An Admirable Profession

"I enjoy doing housework, ironing, washing, cooking, dishwashing. Whenever I get one of those questionaires and they ask what is your profession, I always put down housewife. It's an admirable profession, why apologize for it. You aren't stupid because you're a housewife. When you're stirring the jam you can read Shakespeare." ~ Tasha Tudor

Losing Femininity

"Why do women want to dress like men when they're fortunate enough to be women? Why lose femininity, which is one of our greatest charms? We get more accomplished by being charming than we would be flaunting around in pants and smoking. I'm very fond of men. I think they are wonderful creatures. I love them dearly. But I don't want to look like one. When women gave up their long skirts, they made a grave error." ~ Tasha Tudor

Ladies, What Do Your Clothes Say About You?

‎12 TIME-WASTING THIEVES! by Richard Baxter

(via Al Hartman)

"Redeeming the time." (Colossians 4:5)
"That you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way." (Colossians 1:10)




Thief 1. One of the greatest time-wasting sins, consists of idleness or sloth.

Thief 2. The next thief or time-waster, is excess of sleep.

Thief 3. Another time-waster, is an inordinate adorning of the body.

Thief 4. Another time-wasting thief, is unnecessary pomp and extravagance in household furniture and domestic entertainments.

Thief 5. Another time-wasting sin, is needless feastings, gluttony, and drinking.

Thief 6. Another time-waster, is idle talk.

Thief 7. Another thief which would steal your time, is vain and sinful company.

Thief 8. Another notorious time-wasting thief, is needless, inordinate sports and games--which are masked with the deceitful title of recreations.

Thief 9. Another time-wasting thief, is excess of worldly cares and business.

Thief 10. Another time-waster, is vain, ungoverned and sinful thoughts.

Thief 11. Another dangerous time-wasting sin, is the reading of worthless books, plays, romances, and novels. And also unprofitable studies, undertaken but for pride and vain-glory, or the pleasing of a carnal or curious mind.

Thief 12. But the master-thief that robs men of their time, is an unsanctified, ungodly heart; for this loses time, whatever men are doing--because they never intend to do anything for the glory of God.


"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do--do it all for the glory of God!" 1 Corinthians 10:31

Modest Thoughts by Tia and Nadia Wood

My 11-year old daughter has a real heart for modesty. A girl who truly loves God, Tia cares deeply about how she dresses; not only is her body modest, her heart is, too. Out of her concern for modest living and dressing, she wrote the following article (her sister, Nadia, 8, gave her input):




God wants you to be modest. Love God enough to be modest.


A girl should not look like a boy. A girl should look like a girl. A modest girl should not get a boy to look at her. Don't wear stuff that shows off your body. Modesty at it's core is dressing to honor God rather than dressing to draw attention to yourself.


Your dress should be modest and your shirts and your skirts, too. A girl should not wear short shorts or short skirts or short dresses. Wear modest skirts and modest dresses. And, if you have to wear shorts, wear modest shorts. And wear modest swimsuits, too. Don't let your clothes be too tight, see-through or short.


If I can be modest you can, too. So be modest.  

Muppet Show. Kermit and Robin - Octopus' Garden (s3e12)

Like_youknow

Waiting for the brave one

“Women are like apples on trees, the best ones are on the top of the tree. The men don’t want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and don’t want to get hurt. Instead, they just get the rotten apples from the ground that aren’t so good but easy. So, the apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality they are amazing. They just have to wait for the right man to come along, the one who’s brave enough to climb all the way to the top because they value quality.”~Author Unknown

Elisabeth Elliot on the Differences in Men and Women

“Throughout the millennia of human history, up until the past two decades or so, people took for granted that the differences between men and women were so obvious as to need no comment. They accepted the way things were. But our easy assumptions have been assailed and confused, we have lost our bearings in a fog of rhetoric about something called equality, so that I find myself in the uncomfortable position of having to belabor to educated people what was once perfectly obvious to the simplest peasant.”

The Incalculable Impact of One Woman

Little Girls by Karen Barnes

Little girls are made of daisies and butterflies and soft kitty cat purrs
And all the precious memories of times that once were.

Little girls are made of angel's wings and giggles and a firefly's glow
And all the happy feelings, deep inside, that we all know.

Little girls are made of cinnamon and bubbles and fancy white pearls
And snowflakes and rainbows and ballerina twirls.

Little girls are made of sunshine and cupcakes and fresh morning dew,
And these are the reasons, little one, why everyone loves you.

Never Give Up

Two frogs fell into a can of cream
(Or so I've heard it told...)
The sides of the can were shiny and steep;
The cream was deep and cold!
“O, what's the use?” said Number One.
“Tis fate—no help's around.
Goodbye, my friend! Goodbye, sad world!”
And weeping still, he drowned.
But Number Two (of sterner stuff),
Dog-paddled in surprise.
The while he wiped his creamy face,
And dried his creamy eyes.
"I'll swim a while at least," he thought;
(Or so it has been said—)
“It wouldn't really help the world
If one more frog was dead!”
An hour or two he kicked and swam;
Not once he stopped to mutter—
But kicked and swam, and swam and kicked,
Then hopped out ... via butter!

~Author Unknown

Why Dress Modestly? (via Handmaid of the Lord)

If a young lady wishes to marry one day the man she always dreamed of, she might be willing to change theway she dresses in order to keep herself pure for him (Proverbs 31:12). If a young lady has chosen to save herself for one man on the whole earth, he must be the sort of man who is honorable, able to be fully trusted, one you could pour your whole heart out to and know your secrets won’t ever leave him. This sort of man would have made a covenant with his eyes not to look on a woman to lust after her beauty. He would be a man who would be keeping himself pure for the one whom he would some day meet and marry for life. He would be looking for a young woman who does not give every man who sees her hope for a relationship with her (Proverbs 11:22; Ecclesiastes 7:25-29; Proverbs 31:30).

You see, the way a girl dresses speaks of what is in her heart. If she loves her Savior, Jesus, she will dress to please Him. How does she know what clothes Jesus likes? By knowing Jesus and in careful study of His words we can know what He desires for us. The Holy Spirit willmake us feel uneasy about wearing clothes that are too revealing.


A young woman who desires to please her Savior will wear clothing that would draw a person’s eyes to her face, where shines the beauty of her heart (Matthew 6:22-23). You can tell a lot from looking at a person’s eyes. The face of one who lives in the presence of God shines with the glory of God (Exodus 34:29, Ecclesiastes 8:1; Matthew 17:2). A life of sin wears a face of shame and darkness is in the eyes.

Our choice is will we trust the Lord Jesus to choose our husband for us, or will we continue to try our best to allure men by the way we dress, that we are humans, prone to sin, might find the honorable mate?

A man who is looking for a mate who is pure in her heart and serving God with her life would be drawn to one who dresses with modesty in mind. Her clothes would not draw attention to her chest or her buttocks or her legs, because the young woman who chooses clothes to please the Lord wants to direct others to Jesus and His love. Our faces are to be the focal point in what we wear. 


To read in full, please go to http://utmost-way.com/lhm/modesty.htm

The Legend Of The Sister Slave

I posted The End of Not Me from Raising Homemakers a few days ago with a link to read the article in full. Today I found this follow-up. This second article was written as a response to the comment you will find in the box below (comment was posted by an anonymous reader of the Raising Homemakers blog). As a mother of 9 who has raised my children to love, and to serve, one another, I read the comment with sadness. I applaud Bailey, the young writer of these articles, for her loving servant heart. May God raise up more young ladies like her. ~Anna (the Mama)

First...the comment:

I think that this is beautifully written, and certainly God will bless this young lady for her serving heart.

But I have a huge problem with it. This post would be beautiful if written by a mother, but it wasn’t - it was written by a 16-year-old girl, who has never (yet) chosen to have children of her own. Yet she is taught to believe (by the parents who benefit from the teaching) that it is her “calling” to “play mommy” to her younger siblings.

Yes, I believe in family. I believe strongly in family. But I don’t believe for a second that my younger children are in any way, shape or form the responsibility of my older children. My oldest is expected to help, to read to her younger siblings, and yes, sometimes to get up and pour apple juice. But I can’t imagine her ever writing a post like the one above, because she is still a child (at 15 she might cringe to hear me say that but it’s true), and I respect her time, her space, and her childhood, and I don’t expect her to raise my children for me.

