Today is "Random Journal Day" for those of us who like to peruse our old journals and files and bring something out from the past to share with you. Today I have found something that I not only wrote, but presented to a women's group at one of our churches about twenty one years ago. So if things seems a little out of date, that's because it was written for ladies who still had not crossed over into the 21st Century! Wow! Can I even be this old today??? Anyway, I hope that you will enjoy this little "presentation" from the annals of time. And then go over to
"Enthusiastically Dawn" Random Journal Day to see what others are writing these days!
June 7, 1993
Today I am wearing my favorite hat!
 |
Me, in my "favorite hat",
dressed as an "Old Fashioned
Girl", right after finding this
hat on the shopping trip with my
mother, 1989. |
You may think it a bit unusual or even funny
looking. And you're probably right! But I like this hat. It makes me feel like a grand lady from a
"kinder, gentler" time...this hat was purchased in a quaint, dusty,
cluttered, unique antique's store in Ohio. I happened to be browsing through
this "museum" to the days gone by with my parents, who were visiting
me from Florida. One of our favorite
things to do when we get together is go jaunting around the countryside in
search of out of the way country curiosity shops, or antique stores, or
anything that looks interesting and unusual.
We rarely spend much money...just browse and dream of those good old
days when people actually knew what all those things were and what to do with
them! I dug up this particular hat out
of an old dusty treasure chest full of miscellaneous accessories like silk
scarves, faded gloves, and other interesting hats. I tried it on just for the fun of it...and my
mother said it was just perfect for me...so I bought it. I believe it cost me a whole $2.00! Not a bad bargain, wouldn't you agree?
I'd like to talk
to you today about the "HATS OF MY LIFE"! No, I really don't have a closet full of
these funny looking hats...but there have been many hats in my life that are
important to me.
CIRCLET OF
FLOWERS:
When I was a
child, my sister and I used to weave hats of circlets of flowers for our
hair. You know, things like dandelions,
apple blossoms, forsythia, and other spring blossoms. Of course, they didn't
last long with all of the handling of their tender blooms, and they were soon
discarded on the scrap heap of our childish playthings. But you know,
"when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child; but when I became a woman, I put away childish
things." (I Cor. 13:11). (or did I?)
GRADUATION
CAP:
The day finally came when I was
pronounced to be competent to finish my schooling...I was presented with a diploma,
and my tassle was turned to the other side to signify to the world that I was
ready to join the ranks of the educated people of the world...full of wisdom
and ready to set out and conquer. God's Word says in James 3:13-18 that she who
is "wise and understanding among us should show it by good
conduct......and where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil
thing will be there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality and without hypocrisy."
By God's standards, I still had a long way to go!
BRIDAL
VEIL: Soon the day came along that I was
able to put on this bridal veil! What a glorious day that was in my life...and
with the wearing of this hat came many other hats! I began first of all to
learn what it means in God's Word when it says in I Corinthians 11:3:
"But
I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is
man, and the head of Christ is God."... also in verses 7-12: "woman
is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man, nor was man
created for the woman, but the woman for the man...for this reason the woman
ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of
woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as the woman was from the
man, even so the man also is through the woman; but all things are from
God."
And in Ephesians 5:22-33 it
teaches us that we are to:
"submit to our own husbands, as to the Lord. For
the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church;
and He is the Saviour of the Body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything......etc.
That
passage ends up by saying in verse 33: "let the wife see that she respects
her husband."
Now, that was (and is!) a hard lesson to
learn! Amen?? Especially in this day and age when the
"world" tells us that we ought to get out there and fight like a man
for our rights and all the "privileges" that go along with
that!! That's why today so many women
are wearing so many different hats...HARD HATS, POLICE HATS, SOLDIER HATS, ETC.
Not that I think it is wrong for women to work outside of the home...but
I believe we need to examine our motives when we do go to work. We all have to work at some time or
another...and there are many noble professions for women today. We do have some rights and privileges that
our grandmother's couldn't have that are beneficial. But at the same time, we need to remember
where our true calling is in life and keep that as a priority. The order of progression ideally should be in
this way:
1.
