61 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 6-20-16”

  3. What a lovely thought to begin the day, Chas. That’s the sweetest start to any thread I’ve seen here. You and Elvera are so blessed by God, and we are blessed with your presence here.

    Liked by 3 people

  5. Janice – (re: your comment to me last night) – Many people, myself included, have no problem with women breastfeeding in public, & I think the practice is gaining more & more acceptance as time goes on. Yes, based on her further comments on that Facebook post, Missy seems kind of militant about it, & I wish she could understand the biblical concept of laying aside ones own “rights” for the sake of our brothers & sisters.

    One of her friends posted that Connecticut law does not allow a public establishment to dissuade a woman from nursing in their public areas.

    I disagree with MIssy’s hard-line attitude, but I also wish those who were offended showed some grace by merely looking away. As I said last night, I also think Missy should show some grace herself, now that she knows some are offended. Grace is a two-way street. (And although it should be a two-way street, it is even more gracious to give grace when the other side won’t budge.)

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  7. Chas – Thank you for sharing that sweet thought to start off the day.

    Lee left me a little love note this morning, which made me smile. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  8. Karen, remember the saying about choosing battles wisely? There are more appropriate places for her to fight that battle. That Bible verse about keeping peace with all people if at all possible applies here. And you are absolutely right about the failure to give grace. I once heard a radio broadcast by Joseph Stowell about Grace Moments, opportunities to practice giving grace. I wish she could hear that.

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  10. As a former breastfeeding mother. I think the Breastfeeding Nazis are making a mountain out of a mole hill. It seems to be the latest thing to become offended and militant about. Most of these women feel like they can “whip out a boob” any time their child whimpers and everyone else just needs to deal with it. I wore button up shirts and a nursing bra. There were many times I nursed BG in public and no one was the wiser. I wasn’t interested in showing off my breasts, making myself and anyone else uncomfortable, and acted accordingly. THAT was 18-19 years ago. I would think people would have been more intolerant then than now, but that isn’t the case.
    There are whole Facebook pages and articles written about a woman’s RIGHT to breastfeed anywhere and anyhow. If you suggest throwing a light blanket or scarf over your shoulder their babies won’t nurse that way. They are not satisfied with anything less than having the whole breast exposed for all the world to see and if it makes YOU uncomfortable then that is YOUR problem. I am sick of it and as a former breastfeeding mom I am shocked to find myself in this position.
    THEY NEED TO GROW UP–After all they are now mother’s and should understand by now that the world doesn’t revolve around them.
    For the record I have notice women discretely nursing their babies in restaurants and other place and have struck up a conversations with them and encouraged them to continue. I have several new mothers who know that if they are thinking of giving up and need encouragement they can call me for a pep talk. I am very much PRO breastfeeding. I just am anti being a spoiled brat about it.

    Liked by 5 people

  11. From a disinterested observer.
    Becky (oldest GD) nursed three in public.
    She had a blanket she threw over her shoulder and the kid.
    They spent hours eating in the dark.
    Seems not to have mattered.

    Liked by 4 people

  12. And all I got was a t-shirt . . . 🙂

    (Sorry, couldn’t resist. Thank you.)

    I nursed kids standing in line at the (lengthy) commissary line and no one complained, though a man asked me once (same line different time) if I thought I was a kangaroo for wearing the same baby in a snugli.

    I laughed, of course. Silly old sailor.

    I nursed four children all over the world for nearly 8 years between them. Nearly got thrown out of a restaurant in London because a French couple complained but that was the restaurant’s fault for not serving food in a timely manner.

    Modern mothers have no idea how good they have it, sigh, but isn’t that what all the old ladies say?

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  13. Also if you look at the main photo above there is a patch of baldness on the mountain that looks brown. The white stuff on the mountain is snow. Those photos were taking the first full week of June.

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  14. Actually, Chas, a blanket over the shoulder means the child is less distracted and nurses better and faster but don’t let the Pharisees onto another secret of the sisterhood . . .

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  16. Oh my goodness good morning….that is the most serene photo Kim…what a beautiful place! Did you happen to ride one of those horses?
    And I must say, reading your post brought tears to these old eyes Chas….what a blessing you are to us all…and how we love you and TSWITW Miss Elvera……
    And about the breastfeeding in public…they have come up with the cutest slings for moms now so that breastfeeding can be done with discretion….

    Liked by 3 people

  17. I nursed in public only once, and that was at the zoo. Monkey see, monkey do…sorry, I could not resist. I always arranged to go to a more private place to do it, partly because I had never seen a mom nursing in public.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. The blanket or scarf over the baby is now considered too much to ask. Supposedly, it can be dangerous (?) or bad in some other way for the baby.

