Hello Ladies,
It has been busy around here and I wanted to check in and post a little message.
It is good to be home where we can live as we please, creating the customs of the future with our family celebrations, inside jokes and sayings, talents and so forth.
I'm getting further into the "deep state" of my house, and finding old treasures and getting rid of some things that don't work any more so I hope soon to see the walls again (that's a joke). If I can get rid of the old curtains and carpet in one last room I will have "drained the swamp".
Don't worry about politics of the world, ladies. Just make sure you get your own house in order. It is nice that Americans especially are very informed about their government and keeps it accountable. There is a website you can go to to see the President's daily schedule and a report of when he arrives here or there and who he talked to, and what events he attends.
For all you ladies outside of the U.S. I probably should explain that our government is our servant. We elect people to do our will and serve the needs of the country. We do not serve them; they serve us. However, we respect the ones we elect and do not treat them as underlings. And here in my area we elect our own local Sheriff and try to make his job tolerable by not living riotously or in a way that would put undue burden on these public servant. In our home education we had several books about citizenship that outlined some things the Bible taught about how to treat rulers.
Remember some basic things that Christians are obligated, according to the scriptures, to do, regarding dignitaries and those in power:
1. Live a blameless life. (Proverbs 2:6-8) Your voice will be heard more readily.
2. Be respectful towards those who have been elected. (Romans 13). A lot of people misunderstand the word "submit" but one of the Koine Greek (the original language of the NT) meanings is "respect". Though we may not always be able to comply with something that is not right, we must always show respect. We respect their position and their responsibility and authority but it does not mean we can obey something that is not right.
3. Make a proper appeal when there is something a ruler is doing wrong, so that the dignitary does not have a reason to resist your request. If it is done politely and with dignity rather than demanding and rebellious, it will bring better results, as with the apostle Paul's appeal to Caesar.
4. Pray for the rulers, so that you can live a peaceful life. This is from 1st Timothy 2:2, pasted below:
1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Do not wring your hands or obsess over government until you have taken those four steps, and of course, doing those four things will give you mental clarity and reassurance.
So now, if you are in distress or feel disgusted over the rulers in the world, have you prayed for the President (Prime Minister, King, etc.)?
Often we ladies go around frantically trying to fix things (and we want it now), instead of going through the wise process our Lord laid out for us in these four points I've discussed here.
If you think of any more of them, please leave a comment!!
Now, to another subject:
As I mentioned previously, sometimes the paintings that other people post on Pinterest lack the information necessary to give credit to the artist, so if you need to know about this painting, you will have to research it yourself.
I am posting it here to illustrate what I was talking about in my last video on the previous post, namely dressing to compliment and coordinate or contrast the beautiful nature that surrounds us or the place we are visiting. I am old enough now to remember how ladies used to dress and now I rarely see anything pretty on women. It is partly due to the designers and manufacturers of women's clothing, and partly to our lack of education on the subject. However, we can get a lot of good ideas from the paintings of old and some of the contemporary paintings of ladies as well.
I remember decades ago there was a fiction writer named Barbara Cartland in England, who so despised the modern era for its lack of beauty, that she set her stories in a historical period so the ladies would be wearing nice clothing.
It seems to be the same with modern artists, who are not very impressed with modern clothing and are painting pictures of women in the nature wearing pretty long dresses.
We can't approach life with the idea that everyone has to comply with our way of life, and if you sit around wishing for things to be less depressing, particularly in the mode of dress in the prevailing culture, you will have a long wait and in the end have spent your life waiting for better times and wishing you were born in another era. Please don't do that. Just live the way you want to and don't have any regrets.
You can do anything you like at home, and, just as the author Janette Oake said in her pioneer saga "Love Comes Softly,"
"When you read a book you can go anywhere in the world and have an adventure."
At home though, it is not necessary to read a book to have freedom at home and have an event or an adventure. You can do all sorts of things with your life at home. It saves a lot of money and stress if you can figure out ways to enjoy the house and the yard and the area surrounding you.
