"Miley Cyrus & The Pharisees" Or "What About the Man?"

I confess, I did not watch the music award ceremony that Miley Cyrus performed in and caused such a ruckus.  I've never seen one of those ceremonies yet, in which someone did not try to 'push the envelope' either in their performance or their attire.  I've seen enough of those award shows to know that I really don't want to watch any more of them.  We complain every year about someone's 'shockingly crude act', yet we don't bother turning the t.v. off, and we keep watching it year after year and wonder why they don't stop?  But, that's not what this is about.

What I have seen is Facebook status after Facebook status posting pictures and comments of the performance.  I think I get the idea without having to watch the actual video.  It was lewd, crude, vulgar, trashy,...am I forgetting a word?  Using words I would tell my children, it was inappropriate and unacceptable.  How could the Disney created image of Hannah Montana do something this low?  Wait...what?  Hannah Montana was a Disney created image, not who the actual person was?  You mean we've trained our daughters to idolize a fictional character that just so happened to make concert appearances?  And she didn't stay in that character forever?  SHOCKER!!!  Perhaps we ought not to put such fictional personifications on real life pedestals.  But, that's not what this is about.

This whole situation has brought to my mind the story of the adulterous woman who was brought before Jesus.  You can find it in the Holy Bible in the book of John, chapter 8, verses 1-11.  Jesus had gone to the temple to teach, when the Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery.  They reminded Jesus, (as if He needs a reminder), that the law states that a woman caught in adultery is to be stoned and tested His reaction, trying to find a reason to incriminate Him.  Jesus bent down and started drawing in the sand, then said, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her," then continued to write in the sand.  One by one, the Pharisees left.  And Jesus looked at the woman and asked where her accusers were, then said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."  (Quotes taken from the English Standard Version.)

When the Pharisees quoted the law about a woman being caught in adultery and the consequential stoning, they forgot something.  According to the laws of the time, both the woman AND the man were to be stoned.  Why did they not bring the man participating in this act of adultery to be stoned, as well as the woman?  Why did they ignore the man's participation and not the woman's?  Why did they incorrectly misquote the law that they knew all too well?

Getting back to Miley...everyone has been so quick to condemn her behavior, but NOT ONE status that I saw said ANYTHING about the man that was on stage performing with her.  From the pictures I've seen, he wasn't trying to get away from her, but he was actively participating in the crass behavior and encouraging Miley to continue.  He was just as guilty!!  Why are we ignoring that?

I know we want to protect our daughters.  We want them to act and dress respectably and tastefully.  We are quick to point out how Miley failed and use her as a bad example.  Should we not be teaching our sons how to act respectfully?  Should we not be pointing out that the man that was with Miley failed, also?  That a gentleman would not, should not encourage that kind of behavior of their female friends?

The man is Robin Thicke, but it gets lost in all the talk about Miley.

Thousands of years later, we are still acting like a bunch of Pharisees.  We are still holding the girl accountable but not the boy.  We hold our daughters to a standard that we don't expect our sons to rise up to.  "Oh, but we do expect our sons to behave!"  Then WHY did I not see ONE facebook status about HIS crude and trashy behavior?  Thousands of teenagers have learned from our reaction that, yes, girls should not behave that way.  But, I hope and pray that somewhere out there a parent was telling their children that boys should not behave that way, either.  Otherwise, we have learned nothing in all these thousands of years.

I pray that Miley and her male counterpart will seek the Lord's forgiveness and find a more respectable way to represent themselves.  And I ask the Lord to forgive us for continuing to hold double standards when Christ set the standards equally for us all.  I pray that He forgives us for our part in encouraging these young stars to act in such sad ways and then condemn them when they do.  I pray that we find ways to love them and encourage what is acceptable in His sight.

As always, tasteful and respectable comments are always welcome.

God bless,
Beth

Run for the Roses

Today is the 1st Saturday of May.  It's a national holiday~if you are from Louisville, KY, that is.  It's Derby Day.  The day it feels like the whole world comes to my town.  I used to say that I didn't go to the Derby, it came to me.  Growing up, we lived so close to Churchill Downs that we could sit on our back porch and hear the start of the races...the music, the horns, the callers.  Because of the enormous amount of traffic due to Oaks Day and everyone coming in for Derby Day, the school system always schedules school off for the Friday before.  It was such an exciting time. 

