by
Tery Maine
Transsexualism: Gift, Curse or Assignment?
There's a familiar little test of perception which involves a half glass of water. A person is asked to describe the relationship of the water to the glass. The optimist will say the glass is half full, the pessimist will say it is half empty, the scientist will say it has 2.57 liters of water, and the philosopher will say the question is irrelevant unless one first knows how the glass started out.
Being transsexual is very much like that little experiment with the glass. Many, in fact I'd say the vast majority of us say it is a curse of nature. We make comparisons to birth defects. We point out the incredible pain which comes from having a brain of one sex with the body of the other. And this is not to mention the discrimination, humiliation and even danger which comes from outside sources.
Another much smaller group is emerging which views transsexualism as a gift. They point out that it is a great adventure after all to cross that most mysterious of all frontiers the gap between male and female. They make the case that we have a greater appreciation of each gender's unique problems and possibilities. They also note that even the painful aspects bring about a quality of endurance which serves us well in all areas of our lives. And those of us who are Christians add that often the very difficulties of being transsexual have brought us closer to God over the years as we sought solace from the only one who truly understood us.
I have to admit over the past decade or so, I've vacillated between these two points of view. Certainly, it was hard for me to see how anything so painful could in anyway be part of the plan of God, so transsexualism had to be a result of the fall like birth defects. But at other times, I could see great benefit from my transsexualism as truly appreciating my gender of choice once I could live in it, and in the sense of wonder that transition rekindled in me. But I'm beginning to think that there is a third way of looking at GID, not as a curse to be bemoaned, not as a gift to rejoice in, but as an assignment from the creator to be carried out.
You see we so often think that everything is about us, about our needs, about our wants, about our comfort. For those of us who are Christians, we know that everything isn't about us. It's about Him. When we accepted Christ as our personal savior, we enlisted in the army of God. God had a plan for us from the beginning of time. He formed us in our mother's womb, and in the process of that formation, He made some of us transsexual. Why do you think he did that? Maybe because he has a job for us to do which requires us to be transsexual.
Now, I know that is difficult to take. I would much rather see this as an accident of nature or a birth defect. In fact, if you read my older writings on the subject, that's exactly what I call it. Or if not a curse of nature then a blessing of God to give me great joy. But when I think about it as an assignment that lays a responsibility on me to find out what that assignment entails and then carry it out.
For each of us the nature of the assignment will vary. For some it will be to live a simple Christian life with few people knowing our gender histories, but using the strength gained through transition to help other people face difficult times. For others of us it may mean sharing our testimonies with other transgendered people to bring them comfort and salvation from the Lord.
Like any work assignment or school assignment, the job may be easy or hard. At times the assignment will be wonderfully enjoyable. At others it may be a drudgery. But the completion of the assignment always brings about satisfaction and reward from the boss. So, today, I'm going to forget about bemoaning the curse or loafing in the glories of my transsexualism and get on with the business of completing the assignment in such a way as to please the one who gave it to me in the first place so that one day I can lay the fruits of that assignment at his feet and hear those wonderful words, "Well done, Good and Faithful Servant enter now into the joys of the Lord."
