What I Want to Be

This is so good. I have a feeling our men would think so too. I'm sorry I don't think this way more. Hoping my sorrow will lead to repentance in this regard.

Oh, I must be away - so much to do!

(image from Addison Galleries)
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The Blue Bowl

All day long I did the little things,
The little things that do not show;
I brought the kindling for the fire,
I set the candles in a row,
I filled a bowl with marigolds—
The shallow bowl you love the best—
And made the house a pleasant place
Where weariness may take its rest.

The hours sped on, my eager feet
Could not keep pace with my desire.
So much to do! So little time!
I could not let my body tire.
Yet when the coming of the night
Blotted the garden from my sight,
And on the narrow graveled walks
Between the guarding flower stalks
I heard your step, I was not through
With services I meant for you.

You came into the quiet room
That glowed enchanted with the bloom
Of yellow flame. I saw your face;
Illumined by the firelit space,
Slowly grow still and comforted—
“It’s good to be at home,” you said.

~ Blanch Bane Kuder

(found at Ladies Against Feminism - please also find time to read the article at this link)

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The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

(is not the writer of Genesis is the master of understatement?)

Walk Like a Lady

Many of my readers know that I consider myself a follower of Christ, and as such, I want to reflect that belief in my style of life. I don't want to cast a dim view on that which I hold to be divine and holy, and so I am careful - circumspect, to use the old fashioned word - in my walk. Sometimes I stumble, as we all do, but we press on.

A lady is known by so many things in her life. Not merely white gloves and high tea - if known by this at all! Consider the following motherly poem:

You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,
By the very manner in which you speak,
By the way you employ your leisure time,
By the use you make of dollar and dime.

You tell what you are by the things you wear,
By the spirit in which you burdens bear,
By the kind of things at which you laugh,
By the records you play on the phonograph.

You tell what you are by the way you walk,
By the things of which you delight to talk,
By the manner in which you bear defeat,
By so simple a thing as how you eat.

By the books you choose from the well-filled shelf:
In these ways and more, you tell on yourself.

--- Author Unknown

Proverb 4:23 instructs:
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

What is in a lady's heart, is what is seen in her life. You can neither pretend to be a lady if your heart and mind are filled with unlady-like things, nor hide the fact that you are a daughter of the King of kings if your heart and mind are filled with the knowledge that you indeed are a "princess".

Choose ye this day whom ye will serve... whether your husband, or your boss; your children, or everyone else's children; your self, or your God. Then put your heart into it. People will know what you have chosen, whether you like it or not, for man sees the outward appearance.

Guard your heart, and your footsteps. Walk like a lady.

photo above taken from the book by Kenichi Kawakatsu, "Kimono" of 1936

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see also the WikiHow on How to Act Like a Lady
and a devotional article called, "Ladybug, Ladybug," from the CreativeLadiesMinistry

Modest is Beautiful

I found this editorial comment recently, and thought it important to pass on to those who are striving to be more modest and lady-like, but who might get confused with that personal desire to still remain physically beautiful. You can do it. I found the simple wording in this letter well put.

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"Modest and beautiful"
from Canada.com, Friday, May 30, 2008

Re: "A contradiction?" (Letters, May 29).

First, on the basis of absolutely nothing, Ken Shore equates modesty with a desire to be unattractive. It's an untenable link. Just as it's possible to be both modest and attractive (e.g. my wife in a business suit), it's equally possible to be both immodest and unattractive (e.g. me in a Speedo). [emphasis mine, LisaM]

But then from this flimsy perch, Shore leaps to the absurd conclusion that a woman he saw wearing both lipstick and a hijab was forced to wear the latter (but not the former). Surely it's equally possible she was just trying to be like my wife: modest and attractive. Or is Shore suggesting that a woman must be immodest to be attractive?

It's possible Shore possesses an impeccably logical mind, but in this case,it appears to have been impeded by his clear antipathy toward those who don't share his secular principles.

Aidan Murphy

Ottawa

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I have not posted to this blog lately, and hope to continue to make available links and thoughts from others to encourage you - and me - to continuing in "old fashioned lady-likeness". Thanks to those of you who have continued to read my blog and the links from here, and have let me know. I am glad to know that this blog has been an encouragement to you on your way.

