I know you look around and see so many good things to do. I’ve already been invited to more than one event on the ninth of March. But let me tell you…I doubt you will find a more beneficial one if you have daughters between 10 and 20, than this one at Fairview in Pulaski, Tennessee. In fact, even if you have boys, it would be a great thing for you to experience, so that you can better show them the characteristics they should be searching for in the ladies they spend time with and, one day, marry.
Oh, I know. I’ve heard it just like you have. “Purity days are not how we should teach our girls about waiting for marriage to have sex. In fact, when we keep emphasizing purity, we diminish from the healthy joy of sex, once our girls marry.”
That’s a theory that is simply untrue. Oh, we must constantly tell them that God has saved the best for his children. We, as mamas, must teach them about their sexuality and about how God has reserved that wonderful act, where one man and one woman share the most intimate act known to humanity, for marriage. We must make sure they know about and look forward to the physical union that God made for much more than just procreation. These conversations come naturally to mothers who are growing pure hearts in little girls. But to say that a big group of girls learning together about cultivating a heart of holiness in a world of eye-candy and expected sex in dating relationships, is a waste of time–well, that is absurdity.
If your kids are in school, they are hearing the devil’s message about sexuality at every turn. If they are on social media, at all, they are feeling the pull. If they watch any amount of indiscriminate videos online or television (cable or screened), they are getting the sexuality bullet-points from the devil. I’m just saying any immunization from the message that is being shouted all around them about relativism and sexuality, is worth your time and attention. It’s worth your drive.
I’m not sure exactly what topics will be covered on that day. But I know the ladies who are planning this. I know their deep love for their daughters. I know the spiritual-minded nature of their Bible-focused hearts. I know it will be where I’d want to be, if I could, with my teen-aged daughter. Here you go…
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064531279575&mibextid=LQQJ4d
Take a road trip that may end up around the throne of God. I really mean it. The subject matter this Saturday may help, in practical ways, to put your teen daughter in heaven one day. See, it’s not always the big amazing spiritual accomplishments and sacrifices that make the difference. It’s not always the red-letter days noticed by others. It’s about the days that solidify the commitment of the heart–commitment to sanctification and holiness. This weekend, the young ladies at West Huntsville have put together such a day. It’s themed “Matters of the Heart” and it promises to be one of those days that strengthens purpose and forges resolve) to be and do what the Father wills for happiness. I am pretty sure, in my heart, that souls will enabled for eternity with Him as a result of this Saturday.I hope you can find it in your heart to help some sweet teen girl to be here! It’s a great practical application of Titus 2:3-5 if you can be such an enabler! Free food, free lodging, and the best of fellowship.
I spoke at another church in Mississippi this spring in which a couple of young and faithful moms (one is in the photo) reminded me that they, along with a big group of friends, had rolled into Serenity at about 11 p.m. four years ago (or was it eight?), to check into our cabin and house for purity day the next morning. These women have now completed college, have Christian husbands and sweet babies, and were the planners of and participants in this ladies day. They, too, said “Oh you’re about to have another one? Let us know when. We can probably bring some girls!”
If you live an average lifetime, you will have about 3500 Saturdays–the days we usually consider off-days. If you are raising a child, about 900 of those Saturdays will fall during the years that your child is growing up in your home. About 350 of those Saturdays will fall during what we call the “teen years.” Three hundred-fifty may seem like a lot of off-days, but when you think about science fairs, sick Saturdays, athletic or arts commitments, and homework, the bank of days that you might be using for something that pertains to the soul–the immortal person you are raising– may diminish significantly and without much consideration of the loss. While you might argue that all these activities are good and pertain to character development, and thus to the soul (and you would be largely correct), there are some Saturday activities that are so practically connected to the choices that determine destiny that their significance just takes my breath away.