Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will read a new book aloud to my girls. We call it "girl time" in the afternoon. I read aloud and they work on a stitching project and listen. We just finished a book on hospitality that wasn't very good. This new one, however, is great. I know b/c I've read it a lot. I bought it many years ago and I have pulled it out several times over the years whenever I want something girly to read. After the hospitality book flop, I figured this would fit the bill. It is called The Gentle Ways Of The Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund. It is really one of those treasury type books that's actually 3 books in one. All 3 are great. Tomorrow I am going to start with the first one called Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman.
Every time I pull this book out it speaks to me in a different way. I guess b/c every time I am at a different place in my life. I started reading the introduction tonight and found something that I hadn't noticed before. At least it wasn't underlined and marked all over anyway. Mrs. Ortlund is writing this book in the hospital following a major surgery. She quotes Romans 12:1 that says "I present my body as a living sacrifice.". She says that it is ridiculous to give God your heart, allegiance, or whatever, and not your body. She felt perfectly at peace to allow the Lord to do with her whatever He wished.
That stopped me in my tracks. You see, my baby is now 7 months old. This is about the time when people start asking me if I'm pregnant yet. I don't care for that question. I don't want to be pregnant even though I want a baby. I don't like what it does to my body. And right now I'm enjoying every minute of NOT having a pregnant body. I don't want to take away this joy by wondering "what if" and worrying about tomorrow.
Mrs. Ortlund gave her body to God and considered it a living sacrifice "holy and pleasing to God". Big sigh.....I want that to be ME!! I want to be at perfect peace b/c my mind is fixed on the Lord and I trust Him. I do not want this internal struggle battling to keep what is not even mine. I appreciated this word tonight so much.
So tomorrow I look forward to reading this to my girls and sharing my thoughts. I know this book will not be a flop like the last one. I hope that even in their youth they can glean something wonderful. My bookmark for this book is so pretty. My oldest daughter made it for me when she was about 8. It has pressed flowers on the front, a pink ribbon on the top, and on the back she wrote "God is Love...To Mommy From (her name). It's sweet.
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