I Heart Weddings

Below are a few of my recent favorite photos from Juli McKendrick. You can find them all at her new site: Juli McKendrick Photography.

Wives Like Sarah

We know that Sarah didn't do everything right.

Still, she is still mentioned in the bible for her eventual submission to her husband, Abraham. Read below to find out why her example is one we should follow.

Caution: Material below contains truth that does not appeal to the flesh.

Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.

They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. [1 Peter 3:1-7, niv]

1. Submission is an inner quality of gentleness that affirms the leadership of the husband.

“Be submissive to your husbands” means that a wife will willingly submit to her husband’s authority and leadership in the marriage. It means making a choice to affirm her husband as leader within the limits of obedience to Christ. It includes a demeanor that honors him as leader even when she dissents. Of course, it is an attitude that goes much deeper than mere obedience, but the idea of willing obedience to a husband’s authority is certainly part of this submission, as is clear from verses 5-6.

There Peter illustrates being “submissive to their own husbands” with the example of Sarah, “who obeyed Abraham,” thus showing that obeying (hypakouo¯) is the means by which Sarah was being submissive (hupotasso¯, the same word used in verse 1). Moreover, this submission is a respectful affirmation, for Peter recalls that Sarah obeyed Abraham “and called him master” (verse 6).

Further understanding of the nature of this submission is gained from Peter’s description of the beauty that accompanies it, the beauty of “a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” (verse 4). The adjective gentle (praus) only occurs three other times in the New Testament, twice referring to Christ (Matthew 11:29; 21:5; also 5:5), but its related noun, translated “gentleness” or “meekness,” is more frequent (Galatians 5:23; 6:1; James 3:13; etc.). It means “not insistent on one’s own rights,” or “not pushy, not selfishly assertive,” “not demanding one’s own way.”

Such a gentle and quiet spirit will be beautiful before other human beings, even unbelieving husbands (verses 1-2), but even more important, it “is of great worth in God’s sight.” Why? No doubt because such a spirit is the result of quiet and continual trust in God to supply one’s needs, and God delights in being trusted (cf. 1 Peter 1:5, 7-9, 21; 2:6-7, 23; 5:7).

In describing the things that accompany this submission, Peter focuses on the inward attitudes of the heart. When he says that a wife’s source of beauty should be “the inner self” (verse 4), he is speaking of her inward nature, her true personality.

Finally, the greatest reward will be the combined joy of honoring God and receiving His favor. Dorothy Patterson rightly says of this passage, “Submission primarily honors the Lord who established the relationship.” Yet in honoring the Lord a Christian wife will also know His special favor. Peter says that the gentle and quiet spirit that accompanies such submissive behavior “is of great worth in God’s sight” (verse 4). God will look on this behavior, which springs from a heart of faith, and will delight in this daughter of Sarah and show her His favor.

~Wayne Grudem in Wives Like Sarah and the Husbands Who Honor Them

I know. Heavy, right? I'm just going to let that one marinate.

Serving Leftovers

Busy people rarely give their best to the ones they love. They serve leftovers—the emotions and energy that remain after one’s primary attention has already been given to others. Too drained, too tired or too preoccupied, they fail to give their loved ones the attention they deserve. And a marriage cannot survive on leftovers forever.

Here’s a little trick we learned from our friend John Maxwell. He’s one of the most productive men we know, but he makes an effort to give his best time to his wife, Margaret.

“Years ago,” he told us, “when something exciting happened during the day, I’d share it with colleagues and friends. By the time I got home, I had little enthusiasm for sharing it with Margaret. [So] I purposely began keeping things to myself until I could share them with her first. That way, she never got the leftovers.”

Of course, this principle applies to more than just sharing the news from the day. We give our best to our spouses when we give them attention and energy for the things they’d like to talk about as well.

The excerpt above is by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, authors of the book Your Time-Starved Marriage. I caught them in an interview on the radio last night. I was so intrigued, I thought I might add this book to my 2010 book list!

Easter Glamour

Blog? What Blog?

Well, hello there.

I'm just "stopping by" so you'll know I am still alive and well.

Recently, I have been quite the busy bee. For the sake of time, I will just give you the highlights:

• I have been toying around with a new schedule:

Monday- Errands or Bedrooms (alternate)

Tuesday- Dusting and Vacuuming

Wednesday- Bathrooms and Kitchen/Mop

Thursday- Laundry

Friday- Mail/Filing/Homeschool Planning

Saturday Morning- Library or Alone Time (alternate)

Sunday- Church

So far, this has been working out fairly well. Nevertheless, this week both Monday and Tuesday turned into errand days. Actually, Friday is going to turn into one too.

I find that its weeks like this one, when I have many errands that have to be extended over more than one day, to be the most challenging when it comes to keeping up with any kind of weekly schedule. Of course, I can keep adjusting the schedule. I am open to any suggestions as to how I might improve it!

• Urban Prep is on Spring Break this week. As a result, hubby has been able to work shorter days. This, coupled with the beautiful weather has meant some exciting trips to the park for 3 special little people!

• I have discovered a new source of ruin to my diet: the Mocha Frappe at McDonald's . Have you tried it? Don't. You will be hooked. HOOKED, I say! Hooked!

• Believe it or not, I have been working on quite a few blog post ideas, although they have not made it to the blog just yet.

There are times when blog post ideas are just flooding my mind and oozing out of my ears. Then, there are times when I am stumped and can't think of anything to say (if you know me, you know that these time are rare).

I've been tempted to ask you, the readers, what you would like to see more of on this blog. However, after I think about that for a while, I keep coming back to the same conclusion: that is not a good idea.

You see, if I ask you what you want me to blog about, then I would have this pressure to write about those things. With that comes the added pressure to be all witty and relevant and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, that can be challenging, in a good way.

Or, it could suck the life right out of take away from what makes blogging fun: free expression. Free to do what I want to do.

But, I digress.

What I'm trying to say is that I have some exciting new blog post ideas and whenever I find time between all of my errands to put them up, I'm sure you will enjoy them!

Until then, I will leave you with this subliminal message interesting advertisement: