By Rev. Chris Surber

My 2-year-old daughter is a treasure. I love my sons, too, but there is something unique about my relationship with that little girl who clutters my home with her dolls, hair bows, and tiny tap shoes, and who fills my heart with love.

She is a delicate gem, like an authentic Faberge egg or a crystal rose. Her stubbornness has playfulness in it. She has an inherent strength that is subtle in the same way that a tornado is wind. From her dimples to her curls, from her determination to do it herself to her desperate desire for daddy to carry her, she is mysterious and wonderful.

As are all women.

Her presence in my life has opened up windows into my soul that I didn’t know existed. In fact, having a daughter has profoundly altered the way I view women. I was never a male chauvinist. But until now, I have had a terribly incomplete understanding of the intricacies and challenges women face in our culture.

When I dream of my daughter’s future, I realize the world doesn’t always view or treat women as it should. Ever since that bubbly little girl came along, I have been more inclined to notice the ways society hoists unreasonable and unfair expectations onto women.

For example, I’ve always thought that nursing a baby in a bathroom was odd. I mean, I’ve never eaten lunch in a public restroom. Why should a baby? I won’t even take a drink into one on my way out of a fast food restaurant for fear of germs.

Yet, when I ask women why they observe this strange practice, they invariably say “I don’t want to offend men.” Really? How is it a woman’s problem to use her body in the way that God created it to be used? Is it not the man who is acting inappropriately if he chooses to ogle a mother nourishing and loving her baby?

I’ve grown to despise many dolls made for little girls. Why are we shocked when our teenage daughters are bulimic, anorexic and depressed about their bodies, when we teach them early that beautiful women must be blonde and shaped like malnourished runway models?

My little girl plays with whimsical dolls with buttons for eyes, not plastic versions of the Frankenstein’s monsters produced by Hollywood’s plastic surgeons.

Women are treasures just the way that God created them. God fashioned from man’s side a fascinating creature to be his equal, his companion. She was not taken from the ground beneath him, because he is not to trample her. She was not taken from the sky above him, because she is not to be an object of worship or to rule him. She was taken from his side, because they are to walk out their journey together, complementing one another in love and respect.

“The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18 NIV84)

I love my little girl just as God created her to be — bubbly and bossy, frantic and fantastic, happy and hopeful. She is a treasure, and so is every little girl and woman that God has sent into my life and yours.

Chris Surber is pastor of Cypress Chapel Christian Church in Suffolk. Visit his website at www.chrissurber.com.