Baa-baa

This is a note I did on facebook a while back and when I was thinking of what to do my new blog post on I kept thinking back to this. So I hope you enjoy this post and let me know your thoughts on the matter.

I am afraid that many Christians today are no longer worried about what is important in the word of our Lord. I see so many people today who go out and party, drink, cuss, dress immodestly and just do not seem to care anymore. What good does any of that do? We are not to be of this world, and just because “everyone else does it” it does not mean that we should do it, too! I know that people have fun at the beach, but are the beaches a good place for us to be? Do we need to surround ourselves with people who are indecently dressed and probably have a cooler of beer? I know that we may not be able to control what other people do, but we can control where we go and what we wear. Immodesty is not just a girl thing, either. Young men (men off all ages in fact) should wear shirts in public. A girl can lust after a guy without a shirt on as easily as a guy can lust at a girl in a bikini.

We all need to think before we act. We should always ask ourselves, would I want to dress like this in front of the Lord? Would we want him to come and see us at the beach half dressed? At a club getting wasted? The Lord sees all that we do; even though he is not physically present, He does see us when we are dressed immodestly. The Lord is our shepherded! Just because we are sheep does not mean we have to be followers of the world. We should follow Christ! Christians should make an effort to separate themselves from the world (and the world of sin). I know I am not perfect, but like my dad said one day, “I can’t walk on water that is why I look to Jesus.”

Young people today need to be less worried about what others think or "fitting in" with the crowd. I know that I see cute bikinis at the store, but they are not worth me losing my soul over. We should all want to strive to be Christians, but being a Christian is a lot more than just saying, "Hey, I am a Christian." Actions speak louder than words!

We need to be sheep, but we need to be careful who we follow.

Matthew 7:16-20

Sunny Day =D

Here are some random pics around the house. I am playing with lighting so I hope you like them.

Pictures

Today the blogger from Sunny Side Up came and walked to the hollar with me. She offered me some great tips and I am really excited to try them out =D Here are a few pictures using some of her tips and hopefully there will be many more to come. Also if you like nature pics you should check out Sunny Side Up and look at her pictures. They are awesome!!!

Modesty

What is modest? To me it is covering yourself from your knees to your shoulders. You don’t wear a bikini to the beach? Well for one thing I don’t go to the beach unless I can find one without people because I do not wear stuff like that and I do not want to be around people wearing stuff like that. It is really no different then going to the mall in your underwear.

Have you ever heard someone complain that guys don’t take them seriously? Look at what they are wearing. If they are half dressed I wouldn’t take them seriously either. Why do women complain if a guy looks at her chest if she is leaving it uncovered for him to look at.

Why is it important to be modest? Well for Christians it is what God wants. Proverbs 2:11 tells us to be discreet (modest) also in Proverbs 11:22 it talks about fine jewelry in a pig’s nose. The pig represents people that even if they are beautiful or wear beautiful things, it is the actions and attitude that God looks at. If you met a very attractive man but he was a complete jerk would you date him? No, because no matter how attractive someone is, it does not make up for who they are as a person.

We don’t even have to look at this from a biblical stand point. The thing is that women are putting themselves into harmful situations by the way they dressed. Most guys (not all just most) think that if they can see it they can touch it. Why wouldn’t they if you are putting it out there? You might be saying one thing with your mouth but the way you dress and act speaks louder then your words.

Philippians 2:3-4 talks about strife and vainglory. Do we dress this way to build upon our vanity? The way we dress is can not only harm ourselves but the men around us. 1 Corinthians 8:9 speaks about how we should not be a stumbling block to others. If the way we dress causes men to lust after us, is that not harmful to them? Even not looking at the Bible we can see the harm lust may cause, it can cause women to be put in bad situations, it can break up marriages and destroy lives.

How can we put a stop to this? Start young. I work with middle school children a lot and they try to see how low cut of a shirt, skirt or shorts they can get away with all the time. Who is buying these clothes? Most middle school kids do not have a job so logically their parents buy the clothes for them. So parents make sure you look at what you are buying your kids. Also if you dress them in immodest clothes when they are real young (say elementary age) because it is “cute” then how are you going to tell them it is not okay to wear stuff like that anymore when they get older?

Girls when you buy some clothes try it on and move around in it before you buy it. Make sure the length stays long enough when you sit, that your shirt doesn’t slide down and that you stay modest in it. It is true that most clothing today is not made for people who want to dress modest but there are ways to fix that. A low cut shirt can be fixed by wearing a tank top underneath it or by adding a jacket. Just because the short skirts are “cute” does not mean you can not find longer skirts. You just have to look for them. You can usually find knee length skirts around winter time and they usually do carry springy colors.

Men have to be modest too. I remember when those Bod body spray commercials came out and how shocked I was by them. You have all these shirtless guys running around playing some sort of sport. What is the point of this commercial? To get women to lust after them and men to think that if they wear that spray women will lust after them too. Women can lust after men with nice abs as easy as a guy can lust after a woman with nice legs.