    I think it would be wonderful if people would learn to just look away if the mother is showing too much, but I also think it is not polite or respectful for the mothers to not be respectful of others’ comfort levels.

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  20. Janice – I agree that she should have handled this differently. Of course, her Facebook friends are jumping in with complete agreement, but they don’t all know the circumstances. I have thought of mentioning some of what the Bible says about forgiving one another, putting others before ourselves, etc., but I don’t think she is open to that at this point. Also, she & I are not personal friends, let alone Facebook friends, so I think she would take it as interfering or judging, rather than as from a caring sister-in-Christ.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Michelle – I smiled when I read that you ended up not giving the talk you had prepared. I had prayed for you to be led by the Holy Spirit, even if that meant throwing out your notes at the last minute. 🙂

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  22. Having now read Romans 14 about the weaker vessel, I, for one, need to pray for young Molly that she would recognize no good will come from feeding the root of bitterness and that a yearning for Jesus himself would pervade her soul.

    Let’s pray God’s words would break through her embarrassment and she would be restored, in her own heart, back into fellowship and peace.

    Liked by 4 people

  23. Okay, here I am apologizing again. Someone on here thinks I am merely gossiping by sharing the story about Missy & John. I did not look at it that way, as I used fake names, & no one here would know them anyway. I guess I just thought I was sharing something that bothered & saddened me.

    So, in the spirit of not wanting to offend a fellow believer, I apologize.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Karen, there are arguments you just can’t win. This is one of them because all the Pro Agressive Militant Breastfeeders will NOT listen to reason. Why cause your own blood pressure to go up. There is nothing dangerous or bad for the baby in covering up. They just don’t want to.
    I wouldn’t even go back to look at what was being posted. She is being a brat and throwing a tantrum. If you want to say anything else, simply say you are so sorry she feels that way and you sure will miss seeing her lovely family at church but you wish them well. You may even say you hope they find a church where they feel more welcome. It is sort of a passive agressive way to handle it but it will make you feel better and you haven’t said “Oh you poor baby, let me bend over backwards to try to please you you stupid brat” 🙂 But that is just me and I am not in a very good mood today.

    I repeat YOU CANNOT win this argument. I have tried.

    Liked by 4 people

  25. Karen, no apology necessary and you are not gossiping. You simply brought up a topic for conversation amongst friends.
    Thirty-three years ago, when there was no TSA or security check-in, you went to the gate in an airport to meet an arriving passenger. I was waiting for my sister and had a two-month-old with me. Her plane was late with no posted arrival time so I couldn’t leave the area but had a starving boy on my hands. I found the most secluded spot but there were two men in Army fatigues sitting across from me, both reading a book. I quietly asked, “Would you gentlemen mind if I nursed my baby?” and they both quickly replied, “No” and pulled their books up in front of their faces.

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  26. NancyJill, no I did not get to ride one of those horses. You had to get up at 5 am to go on the Wrangler Breakfast if you got your reservation in early enough. There were 190 Parent/Child attendees that week, so definitely not enough horses for all to go.
    Anyway. Horses are HUGE. In 1992 I rode a horse in the Rio Grande like John Wayne. That was the last time I was on a horse. They and I have been happy ever since. They are beautiful creatures, but I can admire them from the ground.

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  27. I don’t think you were gossiping. Karen, sweetie, you have one of the biggest hearts I have ever known. You feel deeply and you genuinely care. If you have any fault it is that you care too much and try to find ways of solving problems that aren’t yours to solve. I have seen this time after time. You keep trying to reach YF when everyone else would have deleted her as a FB friend and left it in God’s hands. You are doing the same thing in this situation. This isn’t an argument that you can win and it hurts your Big Heart because you can’t make it better.

    Part of me wants to tell you to toughen up and set some boundaries to protect yourself and the other part loves that you are the way you are and secretly wishes I were more like you.

    Liked by 6 people

  28. The oldest one to breast feed covered up is ten now.
    The lasting effect will be when he gets into his eighties.
    He will lose his hair that has already turned color, and he will get tired before he does anything..

    Liked by 4 people

  29. I was examining my own heart, Karen, if you took my comments in a way I had not intended.

    I get fatigued by demanding young women–but that doesn’t mean I should turn my personal exasperation on them. They’re weaker vessels. I’m too often a no-it-all.

    (Was going to correct that spelling, but it works as a pun)

    But, you’ve all seen me grapple with this negative part of my character before! 🙂

    And probably will again . . . 😦

    No, Janice, I’ve not seen any books by Hughes–would they improve my character? (asking for a friend!) 🙂

    Off to corral the wild ones . . .

    umm, there I go again.

