Skip to main content

My body is a temple

I have to teach a lesson to all the young women on Wednesday about modesty. I’ve already written about why that’s a tough topic for me. I don’t want anyone to be ashamed of what they are wearing or judge anyone for wearing something else. Brendon and I had a long conversation about how to teach this concept and the possible pitfalls. Modesty really should have nothing to do with men. The actual definition of modesty is decency. It’s a church cultural thing that ties it so closely to the way we dress. But being modest really means being a decent human being and our clothing should reflect that. We should wear clothes that make us and those around us comfortable.

As I fretted over how to teach this we sat down for lunch and asked Kaybree what she had learned at church today. She said she learned her body is a temple. When we asked what that means at first she said to avoid drugs and things that would cause harm to our bodies.

I asked “what about what we put on the outside of our bodies?” And she very confidently said we should wear clothes that cover our bodies because our bodies are special and should be respected—which is why we don’t wear swim suits that show too much skin.

Eisley chimes in that Someone else wears swimsuits that show a lot of skin.

Kaybree responded quickly that even if other people wear clothes that show a lot of their skin we should love them anyways.

Brendon and I sat back and smiled. You girls proved this lesson is not so difficult after all. We dress the way we do to show love and deep respect for the bodies we have been given but we don’t need to judge anyone else for choosing differently. That is it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My biggest challenge

I’m a writer by trade. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I love to put my feelings into words. Yet, in the last month, I’ve been having a very difficult time vocalizing what’s happening in my life. It’s not because it’s been sad or difficult or anything like that. It’s mostly because there is someone new in my life who I care very deeply for who I feel this deep need to protect. I want to protect his identity, his story, his life. I don’t want to overstep any boundaries or crush any trust. I recognize the life he has lived has not been easy and so I tread lightly on this relationship we’ve built. But honestly—it’s a fantastic relationship. He’s an amazing kid. I’ve been asked to write a blog post for an organization that helps recruit foster parents about the first few weeks of being a foster parent. I’m having difficulty deciding what to write. I feel like anything I write about my case probably won’t apply to their case so it’s not very helpful. I keep writing drafts and then...

Summer time

This summer is flying by! I've been taking Kaybree to the same sitter every day since 10 weeks old when I went back to work, Shaunelle Eyestone. You are their 5th kid. But with four kids of her own home all summer and a new baby coming along Shaunelle asked to go to part time this summer. Luckily we have awesome family near by willing to help me out and watch you girls! Grandma Bonnie has been taking you two days a week and says it's the best part of her week. She loves it! She's a substitute teacher during the school year so she has the summer off. She's so sweet to watch you both for free. It's also giving you a chance to get to know John better as Bonnie asks him to help out each day. He's learning more about babies and you're opening up to him more. It's sweet to see. Fridays Aunt Brittany takes the two of you for free. Her kids basically just spoil you both all day. They argue over whose turn it is to hold Eisley and Kaybree basically becomes th...

Jumping to conclusions

I think we, as a society, are always prepared to jump to the worst conclusions about kids like J. That includes me.  We recently found out he accepted cigarettes from a friend. Knowing just that, we assumed he smoked them. He swears he didn't smoke them but asked for them so he could give them to another friend--to get him to stop smoking weed. As dumb as that sounds, I believe him. Now. But at first, and I think reasonably so, I didn't. We jumped to the conclusion that he was smoking. We got upset that it felt like he was hiding it from us. He has no idea why we would jump to that conclusion. He doesn't understand that he put himself in that situation. He doesn't understand why we would think he is smoking. He got mad at us for assuming the worst. We did the same thing several days earlier when it was getting late and he wasn't home and also wasn't answering his phone. I thought back to everything we had disagreed about. I feared he had run away. I feared h...