And here is Bailey's gracious response:

Well, I could say, “Not true! I’m as lazy and independent and self-seeking as the best of them!” My first thought was to produce a chronicle of my days—the hours texting, emailing, blogging and fiddling around on the internet as much as the most shamefully teenagery teenager out there. But that would be embarrassing, and it’s nice to be considered self-sacrificial enough to be thought manipulated. 

While thinking those thoughts and reading through the comment, my soon-to-be-off mother came down with instructions to put cheese on the thawed casserole, bake it for 30 minutes at 350 and pop in some crescent rolls while the oven was hot. I answered a question posed to me on child-training (which I deferred to my mother’s example because goodness knows I’m no expert). Daniel Franklyn interrupted thirty minutes later to inform me of his accident, and while running upstairs to find the Kid-N-Pet stain cleaner (which squirted on my wrist because I’m that clumsy), the casserole timer went off. Then, sitting down again to work on this post, I heard the baby scream.

My life is incriminating. I cannot hide the fact. I am not normal. 

Neither am I abused. Now and then I come across pitying diatribes against the shackling of older sisters to their younger siblings—“I think it’s shameful what the parents are doing to them”—“They need a chance to be children”—“There should be only one mommy in the house.” The concerned ignorance, which lacks no sincerity but only good timing, I do not know what to do with. 

I think this arises from two points modern and fashionably selfish people do not understand. (I say “fashionably” because the Me-First Society of Selfishness made it so. And I’m no exception, by the way, but by God’s grace.) Firstly, when “large” in regards to household size comes to a grand total of three or four, there is going to be a disconnect of understanding how to run that household in comparison to, say, our shocking number of nine. The disconnect happens because common sense knows only pocket-sized families of one boy, one girl and then leaps to the Duggars. Everything goes back to the Duggars. Anything else between is roundly misunderstood, attacked for lacking the privileges of small families and attacked for being too similar to a family of twenty. 



To read in full, please go to http://bighouseinthelittlewoodsblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/legend-of-sister-slave.html

Paul Washer on Swimwear

"What some of you wear to the beach out in the public, if someone had worn the same thing sixty years ago, they would have either been thrown in a mental institution or a prison by the secular authorities."

Paul Washer: On Feminism

"What the feminist movement has done is it has destroyed the beauty God wants to give you. ...even you, if you're a part of this culture, you have dropped your standard so as to allow young men to say things to you, to treat you in such ways that are not right. And if you could go back to your grandmother's era, people would look down at you with disdain because of the way you act and the way you allow others to treat you. What I'm saying is, we have dropped the ball, we have lowered the standard."

Paul Washer on Modern Girls

"Nowadays all of the girls are just one of the boys and it's a work of the devil." ~Paul Washer on the lack of femininity in our culture

Paul Washer: Warning To Young Ladies

"The point I'm trying to make to you women is this: I want you to know what your culture has done to you. It has destroyed your femininity. It has destroyed your real beauty. It has destroyed any hope of elegance and it has replaced it all with sensuality."

Becoming Esther by Charo Washer

"Singleness is a time in which a woman is to cultivate the virtues
that  pertain to being a woman of God, so that she can offer to
her future husband and the world something more than just 
pretty face."~Charo Washer