    Watch the adorable children of teachers for 40 minutes before VBS.

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  31. Kim – I haven’t been engaged in the discussion, except for that brief comment I mentioned last night, & also one time expressing agreement with a mutual friend who urged her to not to hold onto the offense. And that was it.

    Thank you for your sweet words about me.

    As for the one who contacted me, she has a good heart, too, & was only expressing how she viewed my words.

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  32. If any recall how 2 Bible verses jumped out at me last week at almost the same time from two totally different sources, well, yesterday in my devotional book reading, that same verse is the one for every day this week…
    “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
    God’s reinforcement synchronicity!♡

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Michelle, the devotional book by Selwyn Hughes that I like is Every Day Light: Light for the Path. Not sure I can guarantee it will improve character…that depends on how God chooses to let it affect a person.♡

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  34. My current devotional is Living Well compiled by Carole Lewis. It has one verse that continues through the whole week to help in memorizing it.

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  35. I also breastfed in church and in public when I needed to do so. I used a blanket and dressed for the occasion. Interestingly, I only had one person run me down for it and it was when I was in another room that was quite dark. I was appropriately dressed and nothing could be seen. I know the reason was that this person had a difficult time looking at breasts in a non-sexual way. Sad for him. We were close enough, that I just scolded him back. 🙂

    As you know, we just had a new grandchild. While she was in the hospital one of the nurses gave my daughter a lesson on how to put the baby to sleep. My daughter has two older children, but was willing to learn anything new. The nurse cautioned her to never put a blanket higher up than the chin and to place the child’s feet at the very bottom of the crib or bassinet. The caution about the blanket was because some babies tend to actually stop breathing when they take in too much co2.

    I know my daughter, who works in a daycare, is not even allowed to use blankets with a baby. That may be the reason younger mother’s rebel against using one while breast feeding. Such an issue is mostly just for the very young babies, I think.

    However, we do see a lot of just plain rebelliousness. Rebelliousness is the same as witchcraft–that is finding a way to accomplish what you want apart from God and in your own way. It is clear that this young woman will be offended by church after church until she quits going all together. Hopefully, our prayers can help her to see her own spiritual needs and stop that sad outcome.

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  36. Gorgeous photos. 🙂 And I like the laughing, flying, crazy ladies.

    Karen, my impression is that perhaps the woman was trying or even hoping to get a reaction in order to make a point in the church setting? Maybe not. But the airing of it so publicly as an aggrieved party afterward — with so many supporters in the ’cause’ — is curious to me.

    Well I’m actually looking forward to going to work on this Monday where there will be AIR CONDITIONING. Sheesh. I was up at 1 a.m. and it was still 85 degrees in my house. I wound up feeling almost sick until it finally seemed to cool off (but only a little bit, with the help of an open window and a big fan) around 3 a.m. Getting A/C has moved way up on the list of things I want to do to this house.

    Chas, so glad to hear you’re beginning to settle in with some of that anxiety and stress no doubt lifting now that you’re actually “moved.”

    R.C. Sproul’s Renewing Your Mind radio show today (on many Christian stations, 30 minutes — but also accessible on their website) will be dedicated to discussing the events in Orlando and terrorism.

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  37. And I think I’ll leave the house open today (rather than locking the dogs in the back of the house so the cat is confined indoors all day). I suspect they’ll all stay inside anyway (I’ll leave a few fans going). Maybe it’s even too hot for the coyotes to be roaming about. Either way, I suspect Annie will be safe for a day.

    The back of the house will get too hot for the dogs otherwise. I keep waiting for my ceiling fan to give out one of these days, though, it’s 20 years old and gets a real workout in the summers. I try to give it a rest when I can during these heat spikes, but will leave it on again today when I’m gone.

    On the discussion of smart phones, I actually find the auto fill when texting to be very handy. Yeah, they get it wrong a lot, but they also get it right enough times that it saves me time and fumbling thumb-strokes.

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  38. Donna – It seems a lot of people air their grievances on Facebook. 😦

    The ones that really annoy me are the cryptic ones that let you know that something happened, but don’t actually tell you what they are talking about, just stirring up curiosity. If a close friend of theirs asks about it, they say, “I’ll private message you.”

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  39. I just came in from my first round of mowing, sweaty, and as usual, Miss Bosley hopped into my lap. But she did not stay long. Everyone is doing yard work since the weather is cooler.

    Donna, remember to keep your hair wet to stay cool. You can put a towel over your pillow.

