As political as I get

Gossip #2

Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. 

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 

But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.

2 Timothy 2:14-16

My last blog addition came from years ago and another writer's post which I can not find any longer on the net. His post was too good to let go, and it was my fault it took 3 years to post.

For the second part on this subject of gossip I have my own testimony from a story decades ago when I would have said that I didn’t gossip.  ~ That is, until I realized one day that I was listening and desiring to listen to the other women as they gossiped.

Decades ago and another state:

At that time I worked in a public elementary school as a Librarian twice a week, and also as a Lunch Lady every day of the week.  It was a lovely old 2 story building with two front entries, classrooms on both sides, with the big Library room in the middle front, and the office and other rooms across the hall opposite from the Library.

Part of my first duties in the mornings as a Librarian was to make out the overdue book slips to put into the teachers' mailboxes so they could pick them up as soon as possible for their students.  After this was accomplished I would be in the office for a while distributing these slips.  

While in the office I had the comradery of the adult ladies, the sweet secretary and the friendly head Lunch Lady, and any other teachers who came in to the office at that time. I would normally just be listening to them all talk and I enjoyed them.  Normally, no one was speaking bad about anyone.

As time went by, though, I did find myself hearing things which should not have been spoken about certain students and parents.  In my mind I justified myself as it was not me speaking, although I was listening and desiring to listen.

As I grew closer to the LORD in those many months, I realized I did not want to hear these things which were private any longer.  I was, thankfully, discerning what was going on ~ it had been me wanting to listen to the ladies I had admired, but now I was realizing it was wrong to hear them discuss things about other people’s lives.

After coming to this realization I did my Librarian duties, and then, I was in and out of the office very quickly. Praise God!

Gossip may not be coming out of your mouth, but you may be choosing to listen to it.

————————————————————————————————————————

Let the words of my mouth 

and the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable in Your sight,

O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

Someone else is doing the mothering...

An old 2010 post by Ingrid Schlueter at The Hope Blog  (no longer posted) rebutted an article which arrogantly labeled women who choose to stay home to raise their children as "Neanderthals".  Even though this post can no longer be viewed, I am putting the parts I saved from it here:

".....[those who believe] mothers with small children should be home to actually care for them if at all possible are dismissed as “neanderthals.”   [These women hope] we’ll evolve to something higher soon.

"Two daughters of prominent feminist authors have recently written about their childhoods and their mothers. 

The daughter of Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, describes in heartbreaking detail the way she was made to feel as a child. A burden. A career killer. Unwanted. She has few kind words for the mother whose feminist ideology nearly robbed her of the joys of motherhood.

Another column recently by Molly Jong, daughter of the famous feminist author, Erica Jong, writes her own account of her childhood and the impact her feminist mother had on it. She’s staying home with her three children so she can have an actual part in their lives. 

~"Neanderthal"~.

Most of motherhood is about showing up for the job.

*You can outsource that job to someone else, 
but someone else then is doing the mothering.* 

Millions have no choice now as single parenthood has removed mothers from the daily care of their children because moms must work to survive. 

This is not an attack on such mothers. I once was in this situation also. But it was not a triumph for womanhood when I had to leave my babies and earn a living. It was a loss for me and my little boys that I still think about when I lie awake at night. I can never have those years back with them.

[this mother's] children need her as all children need their mothers. God is the one who established the unique gifts of womanhood that enable us to be mothers. We deny and suppress that as women and lash out at those who point out the obvious, 

*but the truth remains. Nobody can replace a mother, her voice, her touch, her presence in the heart and life of a child. 

*Daddies are wonderful things, but they are not mothers.

I was very sick one time as a child. My fever was so high that I was slightly delirious. All these years and years later, I can still remember sensing that my mother was hovering over me that night, and the cool feel of her hands as she ministered to my needs. She was there. 

That precious memory to me is what motherhood is all about. 

If that makes me a “Neanderthal”, then I plead guilty.

************************************************************

I, personally, find it a pathetic irony and tragedy that our culture thinks so highly of a woman who is in the workforce in a "wonderful "career, and yet some other woman is raising her children most of the day and getting paid very little for doing so. 

In our culture daycare workers and caregivers are not "choice careers" for women either and yet, they "rock the cradle" for us.

In my day staying home to raise children was just coming back in popularity, but it has quickly faded away.  

LORD, help us!  

Your value is above rubies

*

"A wife of noble character who can find?

She is worth far above rubies."

Proverbs 31:10

*

Who are you, what do you do, what do you look like, and what is your age?

It does't matter. 

What matters is if you love the LORD

 with all your might and accept Jesus as your Savior.

