Things I Wish I Knew

There's a video making it's way around Facebook about the evolution of the swimsuit.

It's good and worth the watch.

About this time every year for the past several years, I find myself more and more disgusted by what is being marketed toward woman and especially toward our little girls.

Modesty is an old fashioned word and seemingly more old fashioned concept.

Even in church finding girls in short shorts is nothing new anymore.

But, is it right?

Growing up I had the extreme opposite. My churches brand of modesty was preached and preached often.
After all it was our job to protect the boys. They were weak creatures incapable of controlling their thoughts and we needed to have our clothes be 'lots, long and loose' to keep them from stumbling.

So, is there a balance between the two?


From wear whatever you want, to cover up from neck to below the knees?

Surely there has to be.

What if we taught our girls modesty, because the Bible clearly tells us that is how we should be-modest in our dress our makeup our hair.

Modest not because it's our job to protect boys from themselves, but modest because we are a treasure to be revealed, because we are worth more than how we look in a bikini.

And, let's face it as mom's, this job is  now  harder than ever. It almost feels as if a battle is waging around us for our children.  And sometimes in the midst of putting out all the fires and waging battle on all the fronts, modesty or the lack thereof seems like a battle we can quit fighting.
After all, we'd never want to be seen as judgmental or legalistic.

But, what if, in quitting the battle we are telling our girls that instead of the fight being not worth it, THEY are not worth it?

Yes, finding shorts that cover more than two inches of their behinds is harder and probably harder dealing with the attitude that comes with it that 'every one else is wearing them'.
Yes, finding a cute one piece or cute tankini is harder than picking up a skimpy two piece that are everywhere. . .
But, harder doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done.
That the battle shouldn't be fought.

And no we aren't going to win every battle. But, we can never give up on the war.

I won't prentend to have all the answers.
But, mom's we've got to start living it out ourselves. Model it for our girls.
Don't make them ashamed of their bodies at 11,12, 13 because they can't fill out a bikini or think they 'look fat' in one.
Help them find something cute. Keep looking until you do. And put one on yourself, no matter how hard you worked for those abs. You appreciate them and so does your man. Does everyone at the pool or beach need to as well?

I'm not throughly convinced it's just a 'Christian' or 'Moral' issue as well.

If the only power we find in ourselves is the power to show off our bodies as women then we can never hope to be taken as seriously as men.
We have been convinced by a society run by men to take off more and more clothes and that this is normal. . .I don't know, just something to think about.

There are many things I wish I knew. . .but I do know that just like I will fight for my boys when it comes to violent video games and sexual movie/tv content, I will fight for my girl to be modest.

Yes, that means she might look 'different' sometimes.  That's ok. One thing I do know is the Bible tells us over and over that this isn't our home and we're not going to fit in here.

Another thing I know is she'll always look cute, trendy and in fashion because that's important too.( and I do love fashion!)

We weren't called to hid under a rock after all.

Dear Momma if you've given up the battle because you think it's just too hard, can I urge you to enlist again?  Your Dear Daughter is worth the bloody battles so you can win the war for her heart.


Fighting the Good Fight With You,