Because of the number of articles and blog entries that I was coming across concerning the subject of head coverings, from secular and spiritual points of view, I started another blog, at blogspot, called "Those Headcoverings". If you are so inclined, I would appreciate your stopping by to the blog, or the website of the same name that I had put together when doing research for myself concerning this topic of head covering. Leave me a note there or send an email to let me know what you think. Or send a link that you think I might find interesting. Thank you again for your encouragement.

~ LisaM

Motherhood - A Tribute

MOTHERHOOD

The bravest battle that ever was fought!
Shall I tell you where and when?
On the maps of the world you will find it not;
'Twas fought by the mothers of men.

Nay not with the cannon of battle-shot,
With a sword or noble pen;
Nay, not with eloquent words or thought
From mouths of wonderful men!

But deep in a walled-up woman's heart --
Of a woman that would not yield,
But bravely, silently bore her part --
Lo, there is the battlefield!

No marshalling troops, no bivouac song,
No banner to gleam and wave;
But oh! those battles, they last so long --
From babyhood to the grave.

Yet, faithful still as a bridge of stars,
She fights in her walled-up town --
Fights on and on in her endless wars,
Then silent, unseen, goes down.

Oh, ye with banners and battle-shot,
And soldiers to shout and praise!
I tell you the kingliest victories fought
Were fought in those silent ways.

O spotless woman in a world of shame,
With splendid and silent scorn,
Go back to God as white as you came --
The kingliest warrior born!

Joaquin Miller (1839-1913)

The High Calling for Noble Ladies

From the latest radio series conversation from (click here:) Revive Our Hearts:

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Bob Lepine: I’ll never forget a conversation I was having once with two college professors. These professors taught what is a dying discipline on the college campus. They were teaching Home Economics. They were meeting with a group of young college women. They said to these women, “How many of you hope that some day you will be married and that you will be parents, that you’ll be a mom?”

And virtually all of the women raised their hands. That was their hope and their longing. And these college professors said, “How come you’re not taking Home Economics classes?” And one of them said, “Because my dad said, ‘I’m not spending all that money sending you to college just so you can learn how to cook and clean the house.’”

We do seem to live in a culture today that is somewhat confused about what God’s intention for a woman is when it comes to career, when it comes to her role in the home, and it’s one of the issues that young women are having to address, having to confront.

In fact, I remember speaking to a group of teenage girls once, talking to them about their plans for going to college, what they were planning to major in, and what they hoped to be doing five or ten years from now. Virtually all of them gave me career answers to that question, and when I stopped and said, “What about marriage and family? Is that something that you’re interested in?” They said, “Oh yeah.” But their thinking was career not how do I prepare to be a wife and a mom.

This is one of those challenging issues for us in today’s culture.

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And, Dannah, as you talk with teenage girls, as you talk with them today, how is this shaping their thinking, and how is it subtly influencing them in a directional way from what God would have for them?

Dannah: Well, I don’t think it’s very subtle. I think it’s pretty direct. What’s frightening to me is we’ve had the issue of young women saying, “I don’t know if I want to submit to my husband when I have a husband; I don’t know if I really want to have a husband.” Within the last five years or so, they are increasingly saying, “I don’t know if I want to have kids, at all, ever. I haven’t seen that be a good thing. I don’t want to be tied to that. I don’t want to be slowed down.”

It’s frightening to me that this isn’t just a cultural pressure anymore, but it’s something within the church.

Bob: So the lie that teenage girls are believing today is that being a mom, being a wife, is not something that has any real value. Is that it?

Nancy: It’s not just what a woman’s role is, but it goes back to this whole thing of our calling and our design as women, and the fact that God made women and men for distinctive, unique purposes to bring Him glory in this world, that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about our fulfillment or our happiness. I think we had stripped from us, in the last two or three generations, the sense of what it even means to be a woman.

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Honestly, it wasn’t until I was probably in my early twenties that I started grappling with:

• What did it mean?
• What does it mean for me to be a woman?
• Why did God make me a woman?
• Why is that a good thing?
• How can I glorify God as a woman?

I think I was probably in my early thirties before I was really comfortable with that, and not just comfortable. What God did was so sweet. It’s not just something I said, “Okay, I surrender to this.” There was that, but more than that there was embracing a vision for how my life could distinctively glorify God as a woman and finding joy and freedom and fullness in that.

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Please read or listen to the series: (click here:) Revive Our Hearts.