MODESTY: A Matter of the Heart

As a writer, I always find it of utmost importance as to the way an article is started. However, I couldn’t discover a nifty way to start this particular subject, so I’m going to jump right in there.

Modesty is a matter of the heart. When you dress modestly, are meek and quiet on the outside, but on the inside, your heart is black with resentment or hate, the modesty is a put-on act, and avails to nothing.

If you’re like me, you hate reading really long articles that drag on and on about everything in general and nothing at all, so I’ll make this short and to the point.

The way you look at life is colored by how right you are with God. Modesty is colored by what’s in your heart, and what’s in your heart is colored by how right or wrong you are with God. It’s all one large circle – circular logic, as my uncle calls it. It just goes around and around, and if one thing is out of place or wrong, the rest crashes to an end very quickly.

You can be a girl in a skirt and be just as worldly as the girl next to you wearing spray-painted-on jeans that look like they’ve been rolled in the dirt once or twice before put on the sales rack and a too-revealing shirt. You can be just as foolish and dress just as loudly as that girl. You can be just as loud and attention-demanding as can that girl. And worst of all, you can be just as wrong with God as she could be.

What I’m emphasizing here is: It doesn’t matter what you wear if your heart isn’t in tune with God’s call and plan for your life.

Guarding the heart. What’s that mean? You hear it all the time and I’m sure you’ve read articles on it. I’ll boil it down to three things that we don’t do in our family so as to guard the heart: 1) we don’t date, 2) we don’t dress to attract attention and 3) keep every thought captive! That’s a bit ambiguous, so I’ll say it like this: Control your thoughts. It IS possible with God’s help! Really, if you think about it, you can stop yourself from singing that dreaded song, “This is the song that never ends-” or from singing “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,” etc. But do you control those thoughts of the cute boy in class next to you? No! You say, “Why should I? It’s not like thinking of him is going to get me in trouble with him or anything.” And I say, “YES IT DOES. Basically, what you think about now is what you think about after you’re married. If you spend time fantasizing about cute guys you see, will you be loyal to your husband?”

“…and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:7 NKJV

Summer Evenings

“Summer time… and the livin’ is easy….”
That is, unless you live in Texas . Somehow, I have a feeling that the person who originally wrote that lived in a Nothern state. :-)

Summer… that time when it’s smart to duct tape the screen door because the flies are pouring in like crazy. But it’s also the time of year when we females are quite happy to sit down at supper time and enjoy being with our family. We’re grateful to be able to rest! (That is, until someone asks you to pass the ketchup and you realize that there’s none on the table so you have to climb that Mt. Sinai stack of groceries in front of the pantry in order to get IN so you can come OUT with that darned bottle of ketchup!) :-)

We sweat all day in a hot kitchen, work outside in the garden, and by 6 o’clock pm , we look like we live in Egypt during the pyramid building era. In other words, sloppy. Our hair is falling down and we probably stink to high Heaven. But hey! We’re happy because we’re sitting down – the family is happy because we made supper – and we’re all one big sweaty, stinky family!

Hmm… Isn’t there something wrong with that picture? Aren’t we, as the women of the house, supposed to be clean and neat and ordlerly and all that stuff?

Now don’t recoil in horror, y’all. Come back. I’m simply suggesting that we clean ourselves up BEFORE supper, not BEFORE bed. Perhaps the whole mentality of your family will change, just because you decided to make yourself look good for them! Doesn’t THAT make them feel good? That they’re actually important enough to you that you want to look nice?

I said come back, please. Sit down, please. READ. (Please.) It’s just my two cents. You don’t HAVE to follow my really good advice. :-)

Perhaps it’s best if you change your outfit in the evenings – after all that work in the garden or whatever you do before supper, it may be stained. Re-apply your makeup. Fix your hair. For me, I just throw it up in a ponytail out of the way – but even re-doing my ponytail makes me feel more cheerful and ready to conquer… supper. Or something.

Try this! See if it works. For one thing, I’ve found that I’m more inclined to be happy and respond to others joyfully and cheerfully.

