There was a time, a time before I was broken, a time when I didn’t know, but thought I did, that I proudly would have worn this title. “Psalm Snob,” that was me.
I’ve written about this experience in my bi-weekly blog post for Moms of Faith. Read it Here.
As usual – you don’t have to be a MOM to visit. 😉 This one’s for everyone.
The Word is: Joy
The word is Joy and silly me – I got stumped. Uhhhhhh. My blog is called Clothed with Joy, so let’s write about that.
For months, nay years, certain friends regularly encouraged me to write. I didn’t take it seriously until a couple months ago when I was reading in Psalms (as I do every morning – that’s a whole ‘nother post) and I read in Psalm 30 – “You have clothed me with joy.” And that was it. I hadn’t been looking for a blog name – but there it was – right in front of me and I knew that it was meant to be the name of my blog.
And that started it all.
I found a door I hadn’t been looking for. Had I forced open that door before it was the right time, I would have been terrified (and fallen flat on my face). But with the Name came the Key – and the peace – AND the JOY!
What a blessing this blog has been in my life. What a joy to write. What an adventure to imagine where it will take me.
God is good and His timing is perfect (best even.) 🙂
While at the nail salon yesterday my family saw on the news that there had been an attack at our local mall. We were, of course, intrigued. As it turns out, the attack did not happen IN the mall, but rather, in the mall parking lot.
Two women, while fighting over a parking spot, came to blows. In the end, one woman bit a piece of the other woman’s finger off.
Now I apologize for getting graphic, but imagine my children’s horror. This is why we don’t watch the news.
The girls were, of course, full of questions. I was appalled and disgusted.
G: “Mommy, why did the woman bite the other women’s finger off?”
Me: “Because they are low class…and they don’t know Jesus.”
My go-to response to the kinds of questions my kids ask relating to the meanness of people is: “They don’t know Jesus.” And I believe it to be true. But yesterday, in the moment, I just spit it out: Low Class.
While making dinner I started to feel a little guilty about my “low class” comment. I considered how I would feel saying the same thing about those women to my blog audience.
I confess, I regret my words. But not my feelings.
The truth is, those women acted without dignity, and that is the word I should have used when explaining it to my children. DIGNITY.
I realize this is not my usual “blog lite.” This is the full sugar (or vinegar) version of Clothed with Joy.
Yet, I believe that being clothed with JOY goes hand in hand with being clothed with DIGNITY. It means holding your head up when you have no earthly reason to. It means knowing you are loved and valued by the Creator of all things and that seeking worldly validation, in the form of your “right” to a parking spot or any other way, no longer matters.
There is Freedom when you no longer need to fight for yourself because there is One who fights for you. And with the Freedom, there is JOY.
Now that I’ve written this I discover there should be an amendment to the prayers I pray for my daughters.
Lord, clothe my girls with strength and dignity.
Linking up with #TheLoft!
Clothed with Joy 