Thanking God for Godly Men

I see so many posts lately about men. Men who abuse women, men who think highly of themselves, men who abuse their power. I have also seen posts encouraging men to respect women, pleading for men to rule wisely. I have not, however, seen many posts from women praising men, honoring them or encouraging them.

I am not belittling the women (or other men) who have been negatively affected by men. I have personally seen the damage that abuse can cause in a victim's life. But constantly belittling men and accusing them does not fix the problem. We must begin to acknowledge and respect men for who God has made them.

I have been blessed to have many Godly men in my life. My grandfathers both were Christians who worked hard so their children would know about Jesus. I anxiously await the day I will rejoice with them at Jesus' throne. My father brought me to be baptized, taught me about Jesus at home, gave me a Christian education through elementary and high school. He has also passed down to me his love for teaching and music (and a thorough dislike of the extraneous rattling noises coming from my car). My husband leads his family to love Jesus through his own example. His love for Jesus motivates him to work hard to be the best husband, father and teacher he can be.

These are the men with whom I have spent the most time. But there are so many more. My brothers and brothers-in-law are hard working, tackling projects at work and at home and serving at their churches. I have seen many friends from high school who amaze me at the time and care they spend on their children and who are working hard to make this world a better place for those children to live.

Women, we need to stand up. We need to make our voices heard. We need to praise these men, to pray for them, to honor and respect them. We need to work for change that will allow men to be who God made them to be.

There is no magic pill

I enjoy working out. In one series of videos I use, the leader says, "There is no magic pill." What she means is that there isn't a short cut to health and fitness. You have to put in the work, both in the kitchen and as you exercise.

I think we all like to work hard at something. We want people to see what we've done and praise us for our hard work. I'm a little sad when no one notices how clean the floor is or the neat piles of folded laundry put away in drawers.

Sometimes we even want people to see how hard we are working as Christians. We are working to share Jesus' love with  more people, we are working to encourage our fellow believers, we are working to lead our children to Jesus. We want people, and even God, to notice our hard work and to reward us for it.

Ephesians 2:8-10 puts it into the correct perspective for us. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Because we Jesus loves us, we have been given the power to live lives that demonstrate God's love to the people around us.

If you want something done right...

(My writing today comes from thoughts I had during our vicar's sermon at church this morning.)

....you have to do it yourself.

I have this thought at least once a week as I clean out and reorganize my cupboards after my children have put the dishes away. (I also mentally apologize to my mom.) My children are in a hurry, or they are too young to understand the sorting and stacking required to fit all the containers in the cupboard. As I stoop to find a container, I think, "Why do I even bother?!"

I have been struggling with my eating and exercise the past few months. As I work with my accountability groups, I set goals each week, only to find myself falling rather short of those goals. I am trying to do the right thing, but I am failing more often than not. I am feeling discouraged.

Sometimes I feel that my health ideals are not worthy of something to talk to God about. But taking care of my body is caring for the gift God has given me. And God does not expect me to do this, or anything else, on my own. He is here.

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13