I am a child of God first, and my relationship with God should be my top priority in life.
2. I am a wife and a helpmate to
my husband next, and that relationship needs to remain in that
position always.
3. I am a mother of my children
next...and all the needs of the world should
not keep me from meeting my priorities in childrearing and nurturing.
4.
Then I am a woman of the church next...in my case, the pastor's wife...and
according to whom you are talking to, the job description can be as long as
anyone's imagination will allow. This is
where careful prioritizing of time and energies must be carried out. Too many pastor's wives are suffering from
"burn-out" and stress today.
They must keep their own channel to God uncluttered so that they can be
available to meet the needs of their husbands when they get overloaded.
Now all of the above mentioned positions
involve wearing many other hats. As a wife, we many times wear the hat of
secretary, maid, cook, co-pilot, bookkeeper, office manager, encourager,
exhorter, of course lover, and confidant.
I'm sure some of you could add to this list.
Then as a mother, the list of new hats
grows even longer: nurse, teacher,
protector, advocate, den-mother, room-mother, seamstress, room designer, taxi
cab driver, secretary, maid, cook, disciplinarian, encourager, counselor....
As a woman of the church, we add many more
hats to the list...musician, singer, teacher, flower arranger, pray-er, leader,
discipler, exhorter, evangelist, puppeteer, writer, deaconess, hostess, cook,
dishwasher, social worker.
TITUS WOMAN (Old
black hat)
When I went to one of our former churches as the
Pastor's wife, I was asked if I would like to become the "Titus
Woman" for our MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) program. Then when I came to our current church, I
was asked to lead our "Woman to Woman" program, based on this same
"Titus Woman." Before I could
commit myself to being this "Titus Woman", I had to find out just
what a "Titus Woman" was supposed to be. So I looked, where else? In the book of Titus
and there I found her in Chapter 2, verses 3-5.
This is what it says: "The
OLDER WOMEN likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not
given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they admonish the young women
to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste
homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not
be blasphemed."
OLDER WOMAN???, ME???? Well, I guess just because I no longer have
any "preschoolers", I am now considered an "older
woman". I mean, just because I've
been married almost 24 years, (at the time of this writing) have three sons aged 21&1/2, 20, and 16, and one of which is getting married two
months from today - (praise the Lord to a wonderful Christian girl whom I am
very pleased and proud to call my daughter-in-love (law) - does that qualify me
as an "older woman?" Just
because I happened to turn 4-0 not too many years
 |
Me, at the time of this writing in 1993
(trying NOT to look like an "Older Woman") |
ago...Gee whiz, do they have
to rub it in? But I had to come to terms
with the fact that, yes, I am getting older (and hopefully better), and that
our younger women do need "role models" for their lives. I'm not too sure I'd want any young woman to
model her life after mine, but there is always that risk when you become a
leader in any circle. Our young women
today are hungry for guidance, for encouragement, and for someone to be a
"mother figure" to them. Many
of us have moved away from our own natural mothers in the search for happiness
and fulfillment in careers, or have followed our husbands in their search far
away from home. Our communities have become so diverse in multi-cultural
backgrounds that it is sometimes
difficult to get too close to anyone. In
many churches today, our "older women" are working, helping to put
the kids through college, etc. and there just aren't too many motherly types
available to lead the way.
Stepping into those "mature
years" can be the opportunity for many to serve the Lord in several
different ways that weren't possible while they were raising their own
children. To be a "grandmother"
to some family who is displaced from their own family can be very rewarding for
both the giver and the recipient. Or to be a "mother" to a young
bride or career girl away from home and family who just needs someone to talk
to can bring such blessings to both.
But for many of us caught in the daily
grind of living in this almost 21st century, the list of hats we wear could be
exhausting. As women today who all wear
too many hats, we need a shield and defender, and a covering that shelters us
from many storms of life. Jesus wishes
to provide that covering for us.
