Playdates…

One of the good things about being employed on a pastoral staff at a church is that you typically do not have to be in the office on Fridays. Because on Sundays you spend about zero quality time with your family, Fridays are a time to make up for that. Our preschool ministry has several “playdates” throughout the summer at various locations. Today, the playdate (Have I already written that word twice?) was at the riverwalk area near the Broad River. Since my wife is 10 weeks pregnant and gets really tired really easy, I came along with her and my son.

Four mothers, eight kids, one dad. It wasn’t exactly what all dads would like to spend their days’ off doing. I’d much rather be playing bad golf somewhere. However, what an excellent time to spend with my family, church member families, and experience a day in the life of mothers. Let me just say that while us men are off at work slaving hard, our wives are taking strollers out of the car, buckling kids up, watching them run around and eat each others food, take each others passies (I have no idea how to spell that word) and do typical preschooler stuff.

Mothers everywhere, God bless you.

The “Ideal” Christian Woman: Part 2

Click here for part 2 in this great series

Snippets:

“In my experience, Christian women tend to fall into one of two patterns of wrong thinking. The first group of women have developed their idea of the Ideal Christian Woman, using their own talents and giftedness as the model. Then they secretly admire themselves because they keep this standard and subtly pressure their Christian sisters to maintain their standard of the Ideal Christian Woman. The second group of women have developed their idea of the Ideal Christian Woman not from their own strengths but from the Christian sisters they know that seem to have it all together. This second group of women keeps trying and failing to fully live up to this standard and feel constant frustration and condemnation within themselves because of it.”

“What is our identity in Jesus? Well, He is the Head and we are His Body. He is the Vine and we are His branches. We are supernaturally connected to Him and desperately dependent on Him for any hope of fruitful ministry at church, home, or the workplace.”

The “Ideal” Christian Woman

Here is an article from TheResurgence.com about women feeling pressure to “fit the perfect Christian woman stereotype.”

The Idea Chrisitian Woman, part 1

Here are some snippets:

“Myth: The godliest of Christian women look great all the time, all have godly Boaz type husbands, and have the same convictions about childbirth, breastfeeding, education, dinner preparation, employment, and so forth…”

“We have many godly, mature ladies at Mars Hill with great wisdom to offer their sisters in Christ. The first quality of all of them is humility. They realize their unworthiness and don’t hold their preferences on childbirth, breastfeeding, education, dinner prep, and so forth as anything for which to pat themselves on the back. In fact, among the mature, Christlike women I know at Mars Hill, there are diverse opinions on each of these issues. Also, we have many godly women who are not married and/or do not have children. These women too are humble servants, hospitable with their resources and Christlike in their priorities.”

“Oh that we would be a church of humble women who are honest about our sin. Instead, so often we are a mix of shame and pride. We’re ashamed of ourselves because of what others have done to us and what we, in turn, have done to others. And we’re too proud to admit it to anyone. We must become women who value confession. I don’t know where the saying originated that “confession is good for the soul,” but I believe it’s a concept that is taught first in Scripture…”