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Quiet OR Clamorous (Not Glamourous)

Wisdom Hath Builded Her House

  

For a long time the verses in the Bible about being meek and quiet, and the many in proverbs about the bad women have convicted me, ALOT.  Let’s face it I am not by nature a QUIET person. Never have been.  I see it so blatantly in deare little Joy, and I ache that she will have to grow up and wade through the inner turmoil that I deal with over it. In attempting to spare her from that, the LORD is shining a light into my own heart and dealing with me about it even more than before.

  

 Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating FALSE quietness–as in never talking and/or stewing in outrage, offenses, or anger. But the more I study it, the more I understand that these verses point out that the outer woman shows to the world what is going on in the inner woman. 

  

 Quiet isn’t just the absense of sound or noise or talking, or shouting. Quiet is peace and tranquility of spirit, a place of rest and unshakableness of mind and heart.  That is what I LONG for. I want that so badly it hurts.  I don’t want to be associated in any way, shape or form with the worldly women who think speaking up for themselves is good and right.

 

Besides all the verses regarding a woman’s submissive role, God says the exact opposite–turn the other cheek, forgive 70 times 7,…

 

God’s Word lifts up the Prov. 31 woman (her character traits go beyond her being a married woman and bespeak her heart). 

 

She has the law of kindness in her mouth and gives to the poor, etc. 

 

 A woman possessing Christ and the Holy Ghost

 

You can NOT have one and NOT the other, you have BOTH or NEITHER) should also possess the fruit of the spirit: longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance etc. 

  

Today, when reading Prov. 9  I was struck by 2 things: 

 

1.)  Wisdom is a woman who BUILDS her house” v.1furnishes her table v.2 and invites the simple ones in v.3 to dine with her so she can teach them.v.4

 

2. In contrast v. 13 and 14 “The foolish woman is clamorous woman, she is simple, and knoweth nothing.  For she sitteth at the door of her house…to call to passengers who go right by….” v.15 She leads “her guests” to “the depths of hell” v.18

 

So, I admit I am simple. But now I have to make a choice–do I go to Wisdom’s house and learn of her, from her,to get understanding OR  do I say to myself, “you are simple, you know nothing,” and resign myself to it?

 

What added to my sorrow over this was looking up the synonyms for foolish and clamorous.  (WARNING: Don’t do that unless you REALLY want to understand!)

 

Foolish: silly, senseless, witless, brainless, unwise, shallow, iladvised, misguided, irrational, unreasonable, misguided, indiscreet, undiscerning, undiscriminating, inadviseable, unintelligent, useless, vain, shortsighted.  [Opposites of foolish are--lowness, silence]

 

Clamorous: (clamor)uproar, hubbub [loudness] shouting, tumult, [shout] brawly, rackety, riotous, tumultuous, bedlam, boisterous, rowdy, disorderly, screechy, squally, squawky, vociferous.  [Opposites of clamor/clamourous: lowness, silence, softness]

 

These antonyms are descriptive of MOST women of today, and MANY are in the local church. First thought was they perfectly describe many of the actresses, newanchors, and talk-show hosts (female), that many Christian women respect and admire.

 

Second thought was they aptly describe many CHRISTIAN women who are authors, speakers, and teachers of women, which begs the question-”what are they teaching?”

Their testimony and example when compared to the Bible don’t add up. 

 

LORD needs to a lot of refining to do with me.  Which is why I have been quiet lately, with my groups, and even just with us and Bob. 

 

My heart’s desire is to be a woman fit (according to God’s Word) to fulfill the Titus 2 role, and not just a figurehead who “preaches it” without living it. My testimony and example to shout “like Wisdom’s maidens” without me opening my mouth and uttering a word. 

 

From My to Yours,

Mrs. Bob L. (Terry) (c) 2006

May, 6, 2006

 

 

 

 

Grace~~An Introduction April 29, 2006

Think for a minute of the most feminine woman you’ve ever seen. It doesn’t matter if it was a photograph, on TV, in a movie or magazine, on the newspaper, or in a store or on the sidewalk walking by you.   Keep thinking.  What was it about her that really made you take notice that she was all girl? (Not in a harlot-like sense)

Was it her clothes? Her hair? Make-up? Jewelry? Shoes?  What?

Many great women have possessed this characteristic. It is called….grace. Every step they take, every move they make, oozes grace. They seem to be ballet dancing without the toe shoes and tutu’s. These women make scrubbing the floor look like a pleasureWatching them stir a bowl of cookie dough is a sight of beauty to behold.

The delightful ladies grace goes deeper than just physical dynamics. Even their emotions are full of grace. One of the most well-known women who possessed this characteristic was Jackie Kennedy (Jackie O. in later years).  In every photo of Mrs. Kennedy immediately after JFK was shot, during the funeral and years after when she was better recognized as Jackie O, seen yet unseeable in each one is her grace. (Forgive me if using her as an example offends you.) 

Of all the women through history, time and space, who should posses grace, it is us. Not as a result of the era in which we live, but because of who we are.  We are Christians, bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. His GRACE was extended to us, freely. He GIVES us grace to live by and we are commanded to GROW in GRACE. If anyone should exude grace it’s us.  Precious Sisters, we need to let GRACE ooze from every pore and corpusle of our body. GRACE should be like a fountain of sweet water, refreshment to the heart and soul, of all who come in contact with us day by day. The question is-Does it? 