To read "Becoming Esther" by Charo and Paul Washer, please go to


http://media.sermonaudio.com/mediapdf/72807112436.pdf

A Merry Future Homemaker By Amber Dawn Moeller

Now you may be asking, “What do I do during the season between the time I complete my academics and the time when I become a wife and mother?” There are plenty of ways to keep your hands busy. Here are a few things that come to mind: First, start in your family’s home. Are there things that you could be doing to lighten your mother’s load? If you aren’t sure, ask. Once the household needs are taken care of, dedicate some of your time to deepening your relationship with Christ and your understanding of the Word, and to increasing your knowledge of being a keeper-at-home. Read books by other keepers-at-home. (Proverbs 4:7; 16:16) Then there are many things to do with the hands. Some may include learning a new skill and/or handiwork; making meals for a sick neighbor; visiting a lonely widow; giving a tea party for a friend; sewing; crocheting; knitting; weaving; spinning wool; making soap, candles and baskets; gardening; caring for animals; rubber-stamping; calligraphy; photography; photo scrapbooks; researching your family’s genealogy; gathering and trying recipes for your future home; making and collecting things for your hopechest; helping a neighbor to can fruit or vegetables; giving piano, art, or sewing lessons, or teaching other skills you have learned to another eager young lady; etc. One thing that we should desire most in our maiden years is that they be productive and useful ones. To read in full, please go to Ladies Against Feminism

Stealing Our Hearts

"Pursuing a life outside of the home, day in and day out, at college or a job, has a way of wooing and stealing our hearts away from our God-given role of being keepers at home and from our families—especially in seeing the blessing our father’s covering brings. I personally don't believe it is a sin to go away to college or to have a job (unless your father doesn’t wish you to do so), but it is not wise or prudent."~Amber Dawn Moeller

Training Young Women

“Who can be rightly educated for any future situation if it is concealed till all its obligations and responsibilities burst suddenly up them?…in the training of young women the whole of womanhood in its full relations, obligations, and responsibilities must be laid before them.” ~ From Female Piety by John Angell James

Lifehouse's Everything Skit: Tia: "I love this."

The End Of Not Me

I think I should keep tabs on all the sacrifices big sisters have to make. At the top of the list would be never eating my own bag of popcorn—never. In all my sixteen years, I have had only one uninhibited indulgence in popcorn, when I tagged along with my friend to the movie theater and bought my own carton. The shock was so overwhelming that I felt sick afterward. (It might have had something to do with buying a medium instead of a small, but that doesn’t build my argument.) The whole process of making popcorn—the rustling plastic, the popping kernels, the microwave beep—is an open invitation for little siblings to snitch handfuls at a time.

I’ve tried. I’d sneak into the kitchen and pop a bag, and if any hungry-looking sibling came in following his nose, I’d put my foot down and say, “This time it’s all mine.”

“But Bailey,” the three-year-old would reason, “I just want some.”

Being cute should be criminal. He gets away with a bowl full of my popcorn every single time.

Popcorn isn’t the only violated holy ground. I can’t sit down and read St. Augustine’s Confessions without this adorable little curlytop crawling into my lap and grinning at me. Then she places The Poky Little Puppy in my hands and squeals. Even slightly older cuties steal my reading time. Just a couple hours ago one interrupted me to cut an apple. Again.  (Whoever invents a kid-friendly apple slicer—my deepest thanks.)

A couple years ago, when my grandmamma was over visiting, my baby brother desired apple juice—a daily task that includes researching whether he’s reached his quota for the day or is, indeed, due for another sugar boost. He desired, as I said, apple juice, and quite frankly, “Bailey, I want apple juice” right when I’m sitting down is not welcome. But company was over, so I grumbled half-heartedly and said something about how Ialways have to get him apple juice, how inconveniencedI was, how much I longed for a professional apple juice pourer. Compared to other outbursts of frustration, this was tame.

Yet my grandmamma pointed out, “Bailey, remember that you’re a servant.”

Me? You. A servant.

That’s what I am. That’s the radical expression of the radical grace I’ve been shown—a slave to Christ, a handmaid to His will. And my domain is my home. This is something I’ve been trying to pound into my head, my heart, my life: There is never a task that is “not mine.” There is never an excuse to say, “That’s not my job.” There is never a minute of my life that is completely my own. Why? If I am surrendered, than I am all Christ’s—and interruptions become divine calling.

To read in full, please go to http://raisinghomemakers.com/2011/the-end-of-not-me/

The Soul of Modesty by C. J. Mahaney

"This sermon was uploaded by Grace Community Church in San Antonio, Texas (www.gccsatx.com) with permission (via phone) from Sovereign Grace Ministries (www.sovereigngraceministries.org) with whom we are not affiliated.

The dangers of immodesty and indiscretion are prevalent in today's society. It's tempting for women to want to give in to the world's pressure and wear what is fashionable and available. But modesty deals more with the heart than the body.