*

"If you confess with your mouth 

Jesus as Lord, 

and believe in your heart 

that God raised Him from the dead, 

you will be saved; 

for with the heart a person believes, 

resulting in righteousness, 

and with the mouth he confesses,

resulting in salvation."

Romans 10:9-10

*

The world does not hold on to the value of people 

unless they are in some profession deemed important

by the world.

I was asked once, "Don't you have a job or something?"

*

"Whatever you do in word or deed, 

do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks 

through Him to God the Father."

Colossians 3:17

*

 Mothers, homemakers 

are not held in high esteem 

and may never be again,

but this does not show your value.  

Your value as a mother, as a homemaker, as a person 

comes from the LORD.

Do not believe the lie

that you are not valuable.

*

"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? 

And yet not one of them 

will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

So do not fear; 

you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29-31

*

The LORD knows you and He sees you.  

He has not forgotten you.  

He holds you in the palm of His mighty hands.

Run to Him.

Draw near to him.

He is your strength and 

He is your comfort.

*

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 

who comforts us in all our affliction 

so that we will be able to comfort those 

who are in any affliction with the comfort 

with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 

For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, 

so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 

But if we are afflicted, 

it is for your comfort and salvation; 

or if we are comforted, 

it is for your comfort, 

which is effective in the patient enduring 

of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 

and our hope for you is firmly grounded, 

knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, 

so also you are sharers of our comfort."

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

*

Praise the LORD!

*

Blessed by the ordinary

My maids were doing the laundry today ~ my washer and dryer.     As I helped them ~ transfer the laundry to the dryer ~ I was struck by how blessed I am.

Even when we were first married with no “maids” of our own, we were able to go together to the laundromat to have their maids do it for us.

For over thirty years I have had my faithful maids as they changed hands to younger ones, but relentlessly doing all our dirty laundry, drying, and even felting wool sweaters on purpose, or even by accident!

Each time as the laundry cycles would be completed, they would give the clean clothes over to me.   It began as simple as the first small home we lived in where the piles would add up in the middle of the living room floor.    From that moment on tradition reigned and every living room has had its purpose of pile after pile of laundry which would wait to be folded.

As my little ones would grow, their first jobs would be to fold the wash cloths.   I will never forget the joy they had, and also gave me, as I watched them glory in helping mommy.   Days, weeks, months, years of folding laundry many times a week in the middle of the living room pass before my mind's eye now.

These days the piles aren’t so big nor so often, but they do add up and still need folded ~ those persnickety maids never will do that for me.   It has usually been in the evening when the folding begins.   A quiet, calm time to fold and then take the organized piles to their specific places.

This past autumn, though, the little girl kitty finds my lap inviting before I can sit on the floor and fold.   She has lost both of her kitty brothers within two years ~ or it just seems so ~ and needs her "momma" time when she says so.   Soon enough my Beloved enters the room with me and little girl kitty both snuggled in the chair with the pile of laundry looming in the foreground, but now completely forgotten by me with such a sweet creature snuggled contentedly next to me.

So tradition has morphed into the girls watching as my Beloved sits and folds the laundry, sweetly, quietly, calmly. 

I am so very blessed.  Thank you, my Great God and King!  

Ooops! There goes the buzzer again!  And the maids are finished ~ time for the first pile!

Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.

 I have set the Lord always before me.
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

  

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
 

You have made known to me the path of life;
    You will fill me with joy in Your presence,
with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

Psalm 16: 5-11

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 16:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
2. Psalm 16:3 Or As for the pagan priests who are in the land / and the nobles in whom all delight, I said:
3. Psalm 16:10 Hebrew Sheol
4. Psalm 16:10 Or your faithful one
5. Psalm 16:11 Or You will make

Cross references:

