Why I Believe Men and Women Have Different Roles

Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mothers out there reading this. I hope you have had a wonderful day! May God bless you as you raise your children or as you encourage your grown children. May you seek God's leading in whatever situation you may be in.

  As I considered what topic to write on today I was thinking about how today was Mother's Day and also how so often in this world today we find people that try to say there is really no difference in the genders, that men and women can basically do and be the same thing. The agenda of people of the same gender getting "married" is pushed, people being unhappy with how God created them and "changing" their gender is becoming more common. If somebody shares scripture like I plan on sharing today they are often considered unenlightened, confused and that they hate women. I find this very sad.

I do believe that there are different roles for the different genders and I will share some verses to explain why I believe this in a moment. First however I just want to say that I don't think that having different roles is a bad thing but rather something I am super thankful for. For so many different reasons it is wonderful that God made two different genders that compliment one another.

  Besides just looking at how we are created and realizing that we have different roles from that (For example we realize that men cannot give birth to or breast feed babies) here are some scriptures that point this out:

Ephesians 5:22-33 "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."

Colossians 3:18 & 19 "Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them."

1 Peter 3:1-7 "Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers."

Titus 2:1-8 "You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

 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.

 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."

1 Corinthians 14:34 & 35 "Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."

1Corinthians 11:2-12 "I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you.  But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.  Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved.  For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.

A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.  Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.  For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God."

Genesis 2:18, 20b -24 "The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

....But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
    for she was taken out of man.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."

To me it seems pretty plain that God planned for men and women to be different. I have found that there is a lot of rest and peace when you try to follow God's plan in this. I believe that God truly knows what is best for us, I hope you feel that way too!

Children Working Together - A Homeschool Highlight

 One of the highlights of homeschooling is that it allows more opportunities for our children to work together. I thought it would be fun to share with you one of the ways that happened here lately.

 Mara and our friend Emily have been co-teaching a Wednesday evening class for the younger children at church lately. They have been using quite a few puppet plays which Mara writes the script for and then makes little stick puppets to go with it. Last week Mara had made a cardboard ship for her story and I thought it turned out pretty cute but Jonathan suggested that he could make a better one from wood and so she said go ahead. So he made a cute wood ship that the stick puppets could fit into. It worked quite well.

  After class Mara and Emily had come up with an idea - could Jonathan make them a little puppet theater from wood that would be something they could use over and over again? Mara came up with a design and then Jonathan made some adjustments and then he had fun making the little theater from lumber scraps we had laying around.

 This is made particularly for their stick puppets that Mara has been making. It is designed so that they can hang up scenery in the front and in the back he put another clip to hold up their script.

 It was so fun for me to watch my children (with no assistance from me) work together on a project that they can use to share the gospel with others. I am so happy that they enjoy using their time in this way. I feel exceedingly blessed.

   Homeschooling is a blessing because we do have more time available for projects such as this. Also there is more time and opportunities for the siblings to work together which I think it a wonderful thing. Another working together thing that has been fun for me to watch this year has been the boys as they run the incubator and care for the chicks and ducklings (the ducklings started arriving today!).
   I have definitely hit a new stage in mothering where I am actually not needed for a lot of projects any more. The kids are perfectly capable of doing it on their own - especially when they work together. Thankfully they do still enjoy having me around so I do stay involved in a lot of things but if I am busy it doesn't stop the project.

Do your kids enjoy working together? Do you have any fun memories to share?

Pictures Around Our Homestead

  The kids and I have been having fun taking pictures around our little homestead lately. Here are some of them....

Gwendolyn (though - I guess I am spelling it wrong, Megan says it starts with a Q, but it sounds like that) our on a walk.

 Aaron loves his birds. He had fun photographing all the chickens the other day.

 
The bees are here and I am excited!

I was able to make 2 rag rugs last week and then use them as gifts. I am quite happy to be making rugs again. Jonathan had cut all the strips from old jeans.

Alpha - our first chick to arrive.

 More chicks arriving all the time.

 The incubator is a mess of broken shells.

 Those our in their bin seem to be doing great.

 The kids are loving playing with them. Hopefully the don't over do it.

These next pictures are not from our place. We were over to my Mom and Dad's this morning and I took some pictures there. I thought you might enjoy seeing some adorable baby goats.

Aren't they cute?

Why I Believe We Need To Count the Cost Before Choosing to Follow Jesus

Jesus wants everybody to follow Him. That is my dream too. However Jesus has not promised that following Him will always be easy. When we choose to follow Him He wants us to realize that things won't always be easy (and they may be super hard!) but we will follow Him anyways. 

Here are some verses that make me realize that we need to count the cost before choosing to follow Jesus....

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. Luke 14:25-43

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ." Philippians 3:7-8

"Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” Matthew 8:18-22

"And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38

Following Jesus is so much better than any other decision we could ever make but it is still not one to be made lightly. This is a life time commitment and one that effects (or should) every other decision you make for the rest of your life. 

Honey Bees in Minnesota

My friend Rebecca and I went and picked up our bees yesterday. I am sure we were probably some of the most memorable people there as we came in our hodge podge outfits and our colorful bee hives. In the midst of many many beekeepers dressed all in white with their white bee hives we looked a little different. Oh well, it doesn't bother us to much to be a little different. :-) Rebecca took a video of the event.

May Baskets and Other Fun Things

 One of the beauties of homeschooling is deciding to make a day into art day if you want to and proceed to make 25 May baskets to take to the nursing home. We have fun, we cheer others up and we practice our art skills. It's a win win situation. Most of the time we do our normal schoolwork (I do like routine and diligence) but sometimes changing it up a bit is good too.

  We made flowers out of egg cartons plus one for each basket out of construction paper that said "Happy May Day" and "May God Bless You" on it.

 Megan very much enjoyed working on the baskets. Everybody got to help (though Aaron preferred to spend more time doing other chores like packing a lunch for us that needed to be done.)

 The people at the nursing home where we go to sing were very appreciative of the May Baskets.

 They are so sweet!

 We also had fun making some for our neighbors.

 Aaron delivered these in the old fashioned way of ringing the doorbell and running. We then ran up to my bedroom where we could see our neighbors outside looking them over and visiting about them. Pretty soon I got a phone call thanking us. We tried to do it anonymously but they figured it out pretty quickly.

 Mara took these over to another neighbor.

I was out working on the bee hives and came back to the house to see this on our doorstep. Mara had found wild flowers already! She decided to make a little basket out of birchbark.

  Some of the other fun learning we have been doing is the boys project of incubating chicken and duck eggs and they were starting to hatch tonight. Little pecks and peeps were happening. It is so exciting! There are around 100 chicken eggs in there and 20 some ducks and so we should have a lot of little birds around here very soon. This has been a great learning experience for the boys.