A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold (Proverbs 22:1).
This post should have been made when I first started this blog. I thought I'd explain why this blog is called "Of Great Price" and why my screen name is "Pearl."
My theme verse is this: "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies" (Proverbs 31:10). That's where I got the "of great price" idea. I can't remember what I originally wanted to call this blog. It was something about rubies, but that name was already taken on this blogger system.
My screen name, Pearl, is the meaning of my middle name, Margaret. In the comment box on my very first blog (entitled "New to Blogging"), my mother wrote this:
Pearls symbolize purity, charity, honesty, wisdom and integrety. The ragged, rough grain of sand, transformed over time slowly growing into an object of great value and beauty.
That is what I trust the Lord is doing in my life: transforming me into an object of great value and beauty. Right now there is still too much of the ragged, rough grain of sand in me, but I have this promise:
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).
Pearl
Monday, June 26, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Little Keepers
The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed (Titus 2:3-5).
I recently changed my e-mail address because of all the spam my old one was getting. My new address reflects my "keeper at home" status. When I alerted family and friends to the change, I got a reply from a nine-year-old girl who attends my church. She wrote, "Nice address. I'm a keeper at home, too." She sure is. Her mother is teaching her to bake, clean, and crochet, among many other things. She recently gave me a scarf she crocheted for my three-month-old son. I remember when I first met her six years ago. One of her first jobs then was to hang up the socks on a clothes rack when her mom did laundry. She did it very well.
I have three Little Keepers growing up in my house. (Well, one is not so little any more; she is two inches taller than me!) They are learning to do all sorts of things--cooking, cleaning, knitting, sewing, baking, gardening, etc. But what else am I teaching them?
At just 40 years old, I don't really consider myself to be well "aged," but I am older than my daughters. So the Scripture above talks first to me. There are characteristics that need to be in my life if I am to have any lasting spiritual influence on them. Some things are easy and obvious--or are they? I may not be "given to much wine," but are there other things just as foolish and harmful that I am given to? What really is a "false accuser," any way? What "good things" should I be teaching? Am I teaching things that aren't "good"?
And then there is that list of things I'm supposed to teach my Little Keepers. How do I teach my three-year-old to "love her husband" when she obviously doesn't have one? Can my seven-year-old really learn to "be sober"? Then there are the delicate topics of "discreet," "chaste," and "keepers at home" that have more recently sparked such fiery discussions with my 14-year-old. Keeping my "behaviour as becometh holiness" in such discussions has been quite a learning experience for me!
Lord willing, I hope to write a series of blogs on this passage of Scripture. I want to share what God has been teaching me, and how that has been working out in my life.
Pearl
I recently changed my e-mail address because of all the spam my old one was getting. My new address reflects my "keeper at home" status. When I alerted family and friends to the change, I got a reply from a nine-year-old girl who attends my church. She wrote, "Nice address. I'm a keeper at home, too." She sure is. Her mother is teaching her to bake, clean, and crochet, among many other things. She recently gave me a scarf she crocheted for my three-month-old son. I remember when I first met her six years ago. One of her first jobs then was to hang up the socks on a clothes rack when her mom did laundry. She did it very well.
I have three Little Keepers growing up in my house. (Well, one is not so little any more; she is two inches taller than me!) They are learning to do all sorts of things--cooking, cleaning, knitting, sewing, baking, gardening, etc. But what else am I teaching them?
At just 40 years old, I don't really consider myself to be well "aged," but I am older than my daughters. So the Scripture above talks first to me. There are characteristics that need to be in my life if I am to have any lasting spiritual influence on them. Some things are easy and obvious--or are they? I may not be "given to much wine," but are there other things just as foolish and harmful that I am given to? What really is a "false accuser," any way? What "good things" should I be teaching? Am I teaching things that aren't "good"?
And then there is that list of things I'm supposed to teach my Little Keepers. How do I teach my three-year-old to "love her husband" when she obviously doesn't have one? Can my seven-year-old really learn to "be sober"? Then there are the delicate topics of "discreet," "chaste," and "keepers at home" that have more recently sparked such fiery discussions with my 14-year-old. Keeping my "behaviour as becometh holiness" in such discussions has been quite a learning experience for me!
Lord willing, I hope to write a series of blogs on this passage of Scripture. I want to share what God has been teaching me, and how that has been working out in my life.
Pearl
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