A Truly "Random Ramble..."

Since giving birth to our daughter a little over 4 years ago, I have become acutely aware of the people around me - much more so than before our sweet girl was born.  My husband and I began evaluating things like the people we hung around - if they were folks we'd want influencing our daughter as she grows up.  Would they be the kind of people who's lifestyles, behaviors, and beliefs line up with ours in so much that if, for whatever reason, Madeline would decide she couldn't come to Brian and I with an issue, that our friends would give her the same advice and guidance as we would?   

I also began overhauling our movie collection.  We don't own anything pornographic in nature or overly violent, but I admit we definitely had some movies in our repetoire that were definitely not ones I'd want Madeline to see.  For example, the movie "Double Jeopardy."  It's an interesting movie staring Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones, however, in a scene toward the beginning of the movie, Ashley Judd's character is in an intimate scene with her on screen husband in which she is completely nude from the waist up.  It was one of those scenes that I really never thought about until Madeline came along and I got to thinking - is THIS what I'd want her to accidentally see or is this a movie I'd feel comfortable with our friends seeing in my collection??  The answer is a resounding NO! 

One of the biggest areas of life that I've really had to examine is not only how I dress, but how I allow, and will allow, my daughter to dress.  Ya know, parents, we have a HUGE responsibility to train and raise our children in light of God's standard.  The precedent we set with our children at an early age is going to set the stage for the rest of their lives - that's quite the responsibility, if you think about it!  The way we allow our kids to dress - or the clothes we put them in - even at an early age is going to be the standard by which we allow them to dress in the future.  So, I ask you, Moms and Dads - what's the standard that YOU are creating even now - are you going to teach your children, or as in my case, my daughter, to dress as a prostitute, or a young lady seeking after God's heart?

First, let's define "prostitute."  I think it many ways, we all have our ideals of what a prostitute is or is not.  According to Wikipedia, Prostitution is the business or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment.  The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute..."  Wikipedia goes on to say the word, ""Prostitute" is derived from the Latin prostituta. Some sources cite the verb as a composition of "pro" meaning "up front" or "forward" and "situere", defined as "to offer up for sale".  Another explanation is that "prostituta" is a composition of pro and statuere (to cause to stand, to station, place erect). A literal translation therefore is: "to put up front for sale" or "to place forward". The online Etymology Dictionary states, "The notion of 'sex for hire' is not inherent in the etymology, which rather suggests one 'exposed to lust' or sex 'indiscriminately offered.'"  

Based on this definition, it's easy to see how we can allow especially our daughters to dress in such a manner as "to place forward," "expose [them] to lust," or indiscriminately offer them, intentionally or not, to the inappropriate looks and thoughts of boys and men around us.  Street prostitutes, in specific, solicit customers while waiting at street corners, sometimes called "the track" by pimps and prostitutes alike. They usually dress in skimpy, provocative clothing, regardless of the weather.  

How different, then, are WE when we dress in skimpy, provocative clothing or allow our daughters to do the same?  The intent for dressing provocatively may be different than that of a prostitute, but the result of dressing in such a manner is the same - it draws the eyes of men and inappropriate thoughts to be conjured up in the hearts and minds of those of the opposite sex who see us.

Our young girls need to cling to such a degree of modesty that their attire and behavior fails to say, "Look at me," and instead point to Christ and says, "Look at my Creator - His name is Jesus Christ.  Isn't HE amazing!"

Here's an interesting though - young girls, ladies - married or not - think about your swim attire for this summer.  Does what you're wearing cause the men you'll encounter to look to the Creator, or to YOU, the creation?  Does your attire cause your brother to stumble?  Does your clothing, or lack thereof, cause men around you to create thoughts in their minds - the kind of thoughts that only husbands should have for their wives?  Think about this - REALLY think about it.  If your answer is the latter, if your swim suit screams to the opposite sex, "Look at me - look at my body - aren't I HOT!?," then, Ladies, it's time to go shopping...

I'm sure there are a lot of people thinking, "Well, I'm not responsible for the way a guy thinks."  And I can tell you that type of thinking is down right incorrect.  Men are very visual creatures.  That's how they're designed.  And women, in contrast, are the object of what men see.  We are capable of having a VERY serious effect on men - from the way we walk and talk to the way we shrug our hair off our shoulders down to the way we dress.  Don't believe me?  Then I'd seriously suggest you pick up a really great book called "Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild" by Mary Kassian and prepare to be enlightened...

I will likely expand on this topic in days to come.  But for now I leave you with this challenge:  Examine those things in your life that seem driven by the world's standard.  Things like clothing, movies, language, activities.  What do those things in your life say about you?  Do you resemble, or are you emitting the persona, of a scantily clad woman seeking attention from strangers?  Or is your heart, mind, soul, and body SO immersed in the Creator that those around you must seek HIM in order to truly see you??