My husband has been preaching through Romans for some time now (48 weeks and he’ll be in chapter 13 next), and each week has been such a feast that it has been hard to pick out a bite to put up here on Femina to share with you all. But I’ve got one for you from this past Lord’s Day: What God commands, He gives; and He gives what He commands.
In other words, did God command us to not worry? Yes. And He gives us peace. Did He command us to love our enemies? Yes, and He will give us that love. So as we exercise our faith in obedience, we are not left to find the resources within ourselves. What a disappointment that would be! But He enables us to obey Him by giving us all the resources we have in Christ. It’s as though He fills our cupboards with heavenly provisions, and then tells us to open them up and help ourselves. Think about this one for a while! I have been finding it helpful all week.
How can I write a blog post when I have been using up all my computer time reading all of yours? It has been such a fun tour, and I’m not quite done. Just taking a quick time out to say that I am very impressed by what a lovely lot of blogs you have. Your creativity, your families, your fun and funny stories, and the unforgettable pictures have really been a great trip and inspiration. Keep blogging away! And I’ll be leaning on my femina girls to get a few posts up soon. Bekah has a hot one in the shoot, today is Heather’s 9th wedding anniversary (happy, happy) so she is celebrating with Nate, and Rachel is tired but knitting anyway (and doing a hundred other things). Me? Rejoicing that you sent in over a hundred comments sharing your blogs! I think that might break Bekah’s record. By the way, I did get her a prize for that distinction. After considering some of your suggestions, I got her an hour-long massage at a nearby spa. She loved it! Only problem is, I think she needs another one! But I must take off now to write a lit test for my friends in 9th grade for tomorrow. Signing out!
From time to time I coast on over to some of your blogs, and you readers are a very interesting and diverse group of ladies. So I am inviting you all to a blog party hosted by the Femina Girls. (This was Heather’s good idea.) I will hang the streamers, Bekah will make the coffee, Heather’s making some killer rum cake, and Rachel is just going to sit on the couch and knit (she’s entitled to this since she is seven months along).
How do you come to this party? Well, just drop a comment introducing yourself (a couple of sentences would do it), tell us about your blog, and leave a link. Then we can tour the readers’ blogs and get to know each other. You can even post a note on your blog to all the Femina readers if you want. Maybe Valerie can figure out how to post a group wave. See you here!
When we come to discuss particular points of social etiquette, it’s important to look at the big, bigger, and biggest picture. Most of the rules regarding manners were established hundreds of years ago and have been honored and acknowledged for generations by our own ancestors and all their aunts and uncles. I dare say that your great-grandma was telling your grandfather at the table not to chew with his mouth open, to put his napkin on his lap, and not to talk with his mouth full. Let’s hear it for good manners! But manners were made for man, not man for the manners.
A bunch of these older traditions and social expectations have morphed and evolved into their present forms, and for good reason. I can remember reading through a old book on etiquette and breathing a sigh of relief that we have moved on from some of those out-dated customs. But we still have many cultural expectations, especially regarding weddings and showers, funerals Continue reading ‘Messing with Manners’
My husband can tell what kind of week I am having by the number of clean (ironed) shirts in his closet. If he only has one shirt to choose from each morning, that means I am barely keeping up, probably only one eyeball above the water. And that’s the kind of week this has been. But now I have cleared all the big hurdles of the week, and Bekah is fixing homemade pizza for dinner. ( How nice is that?)
Today is Hero Sidney Merkle’s seventh birthday, and she requested homemade pizza. (I’m so glad she didn’t ask for corndogs!) I had the pleasure of taking her out for a birthday date after school. First we got a sparkle mini donut at Starbucks and chocolate milk to go with it. Then we hit the sale rack at Old Navy. Now isn’t this adorable? And tomorrow I may get some shirts ironed!
Sandi Boswell has another good piece (it is in response to a comment, so look below her article) on the why’s and why not’s of shower giving. The thing I always appreciate about Sandi is her gracious way of tackling thorny issues. She knows there is always a deeper right than being right. (There is a rude way of correcting someone’s rudeness.) So if our friends and relatives are falling short on some of the rules of etiquette, whether it is on this topic or on others, we are not to look down our noses at them, but attribute the best of motives. Love covers it. And love is the thing we are striving for in all our applications of etiquette.
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