Bikini Season

It's the time of year for "hot fun in the summertime": swimming in or lounging by the pool, boating on the river, and going to the beach.  I love this time of year because I love to be in the water.  When I'm pregnant (not now), it is so nice to float weightless, and always this time of year, it's just plain refreshing to get out of the heat and cool off a little.  At the beach or the river, our family enjoys God's creation, the beauty of the marshes and the awesome wonders of the ocean.

Head to most any beach or public pool, and you will see many, if not most, girls in bikinis.  I can't imagine letting my little ones run around in nothing more than their underwear covers in front of strangers, though I know it is the norm.  Most modest women reading this are in full agreement with me at this point, but...

I'm not saying we should do away with bikinis.  I own and wear several bikini sets myself.  GASP!  What is the preacher's wife saying?

When modest women dress, they not only need to consider that they're representing God, but they need to dress for their husbands.  If you've got a private backyard or a boat that takes you to a quiet place, your husband may be happy to see you in a bikini and erase any mental images he may have of other women.  If you go on a vacation, don't be afraid to pull out a bikini (or strapless maxi dress) to whoo your husbands, who were designed by God as visually stimulated creatures.  Keep the spark of your marriage alive as you dress for your husbands!

Sugar Control

I've admitted my love of all things sugar before.  If it's sweet, it doesn't much matter what's in it, I'm most likely gonna love it.  Except for congealed salads - what's up with those?

Anyway, until two months ago, I had spent nearly seven years being pregnant and/or nursing.  I had one little break that lasted almost three months.  Oh, and that is an and/or.  One can totally nurse one baby while pregnant with another.  I do my best to eat well while pregnant, and I do a fair job while I'm nursing, but I don't give up sugar, and praise God, I've yet to experience gestational diabetes!

One of the best benefits to a mom that nurses is that breastfeeding burns 500 calories a day!  Woo-hoo!  Burning 500 calories while sitting on the couch or bed cuddled up to your baby sounds good to me!

There are a few foods I give up while being pregnant and especially while nursing.  Broccoli, uncooked onions, and carbonation seemed to give my babies gas.  I don't do caffeine, except in the form of chocolate.  I never was big on caffeine anyway.  Known for goal-setting, the first I can remember setting was to give caffeine up when I was a senior in high school, and I did for a very long time.  To save money, my husband and I have never much kept sodas in the house.  A couple of years after we were married, we even gave up what Tom Barton calls "the nectar of Southern goodliness", sweet tea, in our own home to keep from having so much sugar.  I pretty much just make it when company's coming. 

Strangely, however, I desire to eat onions and drink soda when I can't have it.  Two months ago, when I weaned my baby, I thought, "Freedom!  I'm going to eat whatever I want whenever I want it!"  and so I did. 

This could only last for so long.  Those 500 calories a day I was burning through nursing could now potentially find their way to my hips or elsewhere.  I enjoyed myself for a few weeks and then began to reign it in after our anniversary trip.  It had to wait until after that trip because, hello, Kaminsky's is now a must during any trip to Charleston!  Go find it on Market St. next time you go.  They have awesome desserts.  Be prepared to wait.

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul wrote about our bodies being members of Christ.  He was primarily writing about not joining ourselves to unholy people with our bodies, but I don't think it's wrong to apply it to whatever food we put in our bodies. 

"Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?  You are not your own, for you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body." -1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Let's keep our bodies pure!  I'm not calling for anything very difficult.  We've taken some easy actions for health in our house.  Obviously, as I've already mentioned, soda isn't a permanent fixture in our home.  It hurts me to see kids drink sodas when milk, a little juice, and water are what their bodies need as they grow.  We genuinely crave water because we drink more of it.  We eat whole wheat bread rather than white.  We drink skim milk rather than whole or even 2%.  Once you make the change to skim, everything else is just too thick.  We don't fry, we bake or grill.

And all of that is not to say you can't have those things on occasion.  God's gracious to us and wants us to enjoy good things.  Most of the time, I get water at restaurants because I love to drink it, but also, it's usually free.  When I go to some places, I must get sweet tea.  Shane's Rib Shack is one place I've just got to have it.  My usual water is what enables me to more thoroughly enjoy the treat of sweet tea when I'm there. 

And I haven't given up sweets entirely.  That sweet tooth still craves it!  When I'm somewhere where it's offered, I'm getting it.  I made a special treat for the kids this week.  We ate peanut butter blondies out of a 9x9 pan over the course of three days.  I can enjoy these goodies as special gifts from God, giving Him the glory for it, as Paul reminded me to do:

"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God's glory."          -1 Corinthians 10:31

Purity

I use a prayer calendar created by Bob Hostetler to pray for my children. Each day has a different matter of the heart for which to pray for my children (salvation, growth in grace, love, honesty, etc.). For the 31st, I added my own topic, which is to pray for my children's spouses. On the 25th of each month, I pray for my children's purity. How just like God that He would give me the time I've been looking for to write about purity on the day that I regularly pray this? I pray from Psalm 51:10 that God would create in them pure hearts, and that He would let their purity of heart be shown in their actions. When friends have baby girls, this is what I most often find myself praying for them.

"Good girls" have a tendency to see purity in the list of all the things older women are to teach the younger and think, "Check. I've got that one handled." I've been guilty of it:

• waited until I was married to have sex - check!
• put no addictive chemicals into my body through the use of cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs - check!
• not a potty mouth - check!
• don't watch soap operas -check!

Praise God that He kept me from some nasty consequences of sin, but sometimes getting these life issues right can lead to another heart issue, pride. And if I'm not careful, sometimes doing those things that I know are pleasing to the Lord will lead me to being quite Pharisaical. Yuck! So, as I pray for my girls and my boy to have pure hearts and that their actions will reflect those pure hearts, I need to pray the same for myself. God, make my heart pure and only let my actions come from that purity!