1. Psalm 16:1 : S Ps 12:7
2. Psalm 16:1 : Ps 2:12
3. Psalm 16:2 : Ps 31:14; 118:28; 140:6
4. Psalm 16:2 : Ps 73:25
5. Psalm 16:3 : Dt 33:3; Ps 30:4; 85:8; Da 7:18; Ac 9:13; Ro 1:7
6. Psalm 16:3 : Ps 101:6
7. Psalm 16:4 : Ps 32:10; Pr 23:29
8. Psalm 16:4 : Ex 18:11; 20:3; S Dt 8:19; S 31:20
9. Psalm 16:4 : S Ex 23:13
10. Psalm 16:5 : S Lev 2:2
11. Psalm 16:5 : Ps 23:5; 75:8; 116:13; Isa 51:17; La 4:21; Eze 23:32-34; Hab 2:16
12. Psalm 16:5 : S Job 31:2
13. Psalm 16:6 : S Dt 19:14; Ps 104:9; Pr 8:29; Jer 5:22
14. Psalm 16:6 : S Job 22:26
15. Psalm 16:7 : Ps 73:24; Pr 15:22; Isa 11:2
16. Psalm 16:7 : Job 35:10; Ps 42:8; 77:6
17. Psalm 16:8 : 1Ki 2:19; 1Ch 6:39; Ps 73:23
18. Psalm 16:8 : Ps 15:5
19. Psalm 16:9 : Ps 4:7; 13:5; 28:7; 30:11
20. Psalm 16:9 : S Dt 33:28
21. Psalm 16:10 : S Nu 16:30; Ps 30:3; 31:17; 86:13; Hos 13:14
22. Psalm 16:10 : S 2Ki 19:22
23. Psalm 16:10 : S Job 17:14; Ac 2:31; 13:35*
24. Psalm 16:11 : Ps 139:24; Mt 7:14
25. Psalm 16:11 : Ac 2:25-28*
26. Psalm 16:11 : Ps 21:6
27. Psalm 16:11 : Ps 80:17

* 

You are serving the Lord Christ

Sydney Hauser, 2011

Whatever you do, 

work at it with all your heart, 

as working for the Lord, 

not for men, 

 since you know that 

you will receive an inheritance 

from the Lord as a reward. 

It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:23-24

Your life is hidden in Christ

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ,
keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on the things above,
not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ
in God.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed,
then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

So, as those who have been chosen of God,
holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
bearing with one another, and forgiving each other,
whoever has a complaint against anyone;
just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect
bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your
hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body;
and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you,
with all wisdom teaching and admonishing
one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him
to God the Father.

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord
rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will
receive the reward of the inheritance.

It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
For he who does wrong will receive
the consequences of the wrong which he has done,
and that without partiality.

Colossians 3:1-4, 12-17, 23-5

 
　

Don’t you have a job or something?

or, in other words:
The Most Magnificent Contribution Imaginable to Society

I am an enigma. I began my career blessed this way, and I am ending my career blessed this way.

Although we have had times when we had two incomes (one small), it was a rarity and never was it a priority.  My number one career has been to be a Homemaker.  Under that Title the subtitles are too numerous to count, and even more are added as life continues.

The world has never respected my career choice, and sometimes even the Christian world has not been nice about it.

After our first child and in a new town, we happily went to the local public library to receive our library cards.  When I signed up I was told I needed an ID.  A current drivers license was not good enough.  I pulled out two more which did not satisfy this angry civil servant.

“Don’t you have a job or something?”  I was incredulous to be treated so rudely, as if just being a citizen was not good enough to borrow taxpayer library books.  No, he wanted me to either be a student with an appropriate ID or have an employment ID.

Years later I had almost died of salmonella poisoning.  The company who owned the now defunk dairy sent out representatives to interview the victims.  I spent days in the hospital with two little children at home, my husband losing work, much less almost dying, but when the rep realized I was “just a stay-at-home-mom,” he said I wasn’t worth the same as a “working mother“.

Eventually my children were grown and I was expected by the world to get a "real" job--I still am to this day.  But my career choice continues.

The “women’s movement” of the ‘70s sometimes haunts my mind, and the thought of having extra money to just re-carpet the stairs and second floor right now sends me daydreaming.  Reality sets in pretty quick when I try to figure how to fit a job in to my already full schedule of keeping my home together and all the myriad of things which consume my time for others.

Why would I change how God has blessed me in my endeavors all these years?  Have I wasted my life?  Was my choice to pour love and knowledge into my children, and now into others, for nothing?

My career choice is
 “the most magnificent contribution imaginable to society“.

Proverbs 31:10-31
An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain...

I have met many working mothers throughout my life who desperately wanted to be at home even when their children were grown.  The world pulls at them*, their in-laws chastise them**, their degrees hang on them***, their bills scream out to them**** and so they continue to work.

This is not one kind of woman against the other.  I am not judging who is better; working women or homemakers.  Mainly, I just grieve at what a waste we humans have created.  Throughout time it is only "The Anointed"  who are good enough, and they are the ones who choose what "good" means.

You, daughter of the Most High, are His and highly treasured by Him.  Don't let "The Anointed" of our time tell you what your value is.  Your value is priceless, bought with a price that no one could pay, but One. 


He is the King of Kings.

*you aren't good enough unless you have a real job
**some in-laws will not keep to their own business, but burden their daughters-in-laws with, "how can you make our son be the only support for your family?"
***The ever present, "I can't 'waste' my degree."
****understandable--life is tough.