Love

Love is such a small little word but with a huge meaning.

Today I feel this word is way over used. People say things like “I love that movie” “I love chips” or my own favorite “I love that song” Do we really love all these things? We might like/enjoy them a lot but is it love? Do you love chips as much as you love a friend or family member? This is not really the point of the blog just something to think about.

My point is do we really know what love is, especially younger people? I hear kids tell their boyfriend or girlfriend that they love them all the time but what does that mean to them? Some high school sweet hearts actually do work out but I know from my own view point that I did not know what love was when I was that age (and I am not sure if I know what it is now) I do know that I had “puppy love” and I really do believe I did “love” a few of my boyfriend in the past but it was not a true love it was a friend love. What I mean by that is that I cared deeply for that person and we brought each other happiness. Okay so I am not sure that I got the point I was trying to get across.

The thing is I think there are many types of love.

Family love – is the love you share between your family
Friend love – the love between friend, what holds you together and draws you to each other because unlike family you actually get to choose these people.
Love – definition varies by each person.

So I don’t really know if I know what love is anymore. After growing up and realizing that what I thought it was in high schools is probably no where near accurate enough. However I am going to take a stab at defining it for myself. To me love is when you realize that yes you can live without this person but you don’t want to. It is being mature enough to know that filling your own needs is not enough but that you have to meet the other persons needs too. It is when life is no longer a him and I but it is now an us. It is also knowing that you can make it through anything as long as that certain someone is there to help you through it.

Love is also more then words. It is action. You can’t just say you love someone and never show kindness to that person. If you love a friend and they need a ride somewhere, or help with school or something are you going to help them? If a loved one is depressed will you comfort them? I read somewhere some advice for single women that I thought was great “if he loves you, you will know it. If he doesn’t you will be confused.” That is so true. If he does love you he will tell you and show you through your actions. If he does not love you, you might be trying to read into something that is not there and therefore be confused. Don’t waste your time on someone who doesn’t love you because there is someone out there who will be crazy about you.

My last thoughts on love are that when you are in love you should tell that person. When I get off of the phone with a friend or family member I tell them I love them before I go. You never know what day will be your last so you should always tell the people you love that you do love them.

--
Brittni
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Television vs. Parents

Have you ever heard someone say “I blame television”? It is usually said after a child does something wrong. People try to excuse it away because of the things that the child saw it on T.V. On T.V. kids drink, party, have sex, do drugs, steal and do other horrible things so of course they think it is okay to do in real life.

Can we really blame T.V. though? What about the parents who let their children watch these shows? To me that is where most of the blame should be found. Parents need to talk to their children about the tough stuff they will face in life. Tell children to think about their actions and what will result from them. Parents should not want to be their child’s “friend” over being their child’s PARENT! In life parents are there to raise, teach and take care off their young.

Then again T.V has really gone down. The first cuss word to appear in a movie was Gone With the Wind (1939) people were shocked! Now today it is rare to find a T.V show that does not cuss at least a dozen times an episode. Look back at the shows like I Love Lucy. Ricky and Lucy were married in the show and they did not even share a bed! In today’s television you see people jumping in bed together whether they are married or not or a teenager or an adult.

So who is to blame? I blame both. T.V should be cleaned up. Is it really necessary to cuss twenty times in a show to draw in viewers? Why does sex sell? Are our morals so low that we are not disturbed to watch shows like that with our family? Parents put up children blocks so that shows like that can not come into your house. Then you won’t have to put the blame on T.V and maybe prevent some things from happening. However that won’t fix everything. Talk to your children. Tell them you are there for them and that they can come to you. Teach them about drugs, sex and other things that are harmful to them at a young age.

What can we do to help what our children watch? Go to pluggedin.com and scroll down to the part about language and sexual content. Read and see what will be in the movie and decide if it is appropriate or not. Watch the shows your children talk about. See what it is about and if it is okay for them to watch.

I suppose it is easy for me to say this because I am not a parent. However I do work with kids and I worry about them. When they ask me if I saw a movie or something that I know is inappropriate I tell them that I do not watch stuff like that. For as long as I can remember all I have ever really wanted to be is a wife and mother. So I pay attention to what my parents do and other parents I know to prepare myself.

I love my friends because we will go to the movies and if something bad comes up we will look at the exit sign or make faces at each other while we wait for it to pass. If I am watching a movie with a guy friend and an immodest woman comes across the screen I will cover their eyes with my hand (and they do the same for me if an immodest man comes on the screen) I remember going to see the Notebook with my brother and a bunch of friends when I was younger. He was on one end of the friend and I was on the other and then when an inappropriate scene came on he whispered down the row to cover my eyes. Just because it is on does not mean we have to watch it.

So tell me what you think. Can we push the blame on television when parents are allowing their kids to watch it? Can we blame television when parents do not talk to their kids about life? Can we blame television because most of it is garbage that is unfit to watch?