So today’s readings from the Revised Common Lectionary included the song sung by Deborah and Barak in Judges 5:1-12. I worked hard to write a good poem for Deborah as her story does not get told enough in the church. Like a lot of the strong women of scripture, it seems to me that her story is relegated to Women’s Bible Studies and that’s a shame. The world can always use a good example of strong women in leadership.

So here’s the poem. I’ve entitled it Deborah’s Image. Obviously, it is an acrostic of Deborah’s name.

Don’t look in the mirror and see a project that needs to be fixed–you carry the image of women like Deborah.
Everyone has an opinion about how you should live your life, but strong women begin by believe in who they could be.
Believe in yourself, believe in your falling, believe that you are here for days like today.
Outrageously enough, strong women can come from anywhere and can change everything.
Release your fear, claim your heritage, and believe in yourself.
Armies may stand against you, fear may gather behind you, doubt may circle around you, but you carry the image of strong women.
Have faith, believe, and understand that God call us all–you do have a very special place in our world.

This work by Robert Dean is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.