Teach the Older Women

Titus 2:3-5
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Like many of us, I have read these verses before. Today when I read them something different popped out at me.

Paul was writing to Titus about how Christians should act older men, younger men, older women and younger women. I have used these verses before to write about how older women should teach the younger women, and that is true. What I never noticed was the verse before that one.

“Teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but teach what is good…”

What. . . I’m supposed to be taught to be reverent in the way I live? It made me stop and think about a couple of things. What is reverent really mean and who should be teaching me?

Webster’s Dictionary says:
Reverent – an adjective – showing a lot of respect; being very respectful

The first thing that came to mind is the Elders at my congregation. Yes, I can say I am very respectful of them. I respect our preacher and our elderly brothers and sisters. Then why do I think I might be falling short on this trait that I should have as an older woman.

My personality is to kid around a lot. I enjoy laughing and making others laugh. I know there have been times that I’ve been joking around with someone and said something that just may not be as respectful as it should be. At least after it was said I felt awkward about it. Sometimes these things can be a form of disrespect. I might not have meant it that way, but it could have sounded like disrespect, especially if someone was just walking by and only heard part of the conversation.

Conclusion – I need to work on this. Maybe not be so quick witted to try and entertain someone with a smart remark that could be construed as disrespectful. Also, be respectful of all persons, not just those that I think deserve it.

Now who is supposed to be teaching me this? Well since Paul was writing the letter to Titus about the Christians he was working with, then I suppose it could be anyone of my Christian friends. I am assuming this could be some of the women that are older than me. But I would hope that even if a younger woman thought I was not being reverent they would come and talk to me about it.

“not to be slanders…”

Not talking badly about others or situations. I think this applies to talking negatively also. Not just gossip or bad mouthing someone, but to just be negative in my attitude. That can be a difficult subject sometimes. Life gets hard and we all get down or depressed, but I think this is talking about the bigger picture. I’m sure we all have met those people that you just want to cross the street when you see them coming in your direction. They don’t have anything good to say about anything and they are normally hard to get away from. I do pray that I never become one of those people. I call them a “Negative Nelly” or “Debbie Downer”. These people never like change and always feel like someone is out to get them by something that has been done. 

I believe this may have been linked in with the “older women” here because it is easy for the elderly to become negative. The older you become, the smaller your circle of friends becomes also, if you let it. During your child rearing days you are so busy running around with the kids and meeting new people that after your family has grown and left the empty nest hits. For awhile this can be wonderful, but the older you get you don’t have as many opportunities to make new friends. With age comes the reality that more people you know are passing on in life.

“addicted to much wine…”  I think we all understand this part.

“but to teach what is good” So I am to be teaching. It doesn’t say to teach school or teach Bible class, it just says teach. Does that mean we shouldn’t be teaching Bible classes to the young? Absolutely not! Is being older and teaching young kids hard work, YES. But how are these young souls going to learn about God and His salvation without us “older women” teaching them? I believe we must teach (it’s right there in the Bible ladies), teach something. Some can cook well, some can sew well, and some can decorate well. We all have talents that we can teach to someone else. Use the talent God gave you and teach someone something.

May God Bless.

Vacation Time!

Yea, it’s vacation time. Summer is here, the kids are getting out of school and the grill is going full blast. It doesn’t matter if you are a mom, dad, grandparents or aunts and uncles, the fact that school is out will affect you. Kids will be in the neighborhoods, at the malls and at the pools. Your traffic patterns will be different, no more getting caught in the wrong lane on the road to find out you are in a carpool lane.

We're getting ready for a summer vacation also and I think we are more excited than our grandchildren. A week at the beach with our daughters and their families which will be six of our grandchildren, three boys and three girls, ages ranging from 13 to 4 yrs. old.

The preparations are being made along with lists of who brings what and which meals and snacks to prepare. Plans, emails, text messages and phone calls consume our time and thoughts. What places to visit while we are in the area and of course which restaurants we will visit?