Mom and Dad would allow us to park cars in our backyard that Friday and Saturday to make a little spending money for ourselves.  As a family, we would always go to my grandmother's house, who lived even closer.  Aunts, Uncles, cousins...everyone showed up with all kinds of food.  We would walk to Central Avenue, crowded with people, cars, and limousines filled with movie stars and mysterious people inside the black tinted windows. With our spending money burning a hole in our pockets, we just had to check out all the vendors selling their sunglasses, t-shirts, and feathered roach clips that we wore in our hair.  (Had NO idea what they were really for, lol!)  We all made sure to be back in time to gather around the t.v. to watch the Run for the Roses, then immediately head out to sit on the grassy spot across from the Downs and watch all the people leaving.  You could always tell who won, who didn't, and who was too drunk to care.  People watching at its finest hour.  We never actually went to the Derby.  My parents didn't really think it was a place for children.  (They were right!!)  My dad did sneak take my brother and I once, to see a race or two after the Run for the Roses was over.  By then, most of the crowds were dissipating. 

I will always look back on those days with the fondest of memories.  Until I grew up and moved away, I just assumed everyone around the world stopped to celebrate Derby Day.  It was exciting.  It was electric.  It was, (and still is to those of us from there,) a national holiday. 

So wherever you are...Happy Derby Day!!!!! 

Easy Peasy Ruffle Scarf

Gasp!  It's a new blog post!  After a 4 month hiatus, I am back!!  When my life gets crazy busy, (or I'm just busy going crazy), my blogging will go to the wayside.  Just being honest.  It is what it is.  But, I'm happy to be able to post something new and I hope I won't be gone so long next time.  I did miss you all.

That being said, I found this how-to craft on Pinterest from one of my favorite blog sites, HOBBIES on a budget.  The scarf she made is so colorful and super cute, that I took notice.  (You'll have to check it out!)  I watched the video she posted and thought to myself, "Wow, I could do that!!"  

This is the color I'm doing next!

I just happened to be near a JoAnn's Fabric last night and ran in to see if they had any of the specific yarn for this craft.  To my wonderful surprise, not only did they have a whole display of them, JoAnn's had just started a 3 day 25% off sale for Teacher Appreciation!!  Woohoo! and thanks, JoAnn, for recognizing homeschool teachers as real teachers.  I chose two different bundles of yarn at $4.99 a piece, but I walked out of there for a total of  $6.81 (or somewhere around there.)  

See how thin and delicate it is?

 I used the Red Heart Sashay yarn and my scarf is the Ballet color pattern.  It took me about 2 1/2 hours, but it might not take you that long. This particular yarn is very thin and I kept missing loops when pulling the hook through and would have to start that particular part all over.  Not to mention the fact that it was 10:30pm before I was able to get started, so I was a little tired, but determined.  Now that I'm more familiar with the way the yarn is, I should be able to get the next one done even faster.  I'm also going to experiment with different sized crochet needles.  I used a 5.0 or 'H' size, this time.   I chose to do 10 holes at a time, instead of 8.  The video instructor said it would use up basically the whole package of yarn, but I did not find that to be the case.  My scarf is quite long and I still have plenty left over to make another one, or at least a small one for Sweet Pea, (almost 7yo now), who said she wanted one just like it.

My finished scarf!!  

This scarf is so easy to make, that it is a great project for beginners.  Just watch the video posted here, at HOBBIES on a budget and get started.  That's what I did.  I wore it to church tonight and got lots of complements and several "where did you get that?" questions.   

I loved telling them I just made it last night!  In fact, I'm taking my yarn with me next time so I can show them how easy it really is.  (The ladies that asked are much more talented than I am, so I'm excited to share something with them!)

What are you waiting for?  Go to the store and get started!!  When you're done, make sure you share pictures of your creation with me or tell me about it!  

God bless!!