The Question of Men

I realize that Eve Studios is all about women. At the core of all females, is this question, "Am I beautiful?" (if that sounds really lame to you, think of the tremendous role that beauty plays in our world). We've all twirled in our dresses as little girls and hoped that someone would notice. And how that question is answered and whether we've been seen and valued as we grew up, especially by the father figure in our life, does a great deal to shape the women we become.

Lately, I've been reading and thinking about men. They've been on my heart for quite awhile, in particular since reading "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. A man's question is very different. It's "Am I capable?" As boys, they looked for someone to say, "You can do it...you have what it takes" and to have a man come alongside and teach them skills and pass on what it means to be truly strong. Unfortunately, our society's focus on economic strength rather than relational strength leaves the foundations weak, and our media's message of "men are fools" (just look at advertising and comedy) only serves to topple whatever strength remains.

That's why I was so delighted to see Will Smith (and his family) interviewed on Oprah, and be completely inspired by his leadership, his insight, his strength of conviction, and the legacy he's leaving to his kids (in conjunction with Jada of course...). And a few days before that, Rod was telling me how Tom Cruise has an amazing vision for his kids and what he is doing to accomplish that. (We now have them on DVD...it's just made that much of an impact).

I'm so glad that Father's Day is coming up, because it just gives me the perfect excuse to talk about men and the importance of their role. I'm not sure where this will take me, but discussing our relationship to men and how we can help them be truly great is something that's on my heart. We can see all around us what happens when men's strength goes bad or goes passive. But how powerful it is when we encounter a man fully functioning in his strength, and controlled by his conscience.