In a Sunday message primarily directed toward women, C.J. Mahaney speaks from Scripture on the attitude, appearance, and allegiance of the modest woman."


Follow this link:
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12908209345

Duty Of Children To Parents By: John Bunyan (via NCFIC)

There lieth also a duty upon children to their parents, which they are bound both by the law of God and nature conscientiously to observe: ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.’ And again, ‘Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord’ (Eph 6:1; Col 3:20).

There are these general things in which children should show forth that honour that is due to their parents from them.

First, They should always count them better than themselves. I observe a vile spirit among some children, and that is, they are apt to look over their parents, and to have slighting and scornful thoughts of them. This is worse than heathenish; such an one hath got just the heart of a dog or a beast, that will bite those that begot them, and her that brought them forth.

Object. But my father, &c., is now poor, and I am rich, and it will be a disparagement, or at least a hinderance to me, to show that respect to him as otherwise I might.

Answer.

I tell thee thou arguest like an atheist and a beast, and standest in this full flat against the Son of God (Mark 7:9-13). Must a gift, and a little of the glory of the butterfly, make thee that thou shalt not do for, and honour to, thy father and mother? ‘A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother’ (Prov 15:20). Though thy parents be never so low, and thou thyself never so high, yet he is thy father, and she thy mother, and they must be in thy eye in great esteem: ‘The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it’ (Prov 30:17).

Second, Thou oughtest to show thy honour to thy parents, by a willingness to help them with such necessaries and accommodations which they need. ‘If any have children or nephews, let them learn to show piety [15] at home, and to requite their parents:’ saith Paul, ‘for that is good and acceptable before God’ (1 Tim 5:4). And this rule Joseph observed to his poor father, though he himself was next the king in Egypt (Gen 47:12; 41:39-44). But mark, let them ‘requite their parents.’ There are three things for which, as long as thou livest, thou wilt be a debtor to thy parents.

1. For thy being in this world. They are they from whom, immediately under God, thou didst receive it.
2. For their care to preserve thee when thou wast helpless, and couldst neither care for, nor regard thyself.
3. For the pains they have taken with thee to bring thee up. Until thou hast children of thy own, thou wilt not be sensible of the pains, watchings, fears, sorrow, and affliction, that they have gone under to bring thee up; and when thou knowest it, thou wilt not easily yield that thou has recompensed them for thy favour to thee. How often have they sustained [thee in] thy hunger, clothed thy nakedness? What care have they taken that thou mightest have wherewith to live and do well when they were dead and gone? They possibly have spared it from their own belly and back for thee, and have also impoverished themselves, that thou mightest live like a man. [16] All these things ought duly, and like a man, to be considered by thee; and care ought to be taken on thy part to requite them. The Scripture saith so, reason saith so, and there be none but dogs and beasts that deny it. It is the duty of parents to lay up for their children; and the duty of children to requite their parents.

Third, Therefore show, by all humble and son-like carriage, that thou dost to this day, with thy heart, remember the love of thy parents. Thus much for obedience to parents in general.

Again, if thy parents be godly, and thou wicked, as thou art, if thou hast not a second work or birth from God upon thee, then thou art to consider, that thou art more strongly engaged to respect and honour thy parents, not now only as a father in the flesh, but as godly parents; thy father and mother are now made of God thy teachers and instructors in the way of righteousness. Wherefore, to allude to that of Solomon, ‘My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother; bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck’ (Prov 6:20, 21).

Now, to provoke thee hereto, consider,

1. That this hath been the practice always of those that are and have been obedient children; yea, of Christ himself to Joseph and Mary, though he himself was God blessed for ever (Luke 2:51).
2. Thou hast also the severe judgments of God upon those that have been disobedient, to awe thee. As, (1.) Ishmael, for but mocking at one good carriage of his father and mother, was both thrust out of his father’s inheritance and the kingdom of heaven, and that with God’s approbation (Gen 21:9-14; Gal 4:30). (2.) Hophni and Phinehas, for refusing the good counsel of their father, provoked the great God to be their enemy: ‘They hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them’ (1 Sam 2:23-25). (3.) Absalom was hanged, as I may say, by God himself, for rebelling against his father (2 Sam 18:9).

