". . .the word of God is not bound." II Tim. 2:9b

Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Fighting the Natural Urge to Protect Our Wounds

So blessed this morning by a book excerpt by Kristen Strong on Dayspring.com (affiliate link). Just read the title, and you'll understand: "When Wounds from Women are Hard To Forgive." Kristen relates how a conference with another child's parent about a bullying situation went wrong and the hurt she felt from another woman's words.

This part stood out to me:

"You find yourself picking those slights and slanders up one by one with your hand and stacking them like firebricks around your heart. With one brick you say, 'This will teach me not to open up to friends.' And then with another you say, 'Lonely is better than looking like a loser.'"

Haven't we all been there? I know I have. It happens in teaching situations and in our lives outside our jobs. It even happens in churches.

Kristen's answer to the urge to build up a firewall to protect our hearts is forgiveness.

In a recent situation, I felt hurt by something another woman said to me. My natural inclination was to protect myself, to defend, to defy, to prove. But I believe fundamentally that Christ-likeness demands a humbler response. It demands a heart that forgives. Right now, I'm still in a conversation with God about it all. "Help me forgive," I'm praying. "Help me lay aside pride so that I can be an example of the believer in Jesus. Help me be a channel for your spirit to work healing on both sides."

Dear Lord, work in our hearts and keep them tender to your leading. Don't let us build walls around our hearts to protect ourselves, but let us remain open to loving and forgiving as you have loved and forgiven us. Amen.



For further reading:
Showing Compassion
Coming tomorrow, Amy Ballard guest blogs on Carry Fancett Pagels's blog; she'll give away a free copy of her poetry chapbook, Landlocked.
Find Amy's poem "A Feather" on p. 18 of the newly-released Winter Poetry Issue of GNU Journal


Monday, May 16, 2016

Snopes Gets It Wrong

"Why is the Obama administration's Transgender 'guidance' for public schools dangerous?"

The Left won't accept just any answer to that question. If I say that I as a woman am endangered by it, they have an answer for that. If I say that my child is endangered by it, they have an answer for that. Liberal women will have to be quick on their feet to keep up with the many directions they are being pulled. (So will Americans in general). But to a Liberal, all change is good change, so long as it is not a regression toward moral absolutes. That means a whole lot of justification of some anti-women dictates coming their way.

Here's why I think the May 13 "guidance" is dangerous: It is a third nail in the coffin of America's moral fiber. We can rank it as such, along with Roe v. Wade and last year's Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. While the letter is not legally binding, it carries the threat of a loss of Federal funding. Bullying in schools is acceptable, it would seem, as long as it's the Left doing the bullying.

This is precisely the point where liberals and conservatives split. The liberal believes morality itself is the whole problem. The conservative either answers to a higher power or at least believes in the rule of law and the individual liberty the law provides.

The Obama administration has dispelled the illusion that the Left is chipping away at American values. They've brought out the sledge hammer.

You've probably used Snopes.com to check up on the more shocking stories you see on the Web. Today, I happened upon Snopes's disappointing representation of the May 13 "guidance" for schools. According to Snopes under 'What's False,' "no students would be forced under its provisions to share bathrooms or locker rooms."

Have you read the letter? It directs, under the heading of Restrooms and Locker Rooms, " A school may provide separate facilities on the basis of sex, but must allow transgender students access to such facilities consistent with their gender identity. A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so. A school may, however, make individual-user options available to all students who voluntarily seek additional privacy."

Snopes is wrong. Let's take your average American kid who expects to use a public bathroom designated for his or her sex. And that's most of them. (Their parents expect it, too). This average American kid will, contrary to Snopes, be forced to share a bathroom and/or locker room with people he or she considers to be of the opposite sex. "Oh, but there's the bit about individual-user bathrooms that schools may make available. Your kid can use those." The school may make them available. Then again, the school may not. And in a large district, individual-user bathrooms may be in high demand.

Snopes, I have used thee and loved thee. I now cast thee to the gutter without a second thought. I'll do my own fact-checking, starting with reading the documents in question, which diligence thou seem'st unable to manage.

The letter is not just about bathrooms. It's about supporting gender confusion by all. While Snopes masquerades as your friend in the quest for truth, it's deliberately downplaying the destruction of America's conscience.

It's the old foot-in-the-door technique. Will we accept this affront to the American religious right? Because the next one will be bigger. Conservatives and Christians may not be able to stop the tide of confusion and discrimination coming down on us, but we can speak out against it.