Modesty

I Timothy 2:9-10
And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.

Modesty is a very touchy subject. I feel the need to discuss this topic is very important, especially as summer approaches!

Anything a Christ follower does should be Christ honoring. Right? Even the way we dress? The way we teach our daughters to dress? YES!

This subject is very heavy on my heart. As Christian parents, I believe it is our responsibility to teach our children to honor God with their bodies. I Corinthians 6:20 says, "for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." This is from the Word of God! Before we go out the door, we need to do a self check and ask, "are we honoring Christ with the clothes we have on, or are we drawing attention to our bodies for our own purposes?"

Let's talk about swimsuits.  Parents, please don't let your daughters grow up wearing immodest swimsuits! Don't even start when they are little or the trend is likely that they will continue to wear that type of suit. If you wouldn't let them go around wearing their bra and panties in front of the world, what makes it alright for them to wear a swimsuit that looks like a bra and panties? And let's face the facts, it's not just seen at the pool or beach anymore. We are in the facebook age, where one day lasts a lifetime and can be seen all over the world through digital pictures. "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise.", Ephesians 5:15.

We are to please the Lord in all areas of our lives. This includes the way we dress and the way we teach our daughters to dress. What picture of Christ are we letting others see? Are we different from the world in the way we dress? Romans 12:1-2 says it this way, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

Growing up, I always had to make sure that my dad approved my swimsuits and, now I make sure my husband approves the ones that my daughters wear. This is because guys see something totally different when they look at girls than what we see when we look in the mirror. Dads have a way of knowing whether these clothes will send a wrong impression of their little girls to the boys who will be seeing them. The Bible teaches us not to cause our brothers to stumble. If we dress immodestly and it causes others to have lustful thoughts toward us, then we are indeed sinning and in some cases setting ourselves up for danger.

Mark 9:42
“But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck."

2 Timothy 2:22
Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

I know for some of you, this could be a new battle. I encourage you to embrace it and help your daughters shop for a swimsuit that is modest to the eyes. They are harder to find, but they are out there! I'm not saying that you have to cover your whole entire body to go swimming, but I am challenging you to make sure that your daughters are covered enough so that they are not sending the message "look at my body" to the guys they will be with at the pool (or the world who will see their pics on fb!).

As a mother of two beautiful daughters, I am very cautious of what "image" they are presenting to the world. As a mother of a soon to be 10 year old boy, I find myself wishing that more girls would cover up their bodies to protect the images that are being sent his way. I know that the battle for his mind is approaching, and I am praying that God will protect his eyes, heart, and mind from lustful thoughts.

I am asking for you as Christian parents to make a conscious choice about what you allow your girls to wear. Let's be wise and honor Christ with our bodies and teach our daughters to do the same!

Summer Break

It is the time of year that we all get to take a breather from schooling! We have actually been done now for several weeks and have had lots of down time already.  I have played catch up on laundry and worked in the yard some (when we can get a break from the rain) and watched a lot of baseball and softball games and practices. But I have really not been focused on accomplishing anything for several weeks - and it felt pretty good... for a while. Now it is time for me to establish some sort of summer routine! I love free time, but my mind feels so much better when that free time is scheduled.  That seems like an oxymoron statment, doesn't it! Let me explain...

Like I said, I LOVE free time. But being a scheduler and an all or nothing type person, it seems that if I don't schedule my free time around the things that I need to get done, then free time runs rampant and my day is gone before I've had time to even consider what is for dinner.  So, it is time for me to think about what I want to spend my summer break doing!

1.  Visit with my parents
2.  Work in the yard/garden
3.  Blog
3.  Plan for next school year
4.  Play with the kids
5.  Exercise
6.  Go to the zoo
7.  Swimming
8.  Read, Read, Read!!!
9.  Take the kids to the park
10. Do NOTHING! :)

There is lots more I could add in there, but that is a good start!

In order for me to do these things, I must plan for them.  I will be establishing a new morning routine for everyone. This will be much less rigid than during school days, but we've got to make sure that the house doesn't fall to pieces! Also, I will be setting aside time to do my meal planning/grocery shopping as well.  It is my opinion that these are two important staples for a well run home. 

Once our morning routines are finished, then I say we can play the rest of the day! And if I have my meals planned in advance, I won't have to worry about coming up with something at the last minute before our evening events begin. 

Ahh... I can feel my mind getting clearer already! Just thinking about a schedule and routine helps me!

What will you spend your summer days doing? I'd love to hear what you have planned!