Book Review ~ The Divine Dance

I read this book a couple years ago and it really affected me. In a cleverly metaphorical style that is very fun to read and easy to understand, she teaches girls that instead performing for the world and begging for attention, they should be "dancing" for God alone. 

Every girl wants to be beautiful. She wants to be admired and adored, and too often we morph into whatever we think those in the world around us want us to be. And we never feel fulfilled because God didn't design us to perform for other people, but rather to perform for Him. This is a very important point for girls to grasp, because it is integral to most issues we struggle with.

I recommend this book very strongly. I think it can be helpful to girls from below eleven or twelve, up to married adult women. It would be a good book to read and discuss with your mom. View Shannon Kubiak Primicerio's website here.

Have you read "The Divine Dance"? What did you think?

Deliberate Living

de·lib·er·ate 

adj.

1. Done with or marked by full consciousness of the nature and effects; intentional

2. Arising from or marked by careful consideration: a deliberate decision.

3. Unhurried in action, movement, or manner, as if trying to avoid error.

v.  de·lib·er·at·ed, de·lib·er·at·ing, de·lib·er·ates

v.intr.

1. To think carefully and often slowly, as about a choice to be made.

2. To consult with another or others in a process of reaching a decision.

3. To consider (a matter) carefully and often slowly, as by weighing alternatives.

Deliberate Christian living is something that I have been thinking about recently. What I mean by this is living life consciously and intentionally, instead of rushing through, without set purposes and goals.

I think this is especially applicable to young people, because it is easy to think, as the world tells us, that these years are meant for partying, living it up, and having fun. Have you heard the song "So Young" by the Corrs? Here are a few of the lyrics.

We are taking it easy

Bright and breezy

We are living it up

Just fine and dandy

And it really doesn’t matter that we don’t eat

And it really doesn’t matter that we don’t sleep

It really doesn’t matter, it really doesn’t matter at all

‘Cause we were so young then

We are so young, so young now

And when tomorrow comes

We’ll just do it all again

This is a good example of our culture's attitude toward youth. Youthful immaturity and irresponsibility is meant to be enjoyed and be extended into your adult life as much as possible. 

However, as Christian young people, we should be using these valuable years to serve God and further His kingdom where we are right now.


I think it is important to be thinking consciously about what we are doing with our time. Instead of just bumming around, getting by, racing through life and not really thinking about anything, we should be making practical, specific goals for this period of life and then deliberately pursuing those goals. 


We shouldn't think that life begins when we get married. Even though it is important to prepare in specific areas for when we have our own families, we should realize that God has work for us to do here and now. 

We should be actively finding ways to serve others, which starts with serving joyfully in our own homes. We should be doing things, not just coasting along. There are many ways to serve others--we should choose ones that will help us grow in areas that we would like to grow. Spending time with another family who has young children is a perfect opportunity to learn from a mother and also to be a servant to others.

What are some specific things you want to accomplish with this time of your life? Deepening certain relationships? Learning more about certain topics? Finishing reading a list of books? Can you make a list of achievable goals for this summer? I'll get a post up in the next couple of days with a list of my personal goals for this summer.

Let your eyes look directly forward, 

and your gaze be straight before you. 

Ponder the path of your feet; then all all your ways will be sure. 

Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. 

Proverbs 4:25-27

Media

We have been reading "Worldliness", a book with several chapters written by different authors, about worldliness various areas of life. One of the chapters is entitled "God, My Heart, and the Media", and I thought it was very good and an interesting topic to discuss. 


Christians have drastically different standards regarding media, and most of us tend to think that other peoples' standards that differ from their own are either legalistic, or too liberal. 


I thought that C.J. Mahaney's explanation of legalism was a good one.


"Legalism is seeking to achieve forgiveness from God and acceptance by God through obedience to God. In other words, a legalist is anyone who behaves as if they can earn God's approval and forgiveness through personal performance. "


So, having standards is not the problem in legalism, but rather our motivation. This is a really important point, because otherwise, you can run around screaming, "No standards! Standards are legalistic, and we want our Christian liberties!" 


I think personal standards for movie-viewing are important. It is very easy for us, because we have a ClearPlay filter. I recommend these very strongly, because there are so many movies that are good movies with good messages, but have random offensive things, which if you have a filter, just get edited out and you never even know they are there! You can visit their website HERE.


Language in movies is one the main things that some people don't seem to think is a big deal. ClearPlay is nice for that because when you you're watching a movie, you can't very well skip or mute every single bad word. ClearPlay just edits it out, and while you can still sometimes tell what they are saying by their mouth movement, I think it really helps to not actually hear the word. I think bad language can have an effect on people more than they realize. If you hear that kind of stuff all the time, it's going to be more ready in your mind to just blurt out when you're angry or something. 


One thing that we have needed to be careful about with ClearPlay is that we don't just watch lame movies because there won't be anything bad in them. Some movies are just not worth watching because of a bad message, etc. And, we have to be careful when we recommend movies or say that we loved a movie, because if someone watched it without ClearPlay, they could be horrified!


Any thoughts on legalism connected to media? What are your standards? 

Good Friday

I just love this song, and it is very appropriate for Good Friday. It is a different perspective on Christ's death, and I think it is very moving.

"Biblical Womanhood" by Voddie Baucham

Voddie Baucham is a pastor who I really respect, and I have been blessed by many of his sermons. This video is the first of 8 parts of his sermon on "Biblical Womanhood." 

We sell one of his excellent books here at our website. 

The Truth About Guys by Chad Eastham

This book is along the same lines as For Young Women Only, but I like how it is just written by a guy for girls. Besides telling girls things they should know about guys, he has a lot of pretty hilarious random facts about guys. 


If you are having a bad day and feel unloved and horrible, he has some really sweet self-esteem boosting stuff you should read. :-) I think most girls are more likely to believe stuff that come from guys, and not only is the author of the book a guy, but he is a young, funny guy.

I really enjoyed his writing style, and it was super fun to read. I definitely recommend it! 

I ask you and advise you not to want to put your own business before the business of Christ. 

~Bernard of Clairvaux