Faith Christian School

My husband installed drapery hardware and hung new drapes in our bedroom last week.  I am thankful for that act of service. The man can install, remove, repair, or replace just about anything; if he can’t, he learns how and then adds that task to his repertoire.  He is amazing and I tell him that every chance I get.

I didn’t always do this.  Society taught my generation of young women that we can do anything better than men can.  We were fed the lies that “all men” are pigs, carnal by nature, and inept.  We are still being fed a steady diet of these.  Watch television for one evening and you will witness countless husbands and fathers portrayed as wimpy, child-like, self-centered, irresponsible imbeciles.  The sad truth is that I bought that propaganda along with millions of other women and our husbands and fathers have been paying the price for our gullibility.

Somewhere along my journey as a wife, I picked up a Bible for the first time and found God’s Word about husbands and wives.  “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” Eph.5:22 (NIV)   Submit means to defer to another’s judgment, opinion, decision; to yield oneself to the power or authority of another.  I was not doing that.  In fact, it was contrary to everything the world had taught me and yet…there it was in God’s Word. It isn’t a request or a suggestion, it is a command.  It changed our marriage.

I began to defer to my husband, to allow him to make decisions instead of forcing my opinions and preferences on him, to respect and support him instead of criticizing him and his decisions, to speak highly of him instead of complaining about him.  As I changed my behavior toward my husband, I began to see him in a different light.  All things will be revealed by the light of God.   The light of His Word, when given feet by me, reveals my husband as he really is.  He was always there, always wonderful, I just couldn’t see that through the blinders of “politically correct” behavior that I allowed society to feed me.

Ten years ago I would have loitered behind my husband as he hung those drapes; firing instructions over his shoulder and critiquing his work.  Last week, I left the room and returned when he was finished, to compliment him and thank him for taking such good care of me.  Every night I snuggle into bed, gaze across the bedroom at our new drapes and smile in appreciation of my husband.

As Valentine’s Day nears, instead of focusing on what gifts our husbands will lavish on us, or not lavish on us, let’s focus on giving them a most precious gift: honor, respect, thanks, and love. Let’s practice “political incorrectness” with our husbands and bless them the way God intended.
 

By Jo Lynne Keough

“Where do I start?” I looked at the entryway and hallway of my house, the only part of my home that hadn’t been repainted in the fourteen years we’d lived here. So many scuffs and scratches. I didn’t have a big block of time to do the whole job at once. So one morning I just started painting the back of my front door.

Do you have a project that you’d like to tackle, but it seems so huge, you don’t know where to start? The Jews in the Old Testament days did. They had been exiled to Babylon and other places when Jerusalem was destroyed. Now they wanted to return and rebuild the city, but how could they begin?

God sent Nehemiah to lead the rebuilding. Amazingly, his plan was simple. “‘Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace,” he said to his people “(Nehemiah 2:18).  Their response was not an elaborate planning session with motivational speakers and high-tech tools. “They replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work” (Nehemiah 2:18). Workers picked a place on the wall, and using what they had, they rebuilt.

A new year is a great time to take stock of what needs to be changed in my life. But this year, rather than getting discouraged by not reaching my impossibly large goal, I’ll try Nehemiah’s approach and pick one specific task to complete.  For example, instead of saying I’m going to lose weight, I’ll pick one small way I can eat healthier and make a permanent change.

My current change is increasing fiber in my diet by switching from white rice to brown rice whenever possible. I’ve been working at this goal for the past two months. I know it’s not a huge change. However, since I’ve already switched to whole grain breads, cereals, and pastas, my diet has gradually changed for the better. Every little step brings me closer to my goal.

Nehemiah’s wall wasn’t completed in a month. It took at least twelve years. But every stone  that was placed was one more step completed. God isn’t in a hurry, and we shouldn’t be either.

So this month, when you’re considering a New Year’s resolution, think small! Choose one small, permanent change you can commit to, then give yourself a few months to add it. When you’ve achieved that change, grab another one and keep building. Remember that you are doing a “good work” and God can supply the power you need to finish your task.

I wish I could say my entire hallway is repainted. It’s not. But my entryway looks fantastic and I’m halfway down the hall. It isn’t perfect, and that’s ok. It’s a work in progress (and I’m pretty sure I’ll be done in less than twelve years).

It’s Pumpkin Spice Latté season at my favorite coffee house.  Who can resist that hot, sweet, spicy autumn deliciousness? But, a medium sized serving costs over three dollars.  Even if I only treat myself on Mondays and Fridays, that is almost $360 per year.  If I treat my husband too, that’s nearly $720 in one year; for coffee.  Wow! Maybe I should rethink this.

You know it is time to review how you spend your hard-earned cash, when the price of gasoline makes you consider pulling your bicycle out of the depths of the garage, or the cost of food makes dieting sound appealing.  But reviewing your spending means “Budgeting” and budget is a four-letter word for most people.  Budgeting is planning how you will spend the money you have, without spending more than you have. You can complicate it with charts, formulas, and legalistic rules, but the process is really pretty simple.

Step One:  Research how you spend money.  Keep a log of everything you spend in a month. This will show you where you spend your money and will reveal surprising ways that it slips away from you, nearly unnoticed.

Step Two:  Analyze your expenditures. Decide which expenditures are necessary and which are not.  Do you need to eat out so often? Do you pay others to do tasks that you can do yourself? Do your expenses reveal waste that can be controlled? Are you paying late fees because your bills are paid after their due dates?

Step Three:  Modify your behavior to reduce expenses that are unnecessary based on your analysis.  When my children were young, I stopped carrying cash in my purse.  Children have a sixth sense that enables them to know when moms have cash. I was a push-over in those days, so I decided that it was easier for me to honestly say “I don’t have any money.” than it was to say “No.”  If you know that you quickly spend cash when you carry it, don’t carry it.

Step Four:  Evaluate the effectiveness of your changes.  Continue those that work and eliminate those that don’t.

The key to successfully minding our money is in spending less than we make and being thankful for what we have. 

My mother tried to shame us kids into eating our oatmeal by telling us about starving children in Africa. It was a tactic that never worked.  I must admit however, that her logic works for me today.  When I crave that latté and I know I shouldn’t indulge this week, I think about the children of Africa who don’t even have a pure drink of water.  If we are good enough at this budgeting process, we might just have enough left at the end of the month to help drill a well in Africa.  That is so much sweeter than Pumpkin Spice.