Working with George

Funnies from "The Trip"

Let me set the stage by saying that Katie and I always record as many of the funny things said during a day with friends. At the Frontier Days thingy in Breckenridge, there were quite a few funny things that were written down - and many more that were forgotten. Of course, if you hang out with the Lawless clan, you get some interesting things to record.
Oh, and remember - Katie and I are in our ball gowns (with hoop skirts) this entire time. Some of this revolves around those.

BRECKENRIDGE, TEXAS - FRONTIER DAYS 5/5/07
"I hope I'm not the only one that's going to crash when I get into the car." -Allie
"Why don't you go play bumper cars?" -Camden
"Bumper cars...? Why on earth?"
"Well, I figured since you were dressed for it and all..." -Glancing at our hoop skirts

5/6/07 (The trip to NM)
"Katie, is your heart racing or feeling unusual?" -The Grandfather
"No sir, why?" -Katie
"Why? Because I care about you and want you to survive! Of course, if you die, we're still going to Carlsbad Caverns..."

5/5/07
"I despise that jeans-tucked-into-the-boots style. Especially as they don't think twice about doing it." -Allie
"It bothers me too. But I'd do it to annoy you. Now that'd be funny."
"No, what would be funny is if I stopped and stuck out my fist and you ran into it. Now THAT would be funny." -Camden

5/6/07
"What's something else that's funny that I forgot to write down?" -Allie
"Your face?" -KT

5/5/07
Walking past a playground at Frontier Days, Katie says to Camden, "Oh, we gotta stop. Allie says she wants to play."
"Well, alright, but be safe! We'll stand right here and watch you. Go, shoo, go on!"

5/5/07
Mrs. Lawless, to Allie: "You're starting Devil's Dream with chops. Chop, chop!"

5/5/07
Camden, pretending to be a federal agent or something, starts talking into his wrist: "HELP!" then realized that he was talking into the wrong wrist. Switching wrists to talk into his watch, "Oops. HELP!"

5/6/07
"I've tried writing from a boy's perspective, but it hurt." -Allie to Katie on writing books.

5/6/07
"What do you spy THAT'S BLACK?!" -Allie, in frustration at playing I-Spy with Katie on the way to NM.
"A field of cows about a mile back." -Katie

5/5/07
"That time we played it, I didn't cry!" -Allie
"What's that supposed to mean?" -Camden
"We didn't sound half-bad!"

"The" Trip.

Katie, announcing. She did such a good job!

There were these two girls in the audience that just LOOKED like it was pulling teeth to make them sit there. (We're not THAT bad, are we?)

Having fun.

Aaron, Camden, Allie, Mrs. L, Katie

This was when we hadn't even pulled out of the driveway yet. (About 8 in the morning.)

Yuck. (Not the picture. Just the memory. LOL)

We kept switching around our standing positions. I think we need to figure out ONE way to stand - in what order - and keep it that way.

The wind was HORRID.

I don't know what we were playing here...

This was a very hard performance. Right next to us, there was a VERY large generator, and we had to move off of that white "stage" to right in front of the audience. Miserable.

Scenery.

This was the best part. (Joke.)

We played at Denny's in Carlsbad.

New Mexico.

Gr. These pictures won't go in the right order. But this is Breckenridge, Texas. Frontier Days. L to R: Camden, Aaron (both Lawlesses), Katie, Allie, Mrs. Lawless, and a girl whom we invited to play with us on the last song, Amazing Grace. She's playing a half-size viola. She was pretty good for having only played a little more than a year!

Wasup, homo sapien?

The scenery was GORGEOUS.

Taken through the lens of my sunglasses. This was a really cool photo.

And again.

Katie being cool - Allie being mature.

Outside the caves.

More cave photos.

Caughtcha having a good time!!

Katie and Allie in Carlsbad Caverns.

Carlsbad. Those things are HUGE.

Fairyland. So cool!

Hobbs, NM.

The flowers in front of the courthouse there in Hobbs (I think) were beautiful!

Allie's caption, as she pointed to the gun, was: "I want one!"

Getting down on Katie's level.

This was awesome. It told about the first explorers and everything.

I thought this was interesting.

The sky was beautiful on the way home, if a bit darkened.