Jul
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My Piglet
Each morning I make a list of the day’s chores and studies for my oldest son Jack. He’s like his momma. He loves lists, and he loves checking items off his list.
This summer, among other things, I am having him memorize several poems, including “Courage” by Edgar Guest and “If” by Rudyard Kipling. My parents had me memorize the poem “If” when I was about Jack’s age and I have always loved it.
Though it is not entirely Christian in its worldview, it celebrates the biblical qualities of integrity, courage, and perseverance—virtues my husband and I strongly desire to impress upon our young son.
I pray, by the grace of God and for the glory of God, he may grow up to be this kind of man.
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—-and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—-which is more—-you’ll be a Man, my son!
~Rudyard Kipling
.Love.
Why is modesty important for the Christian woman? The reason is the gospel.
In both 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Peter 2, the context of the command to modesty is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter and Paul remind their readers and us that Jesus, “himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet 2.24) and “gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:6).
The perfect God gave his perfect Son to redeem sinners like you and me. And it is his grace that causes us to “grow up into salvation” (1 Pet. 2:2), enables us to “die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Pet. 2:24), and compels us to wear clothing that reflects the gospel.
The gospel message is our motivation for modest dress. As my dad, CJ Mahaney explains: “The woman who loves the Savior avoids immodesty because she doesn’t want to distract from or reflect poorly upon the gospel.” The way Christian women dress should “not detract from but enhance their gospel mission” writes John Stott.
We have a gospel mission: not only to preach Christ, but to live in a way consistent with our profession of faith. As we preach the good news of the transforming work of our Savior, our dress should reflect His power at work in us.
May there be no contradiction between our gospel message and the clothes we wear. And may our modest dress be a witness to the One who gave Himself as a ransom for all.
This week’s Friday Funnies comes from Debra. Too cute! Enjoy your weekend everyone! Nicole for the girltalkers
When my granddaughter Sophia, age 2, had been moved out of her crib and into a big girl bed, one of her rules for nap time was that she had to stay in bed and not look at books. She had done a good job with the transition and usually stayed in her bed. But one day when her mom went to check on her, she found her sound asleep out of her bed and on top of a book. The name of the book was “Hoorah, I Obeyed!”
Have you ever worn the wrong clothes to an event? I once heard the story of a woman who was invited to the White House for a function that she assumed was formal, only to find out that it was business casual and she was the only one wearing a gown. How embarrassing.
No doubt we’ve all got stories like hers, although they probably didn’t happen at the White House! But the most concerning wardrobe-fail of all is when a Christian woman wears the wrong clothes.
Thankfully, we know the dress code. God has provided us with a very clear pattern for a Christian woman’s dress. Not only has he told us what not to wear but he has also told us what we should wear.
The Apostle Paul sums up the Christian woman’s style: “I desire then…that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control” (1 Tim. 2:8–9).
First, note the imperative: “women should adorn themselves” (emphasis mine). In warning against excess, Paul is not saying, “Forget about your appearance. A Christian woman shouldn’t be concerned with how she looks.”
Quite the contrary—it matters a great deal what we look like. We are not to ignore our appearance; instead, we are to make a conscious effort to adorn ourselves, to look attractive.
The Christian woman does this by clothing herself “in respectable apparel.” This doesn’t harken back to your grandmother’s dress code; rather, it means that we make a deliberate effort to wear clothing and accessories appropriate to the woman whose life has been transformed by the gospel.
We take great care to dress in a way that honors the Savior.
What we wear should line up with, speak to, and be consistent with our profession of faith. Our dress should intentionally and carefully show our desire to glorify God in all things. And it should display the power of the gospel we have received to do just that.
So just as we would choose a summer dress and not a ball gown for an afternoon picnic, so a Christian woman should only wear clothing that is appropriate to a gospel-centered life.
(adapted from True Beauty)
A day like this calls for 2 chocolate chip cookies and a tall glass of milk. Until tomorrow!
As a mom with young kids, summer is full of endless possibilities and countless hours to fill, depending on how you look at it. I get excited about all the memories we can make and overwhelmed by all I think I need to accomplish for a truly “successful” summer. I’ve got to go berry picking and set reading goals and make popsicles and get out the sprinkler, and the list goes on.
I’m trying to learn from my mistakes. If I try to do too many things, I end up failing to do most of them. So I want to start with the most important summer mothering goal: training my children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).
Teaching and training our children in the ways of the Lord requires intentionality. And so, in addition to the daily devotions my husband leads at breakfast, I decided to choose one area that I wanted to focus on with my children. Thus, I’ve inaugurated the “Summer of Kindness.”
My goal—and check back with me at the end of the summer on this!—is to focus on this one area for the next two months, and hopefully cultivate a greater culture of kindness amongst my four children.
I am going to try to lead the children to memorize at least one verse about kindness together, to talk to them about kindness in Scripture, promote kindness through encouragement and even a kindness contest, and to be faithful to bring appropriate consequences for unkindness.
Now I’m sure my plan will morph over the next eight weeks or so, and it might even get derailed. And I don’t have any unrealistic expectations that my children will be perfectly kind to one another after this. But as one wise person once said, I’ll make more progress than if I had never tried at all.
And by targeting this one area for growth, I know it will help with all the other areas. So, I’m raising a glass of lemonade, and more than a few prayers to a summer of kindness.
Happy weekend!
Here is one of the honorable mentions from our recent Friday Funnies contest…love it! Have a great weekend everyone! Nicole for the girl talkers
From Sanny:
One evening, my husband was explaining to our 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter what it means to be tempted. He asks them, “Are you guys supposed to jump on beds?” To which they both replied, “No!” He then proceeded to ask, “Ellie, what if Micah said to you, ‘Hey Ellie! Let’s go jump on mommy and daddy’s bed! Here, I’ll even go first to show you.’ What would you say?” Our daughter Ellie’s eyes light up and she exclaims, “Yeah! Let’s do it!”
Good to know.
