Weekend Kindness

WK 17: Celebrate Your Country

2009-07-03T12:00:00Z

This weekend, the United States of America will celebrate its independence from Great Britain. It was 233 years ago this year that our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and stated that we were going to be free from the King’s rule.

Take time to thank God this weekend for your liberties and freedoms. Pray for your leaders. Attend a parade or a fireworks display. Take some time to be with family and friends.

It’s a great time to reflect on who you are as a person and who your country is and what it will be. For a country is, according to the Declaration of Independence, what the people make it to be.

MInTheGap Loves VirtuousBlonde

He Crossed the Line Multiple Times

2009-07-02T12:00:00Z

One of the biggest lies that abounds when it comes to intimate relationships is that people believe that they are ok if they do not cross the intimate sexual relationship. In the case of Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC), he has attempted to cast his infidelity as a love story, but this tragedy shows that it wasn’t something that happened once because “I fell in love” but a string of romances that were pointing to what would eventually happen.

Part of the problem with any moral sin is that it rarely starts with the final act. It’s something that takes place over a longer period of time. Hence why Gov. Sanford can say the following:

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said Tuesday that he "crossed lines" with a handful of women other than his mistress—but never had sex with them.

The governor said he "never crossed the ultimate line" with anyone but Maria Belen Chapur, the Argentine at the center of a scandal that has derailed his once-promising political career.

"This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story," Sanford said. "A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day." [Breitbart.com – SC gov ‘crossed lines’ with women]

You see the pattern—he had had an emotional coupling, or expressed interest in at least a handful of women and for some reason they never went “all the way”, but this last girl did.

This is a man that knew what he was doing was wrong, but both desired it and could justify what he was doing in his mind. He knew he “crossed lines” and he either stopped it or did not let it go on, but the fact that it happened multiple times should have been like a voice calling out for help.

He should have sought help—and perhaps he did. Whether it was from his wife, his pastor, whomever—he knew he had a struggle, and it would be destined to bring him down. Yet he did not seek out help.

How different this story would have been if he would have sought out that help.

How about you? If you take inventory of your heart, where are your sins and are you seeking help? Everyone has things that they fight against, sins that that so easily entangle them. We’re supposed to show kindness to one another, to provide accountability and lift each other up.

Get help, go to prayer, and seek to make things right. Repentance is not easy, but it is liberating. Getting help to protect you from what can happen will strengthen you and help keep you from what could happen!

MInTheGap Loves VirtuousBlonde

Be There

2009-06-23T12:00:00Z

This morning I will be taking my oldest son to the doctor. Some of you know that he has struggled with allergies and we’re still trying to narrow down one of his symptoms. Today’s test will be three hours of “drink this and wait.”

Parents today can look at their children as a burden—just one more person that they’re responsible for. Parents are trained to look to others to raise their children—be they grandparents, day care or school. The thing is, you, as their parent, have the best ability to influence them for good or ill.

If you spend the time that you have together under the same roof apart from each other, getting what you think is important, you may find that you miss the opportunity to connect with your children, to pass on what truly matters and to be a good example to them.

So my encouragement to you, parent, is to be there. Don’t just live there, don’t let your body occupy space there, but mentally and physically be there. Plan time with your kids, and plan time to just be there with them. Open up to them more than take them out to do things. Grow your bond with them.

Talking with them about who they are when they are small and helping them with trivial things will pay off dividends when they’re older.

Speaking of which, I have a couple of sons that want to learn how to make paper airplanes—so I must be off…

MInTheGap Loves VirtuousBlonde

Facing Problems Together

2009-06-22T12:00:00Z

The hardest thing for a human to do is to face a problem alone. The fact is, we’re social beings—we thrive on interpersonal contact. We need one another in order to survive, especially when difficulties arrive.

That is one of the reasons that God gave Eve to Adam, and that children are born to a set of parents that love them unconditionally.