To read in full, please go go http://www.ncfic.org/articlemodule/view_article/id/55/src/@random49598ead4a15d/

The Special Duties of Children Towards Their Parents by Richard Baxter (via CRTA)

THOUGH precepts to children are not of so much force as to them of riper age, because of their natural incapacity, and their childish passions and pleasures which bear down their weak degree of reason; yet somewhat is to be said to them, because that measure of reason which they have is to be exercised, and by exercise to be improved: and because even those of riper years, while they have parents, must know and do their duty to them; and because God useth to bless even children as they perform their duties.

Direct. I. Be sure that you dearly love your parents; delight to be in their company; be not like those unnatural children, that love the company of their idle play-fellows better than their parents, and had rather be abroad about their sports, than in their parents’ sight. Remember that you have your being from them, and come out of their loins: remember what sorrow you have cost them, and what care they are at for your education and provision; and remember how tenderly they have loved you, and what grief it will be to their hearts if you miscarry, and how much your happiness will make them glad: remember what love you owe them both by nature and in justice, for all their love to you, and all that they have done for you: they take your happiness or misery to be one of the greatest parts of the happiness or misery of their own lives. Deprive them not then of their happiness, by depriving yourselves of your own; make not their lives miserable, by undoing yourselves. Though they chide you, and restrain you, and correct you, do not therefore abate your love to them. For this is their duty, which God requireth of them, and they do it for your good. It is a sign of a wicked child, that loveth his parents the less because they correct him, and will not let him have his own will. Yea, though your parents have many faults themselves, yet you must love them as your parents still.

Direct. II. Honour your parents both in your thoughts, and speeches, and behaviour. Think not dishonourably or contemptuously of them in your hearts. Speak not dishonourably, rudely, unreverently, or saucily, either to them or of them. Behave not yourselves rudely and unreverently before them. Yea, though your parents be never so poor in the world, or weak of understanding, yea, though they were ungodly, you must honour them notwithstanding all this; though you cannot honour them as rich, or wise, or godly, you must honour them as your parents. Remember that the fifth commandment hath a special promise of temporal blessing; “Honour thy father and mother that thy days may be long in the land,” &c. And consequently the dishonourers of parents have a special curse even in this life: and the justice of God is ordinarily seen in the execution of it; the despisers and dishonourers of their parents seldom prosper in the world. There are five sorts of sinners that God useth to overtake with vengeance even in this life.

1. Perjured persons and false witnesses.

1. Murderers.

1. Persecutors.

1. Sacrilegious persons. And,

1. The abusers and dishonourers of their parents.

Remember the curse on Ham, Gen. 9:22, 25. It is a fearful thing to see and hear how some ill-bred ungodly children will. talk contemptuously and rudely, to their parents, and wrangle and contend with them, and contradict them, and speak to them as if they were their equals: (and it is commonly long of the parents themselves that breed them to it:) and at last they will grow even to abuse and vilify them. Read Prov. 30:17, “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.”

Direct. III. Obey your parents in all things (which God forbiddeth not). Remember that as nature hath made you unfit to govern yourselves, so God in nature hath mercifully provided governors for you. Here I shall first tell you what obedience is, and then tell you why you must be thus obedient.

I. To obey your parents is to do that which they command you, and forbear that which they forbid you, because it is their will you should (to so. You must,

1. Have in your minds a desire to please them, and be glad when you can please them, and sorry when you offend them; and then,

1. You must not set your wit or your will against theirs, but readily obey their commands, without unwillingness, murmuring, or disputing: though you think your own way is best, and your own desires are but reasonable, yet your own wit and will must be subjected unto theirs, or else how do you obey them?

II. And for the reasons of your obedience;

1. Consider it is the will of God that it should be so, and he hath made them as his officers to govern you; and in disobeying them, you disobey him. Read Eph. 6:1-3, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honour thy father and mother, (which is the first commandment with promise,) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live long on the earth.” Col. 3:20, “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord.” Prov. 23:22, “Hearken to thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.” Prov. 13:1, “A wise son heareth his father’s instruction.” Prov. 1:8, 9, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother; for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.”