It was last year that we started planning this vacation, picking out the place and having it fit all of our family and needs is not an easy task. We rotate that job each year to one of us. Each time we learn a little bit more that makes planning an event like this easier.

The one thing we always make sure and bring with us is God. Our plans include looking for a local congregation to attend or holding a simple service among ourselves. Either way, we know and understand God is with us.

As we enjoy our vacation we try and talk to the kids about life lessons and enjoying Gods beauty that surrounds us. Every moment is a teaching moment. But first and foremost I have to be in God’s word to be complete.

Don’t take a vacation from God, take Him with you.

Having a Bad Day (part 2)

by Lillian Humphries

Last week I wrote about having a bad day and preparing ourselves for those days because we know they are coming. This week let’s talk about how to put on the armor of God.

Ephesians 6:11 - Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

What is the armor of God? Ephesians 6:10-18 gives us a list of what the armor of God looks like. How can we incorporate that list into our lives today?

The Helmet of Salvation – Having salvation through Christ provides us confidence that God will keep His promises and will protect our minds from Satan.

The Shield of Faith – Hebrew 11:1 now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. If we have this faith that the Bible speaks of, we will be able to protect ourselves from Satan’s temptations.

The Breastplate of Righteousness - Matthew 6:21 for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also. Living a righteous life, not “holier than thou” but a true righteousness in our life putting God first will protect our spiritual heart.

The Belt of Truth –Luke 12:35 let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning. We must be bound in truth, be ready and prepared for what may come our way.

The Sword of the Spirit – Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit. We can use the sword of the spirit to deflect the enemy’s blows and find the path of righteousness.

The Sandals of Peace –John 16:33 these things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. Be ready to walk as Christ did with the peace of knowing God through His word.

Going to God in prayer daily and studying His word will keep us clothed in the armor of God. So the next time you are having a bad day (or week), stop and ask yourself if you put on your armor lately. Just as we get dressed each day, don’t forget to put on the armor of God.


May God Bless.

Hurry Up, Hurry Up, Hurry Up!

by Lillian Humphries

If you are a woman, you understand the phrase above. No explanation needed. Our life seems to be events – not everyday living. Sometimes I feel our lives are the perpetual hamster wheel.

We start planning for Christmas in July, and then we move right into Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then the big day. In January we start all over again for the next year. Planning, decorating and cooking, making sure that everything is picture perfect.

Do you sometimes want to yell STOP the world I want to get off? I know I do. I specifically remember this feeling as a young mother. I was a single mom and raising my two daughters, working a full time job, involved in church, the girls had dance or soccer or the activity they were involved in that season. Of course the everyday drudgery of cleaning house, laundry always was there waiting for me at 10 o’clock at night when I just wanted to sink into bed. What if you are an overachiever, well there is another level to your work because you have to do more than the rest of your peers to get the accolades of how wonderful everything is. Most of which are self-inflicted “have too”.

I used to do crazy stuff, make lasagna for the office, bake homemade bread (no not a bread machine), cookies, and muffins and on and

on. Why? Well there isn’t anything wrong with any of these things, and I really enjoyed doing them for other people, that is just who I am.

I feel like we have all gone into party mode. Party mode is fun for most of us. We like having parties, giving parties and going to parties. But real life is not a party. Learning to live everyday life, doing your chores and being proud of a job well done and satisfied is gone away. It saddens me.

Young mothers today, I feel for you. You now have the internet with Facebook and Pinterest that you get to compare yourselves to each other. Oh she did this and that with her children; I should do more with mine. This mindset will wear you out and make you unhappy. Look to your children and families and everyday things to help make your life happy and substantial.

I enjoy Pinterest and Facebook and receive great pleasure in giving parties and going to parties. Now that I am getting older my body makes me stop when I am doing too much. I wake up with a list of things to do for the day but can only get through two thirds of it. Then the body says stop. Getting older has its privileges. One of them is saying I just can’t do that right now.

