Proverbs 31:30 - Verse of the week

Outward and Inward Beauty

The past few weeks, I have been thinking about fashion and how to step up my game. Jeans, a t-shirt or sweatshirt and polos are my go-to clothing items. Most days, I forget to wear jewelry. And rarely, do I wear make up.

But as some of my jeans are developing holes in the wrong places and I think about replacing them, I'm toying with the idea of buying nicer jeans that aren't second hand. I'm also contemplating ditching the t-shirts and sweatshirts.

As I am trying to decide what my new style should be, I find myself clinging to the types of clothes I've always wore. I purposely choose not to wear a necklace and lip color. I find myself justifying my decisions for this, that and the other reason. And it bugs me. 

Insert 1 Peter 3:1-6 into these contemplations.

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

I had been thinking about this passage the past few weeks, but hadn't taken the time to look it up and read it. The other day, I was wanting to listen to the Bible as I drove and randomly selected 1 Peter 3. God knew I needed to hear the passage again.

As I have been fighting my self-proclaimed need to change my wardrobe, I have become unpleasant to live with, at least inwardly. I have been so focused on changing outwardly that I have been forgetting the beauty that is most important - the inward beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. If my inward self is ugly, there aren't any external things I can do to hide or change it. But if my inward self is beautiful in God's sight, then the outward will come naturally and compliment it.

Lord, help me to focus on You. I want to have a gentle and quiet spirit.

Out of the mouths of two-year-olds

Children say crazy things sometimes. Lately, we've had a lot of two-year-old logic. For example, he got mad at me the other day for putting him in his bed after he fell asleep at the table. But then there are days that he astonishes me with his understanding of the world around him.

Several days ago, he asked me something about Humpty Dumpty. By the end of the conversation, he had informed me that Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall because he had pushed him. Since pushing isn't allowed at our house, I don't know why he pushed Humpty Dumpty. But it did answer a question I hadn't realized I had - why did Humpty Dumpty fall down. I have asked him why Humpty Dumpty fell several times since then, but he hasn't repeated it again. I've been a little disappointed over that.

Yesterday evening, I had put his sister to bed and was getting ready for bed. Out of the blue, my son says, "Babies don't ask questions." How do you reply to that? Seriously. "That's right" seems to be the only good response to a statement like that. After repeating the same statement several times, he asked, "Do babies ask questions?" I said, "Yes." He replied, "Very good." This child makes me laugh.

Today, he once again made my jaw want to drop. He asked me, "What is Sister's favorite animal?" Uh... Since Sister is only seven months old, I haven't figured that out yet. How do you answer a question like that? After asking me for the third time, he asked her, "Do you like a cow?" He'll have to wait a year or two to get a satisfactory answer to that question. Sister needs to learn some words first.

I love this child. And saying cute things endears him to his mommy even more. There are things about the two's that I won't miss. But I will miss the crazy things he says, his sweet, high-pitched singing, his silly-sounding mispronounced words, and above all, the hugs and kisses given out a heart of pure love.

Do hard things - home maintenance edition

A few posts ago, I talked about doing hard things. Finding hard things for my son to do is easy. Finding hard things for myself has been a bit more difficult. I have goals and dreams, and their execution is a bit difficult. But in the day to day things, finding hard things to do is a bit challenging. This past weekend, I found hard things to do - several of them. And I had little to no experience with any of them.

Over the summer, I had slowly been finding leaks in our house. All these leaks came to a head on Friday when my husband stepped onto sopping wet carpet on his way to work. That meant, I had to trace the leak and fix it.

Now, my knowledge of plumbing is extremely limited. And my knowledge of fixing toilets is obsolete. But when the toilet is leaking under the wall, you learn really quickly. Thanks to YouTube and a neighbor who helped me get the water supply pipe off, I was able to fix the toilet with little to no problems. Again thanks to YouTube, and my husband, who had come home from work, I also replaced and re-plumbed the kitchen sink faucet. I went to bed that night proud of myself for doing something hard and succeeding.

The next morning, I found that the caulk in the shower had majorly failed. It was one of those leaks that had taken a couple of months to figure out why the carpet was getting wet and I stilled got the source of the water wrong. So I pulled out 80% of the caulk in the shower and re-caulked it. (FYI - pulling out old caulk takes a lot longer than you think it will.)

The last project of my do hard things weekend was to install a new light switch in our bathroom. I found this one to be the hardest. I had some minor wiring experience from when I was a teenager. (I am grateful for a jack-of-all trades father who tried to teach me basic building.) But it was cutting a hole in the wall for the new switch that got me. I was very thankful that my husband took over the project at that point. He cut a perfect hole.

As my husband and I aren't handymen, this weekend was a major accomplishment. I felt like I looked four hard projects squarely in the eyes and defeated them.