In
Isaiah 61:10, the prophet Isaiah says" "I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the
garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a
bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her
jewels."
Psalm 91 tells us: "He who dwells in the secret place of
the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and
my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust."
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the
perilous pestilence. He shall cover you
with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge." His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by
night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in
darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday...A thousand may
fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come
near you. Only with your eyes shall you
look, and see the reward of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord, who is my
refuge, Even the Most High, your habitation, No evil shall befall you, Nor
shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge
over you, to keep you in all your ways.
They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a
stone. You shall tread upon the lion
and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
Because he has set his love upon ME,
therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My
Name. He shall call upon ME, and I will
answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor
him. With LONG LIFE I WILL SATISFY HIM,
AND SHOW HIM MY SALVATION."
CROWN:
I Corinthians 9:24-25 says, "Do you
not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain
it. And everyone who competes for the
prize is temperate in all things. Now
they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable
crown."
II Timothy 4:8 says: "Finally there
is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only, but also to all who
have loved His appearing."
James 1:12 says: "Blessed is the man who endures
temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life
which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
Yes, we will wear many different kinds of
hats, or coverings in our lifetime. And perhaps in the life to come as well,
but the most important covering is the covering of our sins by the blood of
Jesus Christ. When He gave His life
freely on the cross, the Blood He shed was meant as a 'covering' for our sins.
On the day that
Jesus died, He, too, had to wear a kind of hat:
a CROWN OF
THORNS,
that was placed upon His head by Pilate's soldiers. The soldiers mocked
Him, beat Him, and spat upon Him...they said, "Hail! King of the
Jews!"Then they led Him to a cross and nailed Him there, and left Him
there to die. And Jesus Did die on that
cross, and He was buried in the tomb,
but we can praise God today that He
didn't stay in that tomb. In three days
He came forth from the grave ALIVE! He
then ascended to His Father in Heaven after 40 days of further ministry to His
disciples...and He said to them and to us:
"Let not your heart be troubled; you
believe in God, believe also in Me. In
My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I
am, there you may be also. And where I
go you know, and the way you know."
John 14:1-4
In verse 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord,
we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" in verse 6 Jesus replied:
"I am the Way, the Truth, and The
Life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from
now on you know Him and have seen Him."
Revelation 4:1,8-11: After these things I looked, and behold, a
door standing open in heaven. And the
first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying,
"Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after
this.:"
8. And the four
living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and
within. And they do not rest day or
night saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is
to come!"....10: the 24 elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne
and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the
throne, saying:
11. 'You are
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all
things, and by Your will they exist and were created."
Because of that Crown of Thorns that Jesus
wore, we will find ourselves unworthy to wear the crowns that He gives to us.
We will one day stand before our glorious King, the Spotless Lamb of God, who
took away the sins of the world, and we too, will cast our crowns at His feet
and bow down and worship.
I hope that everyone here will be among
that thankful multitude in heaven someday.
Philippians 2:9-11 tells us that "God has highly exalted Him and
has given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Romans 14:10 says that "We shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ...and verse 12 says "So then each
of us shall give account of himself to God".
Hebrews 5:12-13 says "For the Word of God
is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to
the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is NO Creature hidden from
His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must
give account."
But I don't want to leave you there
trembling in your boots! Hebrews goes on
to say that Jesus is our "great High Priest who has passed through the
heavens, so let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our
weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come BOLDLY to the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Jesus is our advocate before the Father.
He pleads our case. He has paid the
price for our sins already. All we have
to do is repent of those sins, accept His forgiveness, and believe that He will
cover us with His blood. He remembers
our sins no more. They are washed whiter
than snow.
Do you know this Jesus? Wouldn't you love to know that your sins are
covered? This covering or hat that He offers is free....all you have to do is
receive it. Won't you do that today?
