women -- in reality they were irreligious -- who lived with invisible walls surrounding them to keep others from knowing they had faults, sins, and short comings. They believed it was a weakness to let anyone know they struggled with anything. That is not a REAL Church Lady but a knock off -- only an imitation of The Great Designer's model.

I'd like to think today's true Church Lady is a faithful Christian. She's authentic. She works at being real even when it's hard. She's humble and thankful to God for forgiving her, rescuing her and delivering her from the dark places in her life.

She has an abundant life of love and laughter as well as tears. She's energetic in serving her LORD and His people.

Her vitality comes from her powerful prayer life and she is sustained by her Savior.

She's not ashamed to say she's a survivor of a double mastectomy from breast cancer. She's overcome the strongholds and torments of sexual childhood abuse. She's a former alcoholic who has stopped drinking and now drinks the Living Water served by her Savior. She's a woman who used to be addicted to drugs and now is joyfully addicted to following Jesus.

She has grieved deeply over the loss of beloved family members and friends and is not afraid to let people know her heart is broken. She knows that peace follows prayers!

She's a single mom who is looking for a second job and not afraid to let others know she wants and needs more work. She has teenagers who are rebelling and she boldly asks her other Church Lady friends to pray for her teen.

That's power, Sistas. That's a whole lot of God Power when you have a bunch of Church Ladies who are seeking the face of God and are encouraging each other with His word and His love. Most of all we should sowing seeds of LIFE into others by INVITING them to join our gatherings! When we're going out to breakfast or lunch; attending a local Bible study, a Mom's Morning Out, a church service, a Sunday School class, a Ladies' Night Out, or a walk in a neighborhood -- we should INVITE someone and encourage them to choose LIFE, too! We women have believed lies about ourselves for too long. Church Ladies (Sistas) should be sharing God's Truth!The funny thing is, the actual church is NOT a building! WE (God's people) are the church! So yes, we are Church Ladies.....but personally, I like to use the endearing term, Sistas! May God be glorified as we send out His love and His light that He put inside us!

"He holds victory in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones" (Proverbs 2:7).

We should ask ourselves: "Which kind of Church Lady am I? Uptight or Upright?" How much truth is there in Mr. Carvey's character?