If we are to build long lasting relationships, we cannot simply be around when times are good—we also have to be there when times get difficult. We need to support one another when others seem to think that there’s no chance.

Take the story of Adam Bender, the child baseball star with one leg. This little guy lost a leg to cancer when he was a one year old, but that hasn’t stopped him from doing things no one expected:

When Adam told his parents he wanted to play baseball, they weren’t sure if it was a good idea. They feared that their son would be teased and mocked over his missing leg, and that he wouldn’t be able to hit the ball or run from base to base.

“I thought his spirit might be crushed if he got out every time,” his mother, Michelle Bender, told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “Then I thought, who am I to micromanage his feelings? He’s going to have to learn how to deal with this stuff.”

Although Adam’s had some minor mishaps on the baseball diamond, he’s become extremely adept as a catcher on the field. He’s also a pro at getting around the bases after hitting the ball, hopping over to first base before using his crutches to run around the rest of the diamond.

The point is, Adam could have stayed home and complained about what a raw deal life had dealt him. He could have become just another victim. Instead, he had a dream, and encouraged by his parents, he pursued it.

What could the others around you do with just a little encouragement?

MInTheGap Loves VirtuousBlonde

WK 16: Spend Time With Family

2009-06-19T12:00:00Z

This week has been full of family for me. Last Sunday, I went to a graduation party for my previous pastor’s oldest son and then travelled back home to celebrate (belatedly) my sister’s birthday.

Tuesday, my sister and her friend travelled to my house and spent the night.

Tomorrow we’re off to spend some time with my in-laws—to visit with my nephew and family.

Spending time with family—unplugged and talking around dinner or a campfire—helps you bond with them, helps you to reconnect and to re-establish roots.

For this week’s challenge, find some time to spend with your family. Make time that you might have spent doing something else to talk with a child or a parent. Find a way to reach out generationally—or if that’s not possible, spend some quality time with someone you care about.

Start this weekend to build a culture of love and treat well those that love you.

MInTheGap Loves VirtuousBlonde

What Do You Look For In Your Spouse?

2009-06-16T13:00:00Z

Barbara has a great list about marriage—speaking specifically about what a woman looks for in a husband as she passes different age milestones.

This lead me to an obvious set of questions:

What is it that you looked for when you were out looking for a spouse?
How does that compare to your current husband/wife?

In doing this exercise, there’s more to it than judging your spouse—but use it as an opportunity to look back on your relationship and see those things that you were not looking for but found. What is it about your current spouse that you don’t remember wanting, but could now not stand to be without?

Because in many ways your spouse completes you in ways you aren’t even aware of until they are no longer there.

Take some time to spread some kindness to your spouse today for who they are, and how they meet or surpass your list!

MInTheGap Loves VirtuousBlonde

Chick Flicks

2009-06-15T12:00:00Z

If you’re a girl, or you’ve dated a girl, no doubt you’ve seen a chick flick. All romance, sometimes partly comedy, these films are part of the reason that people believe what they do about marriage and love today.

They basically repeat this formula:

Boy meets girl.
Boy falls for girl.
Boy pursues girl.
Oh, watch out, here comes the plot twist where you think boy and girl will never get together.
Boy and girl kiss—and they live happily ever after.

Rinse and repeat.

All throughout this formula will be talk about love, feelings, and how those feelings translate into how this couple should get married.

For so long we’ve been lead to believe that the love that a couple has to have for each other is an emotional type love that it’s overgrown our society, and also lead to the logical end—people that believe they need to get divorced when the emotional feeling wanes.

We all need to be careful to avoid the effect of the chick flick. Yes they are light and entertaining, and can even make us happy that we are married (if we are!), but the reality is that they are teaching and reinforcing a false premise.

Just like the effect the movie Enchanted had on Jenn Bacak’s daughter, Emma:

So my Emma is watching this movie, with every Disney princess rolled into one personified in this character. (Played very well too!) It starts out as animated, but becomes real life. It’s almost completely about finding true love, "true love’s kiss" which is said about 100 times, dating, and marriage.

