Not long after my son was born, I overheard two young mothers from my church discussing another woman with a toddler. The conversation centered around potty training and how this woman had done it all wrong; she regularly took her son to the bathroom rather than letting him make the decision on his own. Here's what I gleaned from that discussion: I'd best do everything right as a mom because all the ladies in church would bad-mouth me behind my back if I didn't, and I wanted them to approve of me. Isn't this a struggle for most moms? Although at my bridal shower the pastor's wife warned me to never compare myself to other women, I didn't listen. I tried to live up to the standard of the "perfect Christian mom" I created in my head. I studied a lot of parenting resources provided by Christian organizations because I was determined to raise my kids right. And sadly, I judged other moms who failed to parent their kids the way I thought was best. Gradually, God showed me that my … [Read more...]
Ditching the Gimmie Attitude
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. - Philippians 2:3 In today's day and age one of the main mindsets of America is the "gimmie attitude" What do I mean by this? Well if you have children, you probably already know. From the time we're small children we can see this attitude rearing it's ugly head in the form of, "I want that!" or "gimmie that toy, it's MINE!" *cue grabbing/pushing/shoving for said toy* The biggest problem is that this attitude continues into adulthood, seeping through all parts of life, even into the church! It takes a different form of course--from the playgroup toy snatching it turns into men figuratively pushing/shoving/and climbing over each other to get ahead in the company. For women it takes the form of gossip and slander, false nicety and congratulations in Facebook comments to turn around and message a different "friend", "Oh my *word* did you just see that so and so got … [Read more...]
How To Keep from Becoming a “Busybody”
In my last post I talked about how the world of women seems drawn to the problem and sin of gossip and drama. The verses I referenced were I Peter 4:15 and 1 Titus 5:13. Though many of us have found ourselves on the receiving end of gossip and drama even when we try our best to avoid it, I think many times we are on the giving end, maybe even though we're unaware of it or don't think of our actions as being a "big deal". I was convicted of this many years ago now. My husband and I were dating at the time and one of my friends and I had a habit of making fun of/talking bad about people. I never gave it much thought since it was all done just between us and (most of the time) in jest. What was the big deal if we pointed out that someone was trying to show off her new "work" to all the boys? It was her fault for being so distasteful right? It wasn't until my boyfriend had a heart to heart with me and showed me what I was doing that I realized how wrong our little gossipy conversations … [Read more...]
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