But – sometimes even we older overachievers don’t know when to stop and say no. Easter is around the corner and my hamster wheel is waiting for me, I must go now. I need to decorate my fire place like a picture I saw on Pinterest and make the special cookies, rice crispy treats and flower decorations.

Be happy my friends and may God bless.

Find the map, find the map.

by Lillian Humphries

Every time I hear that phrase now I think of Dora the Explorer. If you have children or grandchildren you know what I am talking about. I love that little show. You know everything is going to be OK and Dora is going to get to her destination with help from the map and her friends. Too bad real life is not that way.
 
Real life doesn’t come with a road map and if it did I probably wouldn’t be able to read it. I always found reading maps a little difficult. I have trouble finding North and South, then you throw in East and West and I am lost. For some reason when I learned my North and South, North must have been in front of me, therefore everywhere I turn and face is north. Right? See my problem?

Think about this. If you were taking a trip from SC to California you wouldn’t get maps that would take you Massachusetts and New York and hope you could figure the rest out. You would look at a map of the United States and figure out which states you would go through and purchase the maps for each state you would encounter along the way. OK, I know you would just turn on your GPS now days.

God has a map for us. It is His divine spoken word – The Bible. Your Bible, the one next to your bed, on your coffee table or in the closet has a map for your life and shows you how to get to Heaven. There are a lot of places here on earth I would like to visit. God’s handy work is all around us and it is beautiful, majestic and breathtaking. More than these earthy wonders that I want to experience, I want to experience heaven. The beautiful home that He has built for us is waiting for you and me.

The road you take to get there is ready and waiting for you, but my friends you need to walk it. No one can walk it for you. It is a personal road map for each one of us. Some of us may crawl on the road, walk the road, or run the road; you get to decide how to move forward on the road.

God tells us exactly how to find that road, through His son, Jesus Christ.

• John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

What we must do to get on the road, hear His word, repent and be baptized.

• Acts 2:38 - Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

With these instructions from God we can follow the road toward heaven.

So turn on your – G.P.S. – God’s Positioning Service and open your Bible – hard cover or digital and find your way.

Older Women

Wow is all I can say. I have recently had the opportunity to spend three days with some amazing women. They happen to be sisters one is 86 and the other is 89. There are several reasons why I found them amazing but the most powerful reason is that they survived. Neither one of them have had easy lives. There are several things in their lives that hope I never have to live through, but it has made them who they are today.

I heard some of their stories several times during those three days and I wanted to say, you told me that already, but I didn’t. I realized it must have been very important to them if they kept telling me about it and tried to see what they were trying to tell me.

We were there to help one of them go through some things and move items around in the house to make it easier for her to get around after a fall that has put her in a walker. As we were going through piles of papers and magazines, I saw her getting more and more agitated. Then she blurted out “stop trying to take away my life”. It struck me what was happening. We were holding her life in our hands and asking her to throw it away.

She had lived in this same home for 61 years, and every piece of paper reminded her of a good time or a not so good time in her life. Each time she looked at a book, a magazine with a page turned down she relived that moment in her life again. She was an avid crafter and seamstress, most of those things she enjoyed she is no longer going to be able to participate in again. Tubs of material and yarn that she won’t be able to use, but hopes that she will someday be productive again.

Titus 2 New King James Version (NKJV)

2 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: ² that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; ³ the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— ⁴ that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

          The Bible teaches us how to be older women and how to teach the younger women. If the Bible is telling us to teach younger women, doesn’t that indicate that the younger women should be listening to the older women? I consider myself an older woman; however, there are women who are older than me that I can learn life lessons from, and younger women that I teach.

        I learned this weekend some very important lessons:

•   We all have a story.
•   Don’t be full of yourself.
•   Don’t be ashamed of where you are life it is a journey.
•   Smile, laugh and speak kindly.
•   Always help someone else as much as you can.

Try and remember that whatever situation you are in, you can learn something from someone else.

Be kind everyone, someone you meet is hurting.

