Habits

I am currently teaching through the Girls Gone Wise book. It is awesome. Its not just for wild women to read. This is for every woman. Because we are sinners, we all have a wild woman in us waiting to come out: its called the flesh in us. This book is a great reminder of all the warning signs so we don't fall into this trap or allow our daughters or granddaughters.

I'll be honest and say its an easy read to actually read... its very difficult to accept what she's saying and apply it... because you know shes talking directly about and to you. I am being drop kicked with conviction. This particular topic being one that left me the most bruised so far.

Fifth Point of Contrast between a wild and a wise woman—her habits—that is, her priorities and routines. (All of this is from Mary Kassian's A Girl Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild book with a bit of my own two sense in there too.)

Girl-Gone-Wild: self-indulgent

Girl-Gone-Wise: self-disciplined

Old saying for identifying rattlesnakes: Red touches yellow, kill a fellow. Red touches black, venom he lacks.You can identify which is dangerous by looking at their patterns. The same is true when differentiating between a ggwild or a ggwise- observe her patterns of conduct and its a dead giveaway.

Just like the catchy poem to identify the dangerous snake, here's one for identifying the dangerous woman: “Homeward faced, wisdom graced. Out to the max, wisdom she lacks.”

Out to the max doesn’t mean she’s out having an affair or doing ungodly things though this could be true. What Mary is talking about here are her priorities. The problem is not that she went out, but that she went at the expense of what she should be doing.

And there's a blow straight to my stomach.

This could mean that: the house is messy, laundry undone, dinner unmade, pantry unfilled, can’t remember the last time you studied the bible... her priorities aren't homeward faced.

Our homes must be a priority b/c its more than a residence. Its our private sanctum. This is where the most important stuff happens. So we must stop focusing on ourselves and remember this is true for our husbands and kids as well.

This is painful to say but its true: if a woman’s home is out of order, normally so is her life. Sadly her neglect of the home affects more than just her. So we're actually hurting the people we love most by our laziness or lack of discipline.

This chapter was specifically named habits not priorities for a reason. We can say our priorities are one thing all day, but our habits reveal what our priorities really are. There's no reason for us to go around proclaiming to others what’s important to us. How we spend our time says it all. Its not about what we say, but what we do. If you look at what you routinely do, it will reveal what your priorities are.

Evaluate your priorities: Does what I do match up with what I should do?

Habits of a ggwild and a ggwise are very different. Both are busy, but busy with very different things.

Wild thing: busy indulging herself, neglects home

Wise thing: attends to her home life- habits are self disciplined, directed by the needs of her household

Working at home- keeping the house neat, food prepared, pantry stocked, laundry done... and in my case put away! etc. are important but tending to our homes are so much more than just those things. We are to cultivate relationships here, meet the emotional, physical, relational, spiritual well being of our families... all here at home.

This is not just for older women. I have teenagers that are coming to my class and I have to encourage them though they aren't running their own homes yet they still play a big part in this too. They can invest time with their parents and siblings and help without being told to. This will help prepare them for when they do have homes and families of their own.

All this stuff is good, but there’s a problem: most of us aren’t disciplined enough to do this on our own. If you're like me you at times feel like a hopeless mess. Will I ever put the laundry away quickly?!

But girls, I have great news: There’s hope and help!

You see in our own strength, most of us aren't capable of being productive and disciplined like we should. Thankfully we have a God who not only loves us in spite of this problem, he gives us what we need. If we need strength and discipline all we have to do is ask for it. He provides what we lack on our own.

Thankfully we can define success as depending on the holy spirit and not on our own capacity.

So now its decision time:

-lay around or be productive

-eat that junk food or choose a healthy snack

-go out or tend to what needs to be done around the house

Here's the real question: Do I gratify the desires of my flesh or do I surrender my will and walk in the power of the spirit of God?

We make dozens of small decisions each day. These may seem inconsequential, but they add up to be a habitual pattern that is either life giving or life quenching. And remember these habits/patterns identify whether a woman is a girl gone wise or a girl gone wild by the patterns of her habits.

Girl-Gone-Wild: self-indulgent

Girl-Gone-Wise: self-disciplined