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  40. The Bible verse I quoted was one I struggled with previously. I sorts came to the conclusion that because Jesus is the Word that it partly meant to memorize Scripture to always have His words in me and readily available. I have not spent as much time memorizing scripture as I once did, but this would be, as any time would be a good time to get back to doing that.

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  41. Yep, took a couple cold showers last night and another one at 1 a.m. when I was up for a while and it was still sweltering. Wet hair does help.

    It was so hot that it was even hot at the dog park. We owners just sat around — talking about how hot it was — while the dogs laid in the dirt. Too hot to play.

    Liked by 2 people

  44. My floors, walls, everything is just warm to the touch in this heat.

    It’s supposed to be hotter today than yesterday, but then the heat misery is supposed start to retreat on Tuesday.

    Liked by 1 person

  45. I should get back to memorizing scripture, too. Memorization doesn’t come easy for me, but just trying and making the effort is a good pursuit, I think.

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  47. On the breastfeeding question: I have a slightly different perspective. I’ve been in two cultures which were actually more traditional male/female role cultures (meaning that militant feminism wasn’t a thing) in which women breastfed with no coverings. The men of those cultures were very macho, priding themselves in their virility, but they neither ogled, harassed, or became uncomfortable with a breastfeeding woman. To have started teaching the women to cover up, would have placed a great burden on them. I’m not saying that the young woman in question isn’t being immature in her reaction – she is; but public breastfeeding has been around for a very long time. The Bible’s use of breastfeeding imagery indicates that it was done openly then.

    It was Western prosperity, in which high society women gave their children to wet nurses to be fed and then the invention of formula, which made open breastfeeding inacceptable in Western society. Western art from former centuries shows that Western women did breastfeed in public without the use of a shawl. To be blunt, the sight of a woman feeding the child should bore should not convey any sexual overtones to anyone who sees it. To the young woman, I would say that one should follow cultural mores when it comes to modesty; and it is possible to convey your disagreement in a respectful way. To the church I would say, if you hope to have people from other cultures attend your church, you should consider that a young mother raised in another culture will probably breastfeed in public – I remember being on a bus in Canada and a young woman who appeared to be from Central America breastfed her baby with no cover – and would be deeply hurt by you reacting to what is a normal and healthy process. My male colleagues learned not to flinch or think anything was wrong when a woman was breastfeeding in West Africa – it is possible for Western men and other women to adjust as well. By the way, I have a Canadian friend whose third child would not take any cover – if there was a cover, the child would cry and not feed – she tried to be discreet, but it wasn’t always possible to prevent other people from seeing.

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  48. Roscuro – I really think that it is just a matter of time before that kind of more open breastfeeding will be the acceptable norm. (And yes, I think that’s a good thing.) But in the meantime, as you say, women should try to be respectful of the cultural norm.

    Of course, it is by more & more women going beyond the current norm that will bring in the new norm. I guess there’s some tricky balancing to do in the meantime. 🙂

    There was a video on the news recently of a man berating a woman for nursing her baby in the snack bar section of a Target. He came up to her & told her it was disgusting, & called her a whore. Then he made a fuss at the counter, demanding a refund for his food.

    Another lady customer went over to the nursing mom, who said she was shaking from the experience, & sweetly comforted & encouraged her. Then a really neat thing happened.

    Several Target employees (they seemed to all be male, at least most of them were) came into the area, & made a line between the man & the woman. I got tears in my eyes watching them do that. 🙂

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  50. Roscuro, I don’t disagree with you. It is the attitudes that bother me. I never once had anyone say anything to me when I was nursing my child.

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  51. I can’t imagine it’s even such an issue, who knew? Honestly. But when in Rome….

    It was triple digits by 9:30 this morning where I live, nearly 15 degrees cooler where I work 12 miles away. I guess I live in the heat vortex with this one.

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  57. Second Arrow is home for a few days. We are enjoying her visit. She took her younger sisters to the beach today. They got home a couple hours later, and then decided to…

    go swimming in our backyard pool. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  59. Hmm…looks like a twice in a row poster got the magic number…. 😛
    It was hot hot hot here yesterday, and a bit toasty today, but now the skies are dark and foreboding…lots of thunder but thus far no rain….

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  60. Chas, how is your pet rock settling in?

    Good messages here about Christian responses to terrorism (I hadn’t heard that Chick filet opened up on Sunday in Orlando so they could serve the response workers and families in the aftermath of the shooting); the notion of the U.S. as a ‘Christian’ nation; differences between Islam and Christianity; our religious liberties and the future outlook for keeping them.

    http://renewingyourmind.org/

    About a 30 minute interview w/RC Sproul

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