Welcome Back to Summer Bible Study!
You made it half way in our summer bible study! Give yourself a big pat on the back! I’m so thankful for you and your part in the biblical beauty movement. Compared to the women of the world, we may be few, but we are mighty in the Lord!
Today, in the Reflecting section, I’m going to tell you about the first time I met Laurie and my very Indiscreet first impression. You don’t want to miss it! Let’s get started!
Week Three Video: The Indiscreet Woman
Were you surprised to learn this week that keeping silent can make you appear wise and discerning(Prov. 17:28)? That sure is hard for us women to do sometimes. This is just another good reason why we need the holy spirit to make sure that our tongue is not taking us where our heart doesn’t want to go. Let’s listen to Laurie as she teaches us more about becoming women of discretion. (Click one of the images below for this week’s FREE online video lesson).
Beauty by the Book: Week Three (The Indiscreet Woman) – Listening Guide: Pg. 61
Beauty by the Book for Teens: Week Three (The Indiscreet Woman) – Listening Guide: Pg. 61
Reflecting:
I had been dating David for a few weeks when he invited me to meet his parents. Since I was coming from out of town and they had a spare bedroom, they graciously invited me to stay at their house. It was a weekend that I will never forget, but not so much because I had a blast with my boyfriend (though I’m sure we did).
I was 22 at the time and full blown “Twenty-Piggy”. That is, I was living like an Indiscreet Woman and it was showing. Remember Proverbs 11:22:
“A woman who is beautiful but lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pigs snout”
By the way, you CAN be thirty-piggy, fifty-piggy and even ninety-piggy! This condition has no age boundaries!
So, here I am about to meet my future in-laws, which hadn’t crossed my mind at that point, and I do something pretty silly.
I bought a puppy.
He looked something like this…
Photo via puppypictures.org
Yes, somewhere between my house and theirs I picked up the cutest little mini dachshund puppy. All I had in my car was a towel. And so the warm lump with his soft little ears snuggled in my lap for the rest of our road trip. I was officially a dog owner. And the Cole’s were about to be dog-sitters – they just didn’t know it yet!
Even now I cringe to think what they must have thought of me when I showed up at their door for the very first time with –surprise! –my new, NOT POTTY TRAINED dog! Looking back, I really can’t believe that I did that to them. And to myself! What a great first impression, huh?
It gets worse.
Somehow we convinced them to watch the little guy while David and I escaped on a date with some friends. While we were gone, my adorable puppy managed to wander into their bedroom and do some business on their carpet! I hadn’t even thought it through to get a crate for my dog. Luckily Laurie found a milk crate somewhere around the house and that became his bed for the weekend.
The thing that kills me about this story is that it really took me years to see the folly in all of this. I remember thinking back to that first time I met my beloved in-laws and all of the sudden having a weighty revelation at how I treated them. How thoughtless I had been! How Imprudent! Laurie and I have talked about it (and laughed about it) since then. Of course, it’s a lot funnier now that I know she forgives me for my terrible first impression.
I certainly deserved to be confronted for my twenty-piggy-ness all those years ago. But Laurie in her wisdom and grace held her tongue. She is more like Abigail than she knows! And do you know what else? Laurie overlooking my offense doesn’t make me want to take advantage of her kindness. Instead it makes me want to grow in understanding and discretion. Someday I’ll have my own daughter in-law to love and I want to be an example of a sensible, self controlled and discreet woman.
Take a minute right now and thank the Lord for the people that he has put in your life that have been patient with you during your own piggy moments. Now let’s make sure that, as the bride of Christ, that gold ring stays on our finger and not in a piggy nose!
Let’s Chat!
In the comments, answer one or more of the following discussion questions: (Remember, every week you answer a “Let’s Chat” question, you will be entered into a drawing for a $100 gift certificate to the Priority Ministries store!)
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Tell us a practical way that you keep from gossiping.
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What did you learn about Prudence and Discretion this week? Are they still old fashion to you?
To Do This Week – Week Four:
- Complete the five days of homework in your workbook.
- Beauty by the Book: pgs. 62-82
- Beauty by the Book for Teens: pgs. 62-81.
- Watch the Week Four video and complete your Listening Guide.
- Beauty by the Book: The Irritating Woman (Week Four Listening Guide: p. 83)
- Beauty by the Book for Teens: The Irritating Woman(Week Four Listening Guide: p. 83)
- Hop online again starting next Wednesday, July 23rd , to discuss The Irritating Woman.
Congrats again on making it half way through our summer bible study! If your family vacation gets in the way, just pop right back in. Don’t give up ladies! There is still much more the Lord wants to teach us!