I noticed during the movie, Emma was swooning, for lack of a better word.

She was intent on the "true love kisses" and this started the barrage of questions.

Fortunately Jenn had some good answers, but we all need to realize the effect of what we’re taking in, and know what it does to our worldview!

MInTheGap Loves VirtuousBlonde

WK 15: Family Traditions

2009-06-12T12:00:00Z

I know it’s been a while since we’ve done an actual “Weekend Kindness” challenge—I mean, I don’t know if the whole “internet grand meme” thing has gone the way of Thursday Thirteens, but as I see many blogs still doing different memes, I thought I’d offer this one.

For anyone that does it, and mentions this post (drop a comment or a trackback) I’ll include a link in the body of this post back to you.

Traditions

What family traditions do you and your family have that make you unique?

My mother is the one in the family that tried to establish different traditions. One of them was always including one of those chocolate orange candies in our Christmas stockings. Another was always making sure to kiss us good night.

As far as things we always did, we always made it to church every Sunday (morning and evening) and Wednesday nights. They always made sure we were at Vacation Bible School—either as workers or as students.

What different traditions do you have? Anything exotic?

MInTheGap Loves VirtuousBlonde

Help From Home

2009-06-11T12:00:00Z

Mike Bright sent me an e-mail the other day, telling me about a great site that he runs that I’d thought I’d share with you:

I run a website called ‘Help From Home‘ which provides information on easy, no commitment volunteering opportunities that can all be performed from the comfort of a person’s home. Almost all of the 450 plus actions listed on the site will cost nothing or very little to complete and take no more than 30 minutes to accomplish. Some can even be performed in under 10 seconds without getting out of your favourite chair or pyjamas!

I run it on a purely altruistic basis and what I’m attempting to do is to encourage people to see that volunteering for worthy causes can actually be conducted from within their own house, rather than the more traditional approach of joining a group of people at a certain place and a certain time to participate in actions that benefit others.

Most of us spend a lot of time in our own home. and if people were able to donate between 10 to 30 minutes of this home time to such endeavours on a one-off, daily, weekly or monthly basis, just think how much of an impact collectively it could potentially make into the goals and aims of initiatives that are attempting to create ta better world for us to live in.

In closing then, I believe the opportunities listed on the website really can spread kindness and if you do visit the website, I’m hoping you’ll be able to see what good there is that can be done ….. dressed just in your pyjamas!

Regards

Mike Bright

It looks like a great idea, and it’s something worth checking out!

MInTheGap Loves VirtuousBlonde

Why Are Kids Growing Up and Leaving Church?

2009-06-10T12:00:00Z

It is said that all it takes in one generation to totally remake a society. In the case of America, over the past 100 years many have attempted to (and are succeeding in) remaking our nation into a godless society based on secular humanism.

It was actually very straightforward. Our founding fathers knew that there was an importance in training our children in the Bible and the founding principles. Every college on this continent founded at the time was founded with Christianity in its charter.

However, it’s not the responsibility of the school to teach the Bible—it’s the responsibility of the family, especially the father.

The Bible is quite clear on the subject. In many passages, God tells us that when compared to learning about God and acquiring knowledge about him, everything else is worthless. Paul tells us that he’d rather have Christ, and everything he learns he counts for loss that he may win Christ.

It’s not that we shouldn’t learn subjects, but that subjects are nothing if we don’t know the Bible.

However, many Christian families don’t realize that by sending their kids to public schools they’re not training them up in the Lord, but training them up in the worldview of the world. They are learning how to think anti-biblically, and then we wonder why the kids leave church when they get the chance. It’s that they haven’t grown up with a Christian worldview.

It’s important for us as parents to take responsibility for raising our children in Christ. It’s the primary reason for having a family: to produce godly offspring.

Parents, we need make sure that we are fulfilling the godly purpose of having a family and that we’re training up our children as God says we should!

MInTheGap Loves VirtuousBlonde