Oh Fill My Cup - Devotional

Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head and it keeps on playing all day long? Well that happened to me the other day. I keep hearing "oh fill my cup - let it over flow". This kept going on for the better part of the day and I had a million things to do. I was cleaning, doing laundry, cooking and just had my list laying on the table and was just crossing things off left and right. Then I received a call from a friend asking me to do a favor. I was pleased I could help. Then as I moved on through my list and a few more friendly calls, I realized I was falling behind on my to do list. It was a good day. Mid afternoon came and I was on my way to pick up some of my grandchildren from school when it dawned on me. Maybe God had answered my prayer. I kept saying "oh fill my cup - let it over flow" and now it was.

Over flowing with the good I had done all day by getting my work completed at home, except for a few things, like dusting or mopping, but that will be there the next day. Now my car was filled with the goodness and love of grandchildren and laughter. Yes, my cup was full and actually over flowing with love and blessings.

Thank you God for listening.

Seek God Today

After attending a funeral, I think everyone takes a moment and reflects on their life and the comments that may be said about them when they leave this world behind. This beautiful Christian woman that left the earth last week was everything that I want to be. Would it be wrong to say, "I wish she were my mother"? I don't feel that I am being disrespectful of my mother in saying that. Mrs Marlow was soft, meek, humble, soothing, radiant, giving, submissive and comforting in every way. Her family laid her to rest Saturday in the most graceful way a family can after losing a loved one.

Now I am home and life goes on. However, I will try harder on being more compassionate, humble, meek, giving, submissive and radiant. Not so people will say these things about me when I am gone, but so I can touch those around me while I am here. So I can be an example and lift their spirits in hope and love. Show those around me that there is so much good in this world.

Life is good and we are blessed by our Heavenly Father. He wants us to continually seek Him out and enjoy the life we have here on earth. He gives us all that we have and all that we need. Seek happiness and God today.

A Challege This Week

Remember when you became a Christian and where baptized into Christ?  I do believe that for those few moments afterwards you were sinless.  But all you had to do was enter back into the world of everyday living and you soon became a sinner again.  The bible teaches us that we are sinners, however, by the grace of God and following His biblical outline for our lives we can be saved.  

I remember how elated I felt that day many years ago.  I knew it was the right thing for me to do and that is how I was choosing to live my life.  No I have not always done it well, I’ve made many a mistakes, but God was there to help me through them.

My question to you today is do you have the same vigor and love for the Word as you did the day you were baptized?  Have you become complacent? It is not unusual for us humans to fall into the trap of everyday living and lose our excitement about God and His word.  

This week I challenge you to do, say or act just a little more enthused about your Heavenly Father and the wonders that He can bring into your life.

Weddings and Funerals!

Weddings and funerals, they say it brings out the best and the worst in people.  Well, I just spent time at the latter one of these and I believe that old saying is true.  Sounds funny but I enjoyed the funeral.  Of course not the fact that someone we loved has passed on, but the funeral was done how she wanted. 

You know the old story about “save your fork, the best is yet to come”, related to potlucks and a good meal.  Well dear Aunt Shirley was a character.  She was buried with a fork in her hand!  She believed that saying and wanted to be ready for whatever God was going to give her.  What a wonderful way to live our lives, always ready to take the next step that God sends our way with the attitude that it is better than what we just ate, where we have been, or what life gave us last.  

A woman with character is a true testament of Shirley.  She could do just about anything creative.  She sewed clothes, knitted hats, painted like a professional, researched the genealogy of her family, and foster parent to 20 children, wife, mother, step mother, grandmother and God’s servant in all ways.  Shirley was a giver, not a taker.  She was opinionated and strong willed and would give you a run for your money and love you till it hurt.

Shirley’s life was not easy.  She lost her first husband at a young age and had 3 children.  One son died and endless medical problems throughout her life.

I hope that when it is my time to leave this earth and “save my fork for the best”, people will be able to say these descriptions’ of me, a character that was strong willed, opinionated, talented and truly most of all a Christian that was a servant of God.  Dorcas/Tabatha