How is your attitude when things don’t go as planned-loss of a job, car accident, expectations fall short, etc?  Be honest with yourself. 

In the face of emergencies or tradgedy, what do you think, say and do?

As we delve into GRACE, may I remind you Dear Ladies, that GRACE is feminine trait. (The male ‘version’ is masculine)

We are to walk, move, live, speak, think, and hear wiht GRACE.

Literally walking with GRACE sets us apart from the guys. It says, “Thank You Lord for making me a woman”.  Mind you, a feminine walk and a harlot walk are NOT the same thing. They are as different as a waltz is from disco.

To be feminine means we must root out the feminIST ideaology that has infiltrated our hearts and minds. To LOVE your FEMININITY will fly in the face of the world. To do that, you must repent of all the anti-feminine, feminIST ideas, thoughts, that you believe, (for some, this might include giving up pursuits of manly habits, hobbies etc.)

Sisters, Oh Sisters, God made us WOMEN. He created us in a special way. We are different from the menfolk, beyond simple biology and physical appearnce.

Precious Ladies, if you are in search of peace and fulfillment and haven’t found it yet, if you tried so many other things, perhaps the root problem is accepting yourself just as you are, as God made you.  He made us to be WOMEN.

Accepting ourselves, our minds, hearts, souls, bodies-shape, size, hormones, etc are just the first step.  We should celelbrate womenhood and love how God made us. Then we can begin to practice walking with grace as well as growing in it.

FEMININITY…What Is It?

Femininity is one of those attributes that has been lost with the rise of feminism, ERA, women’s rights, and the like.

Once a bastian of a girls upbringing, femininity has been relegated to a form of bondage. 

Girls, Women, were taught to be soft, gentle, kind, submissive and to be content to do the womanly tasks the LORD built them to do. 

  

What is femininity? 

According to Websters 1828 

FEM’ININE, a. [L. femininus, from femina, woman. The first syllable may be and probably is from wemb or womb, by the use of f for w; the b not being radical. The last part of the word is probably from man, quasi, femman, womb-man.]

1. Pertaining to a woman, or to women, or to females; as the female sex. 

2. soft; tender; delicate. 

Her heavenly form angelic, but more soft and feminine. 

3. Effeminate; destitute of manly qualities. 

4. In grammar, denoting the gender or words which signify females, or the terminations of such words. words are said to be of the feminine gender, when they denote females, or have the terminations proper to express females in any given language. Thus in L. dominus, a lord, is masculine; but domina, is mistress, a female. 

Milton uses feminine as a noun, for female.feminine is also found in 15 definitions:

• common
• coquette
• delicacy
• don
• female
• feminate
• gender
• maiden
• neuter
• she
• smock
• soft
• virile
• womanish
• womanly

Too often, we equate femininity with weakness and being a doormat, or being mousy. True women are none of these things, yet they do not flaunt it. 

Being feminine isn’t just wearing miles of lace and yards of ruffles; nor is galavanting about wearing hats that hinder your sight, or clothes that cannot be worn for normal daily chores. 

Being feminine is being womanly. No only in manner of dress, but also in body language and speech. Part of my purpose is to assist you in finding your femininity and letting it shine forth like a beacon.

The feminIST wants the world at large to see feminiNINE traits as archaeic and binding, boring and degrading, sexist and diminuative.  Being a woman, and rejoicing in being female, accepting the biological differences as a gift instead of a curse, will fly in the face of the femiNIST.  Contrary to what the femiNISTs want us to believe, want the world to believe, they, in rejecting their uniqueness from the male/man, are no happier, fulfilled, or free than before they gained their “rights’.  Chew on that a few minutes will ya?

The ideaology behind the feminist movement was to let women make a mark in the world and find fulfillment which they supposedly could find in fulfilling the traditional female roles as our foremothers did since time began.  Career women are going back home because they have not found the joy they hoped for in working and being somebody in the executive offices. 

The Bible clearly tells us the roles of women, and what our responsibilities are. These duties apply to married and single women alike. A single woman won’t love her husband, but she can love her father, and in a sense love her Pastor as a spiritual father. God should be her husband.  She can mother children who have no mother, or help a mother who is overwhelmed etc. But these are all things we shall attend to in detail later in the future.

Let me leave with these final thoughts to ponder. As I stated in previous post, our life is a work in progress.  I asked you to examine yourself to see what, if anything, God had asked you to give up or change.  I asked if this was “too much” of Him to ask.

If you think femininity is unimportant and of no interest to God, ask yourself this: Why does God make a distinction in roles of women and men?  Why does God command women to behave and dress specific ways?

How feminine are you?  Are your actions, language and body language womanly or manly?  Have you ever been mistaken for a man when seen from behind?  If someone were to see you from a distance would they know you were a woman by your demeanor, and attire?

This is not a popular topic and many will be upset. But please dear Sisters, I speak not to beat you down, but to lift you from the bondage of trying to play both roles and doing neither well.

Prayerfully consider what I have said. I hope you will come back and visit another day.  My prayer is to learn with you and help you be Godly Feminine Woman glorifying God.

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