1. Consider also, that your parents’ government is necessary to your own good; and it is a government of love: as your bodies would have perished, if your parents or some others had not taken care for You, when you could not help yourselves; so your minds would be untaught and ignorant, even like to brutes, if you had not others to teach and govern you. Nature teacheth the chickens to follow the hen, and all things when they are young, to be led and guided by their dams; or else what would become of them?

1. Consider also, that they must be accountable to God for you; and if they leave you to yourselves, it may be their destruction as well as Yours, as the sad example of Eli telleth you. Rebel not therefore against those that God by nature and Scripture hath set over you; though the fifth commandment require obedience to princes, and masters, and pastors, and other superiors, yet it nameth your father and mother only, because they are the first of all your governors, to whom by nature you are most obliged.

But perhaps you will say, that though little children must be ruled by their parents, yet you are grown up to riper age, and are wise enough to rule yourselves. I answer, God doth not think so; or else he would riot have set governors over you. And are you wiser than be? It is but few in the world that are wise enough to rule themselves; else God would not have set princes, and magistrates, and pastors, and teachers over them, as he hath done. The servants of the family are as old as you, and yet are unfit to be rulers of themselves. God loveth you better than to leave you masterless, as knowing that youth is rash and unexperienced.

Quest. But how long are children under the command and government of their parents?

Answ. There are several acts and degrees of parents’ government, according to the several ends and uses of it. Some acts of their government are but to teach you to go and speak, and some to teach you your labour and calling, and some to teach you good manners, and the fear of God, or the knowledge of the Scriptures, and some are to settle you in such a course of living, in which you shall need their nearer oversight no more. When any one of these ends are fully attained, and you have all that your parents’ government can help you to, then you are past that part of their government. But still you owe them, not only love, and honour, and reverence; but obedience also in all things in which they are still appointed for your help and guidance: even when you are married from them, though you have a propriety in your own estates, and they have not so strict a charge of you as before; yet if they command you your duty to God or them, you are still obliged to obey them.

To read in full, please go to http://www.reformed.org/master/index.html?mainframe=/christian_education/childrens_duty.html

Strength, Dignity and a Smile: Damsels in Distress, or Daughters in Rebellion?

I was shocked. Not at seeing someone else's depravity and sinfulness, but at seeing someone, still professing the name of Christ, behave in a way that even the world would consider 'wild' or 'inappropriate'. This young woman, who used to shudder at curse words and the name of the Lord being used in vain; was now indulging in the worlds iniquity. And the saddest part of it, is that I see the majority of the young women in my community falling into the same state of wantonness. I am not talking about the atheist that lives down the street, but the homeschooled, Church going, *Christian* girls. They exhibit immodesty, not only in their dress, but in their conduct. They love the world. They cling to feminism and our culture's ideas of true success. Their actions say they are the whore of Babylon instead of the pure Bride of Christ.

My heart is broken and my spirit grieved. I feel tormented. What happened? Why is my generation of peers straying so far from God? They claim the name of our precious Savior, without any intention of holding fast to Him. I feel a unique sense of despair when I think of 2 Peter 2:21, "For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them." 'It would have been better for them never to have known...' rings through my ears. Is there a greater condemnation for those who have known God's word, than for those who have not? "For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries." (Hebrews 10:26-27)

To read in full, please go to Strength, Dignity and a Smile: Damsels in Distress, or Daughters in Rebellion?: "(I know this post is long, but I had a lot on my heart. So please bear with me. :) I had a great deal of trouble sleeping last night...."

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Modest Handmaidens is a family owned and operated, home-based Christian cottage industry and ministry, that strives to meet the ever increasing need for modest sewing patterns, as well as provide homemaking resources & related products for our “Keepers at Home” Titus 2 customers.
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Suggestions For Young Ladies

“Arise early.
Dress thyself quickly.
Go thy ways gaily.
Do thy work wisely.
Answer men demurely.
Treat thy kin courteously.
Rule thy tongue carefully.
Con thy book soberly.
Sing thy bit joyously.
Dance thy round jocundly.
Go thy supper warily
And to thy bed merrily.
Kneel then devoutly.
And sleep surely.”

~unknown