What's It Like Living With YOU?

Have you ever asked yourself this question? What is it like living with you? What is it like to be in the same home as you? What is it like to share meals with you, share days with you, hours... minutes? 

Are you a joy? A burden? A blessing? Are you gentle? Is kindness on your lips or do you spew harsh words? Do you allow your circumstances to dictate your mood or do you allow your mood to be shaped by your God? Are you long-suffering or do those around you feel like they have to suffer long? I love the definition of long-suffering: "suffering for a long time without complaining : very patient during difficult times."Does this describe you? Home-life is full of suffering... some serious and some everyday kind of stuff. Home-life is difficult at times and requires patience and grace to the extreme in order to be lived well.

How would your family describe you? Who we are at home is who we really are. It is so easy to put on a show but when we are with family they see the real us. I am afraid mine might use these kinds of words to describe me if they were honest: selfish, lazy, controlling and impatient. Ouch. Thanks be to God though that He is always working! We must simply yield to the convictions He brings into our lives and work with Him to bring about the beauty He has to offer in the midst of our messiness. We have to be in the Word and meditating on it day and night. We need to be seeking Him and seeking growth in Him or we will continually slip into old habits and patterns (Rom. 12:2).

My hope is that my children will look back and think of living me as being more like living with a woman chasing after God and seeking to please Him in every way and less like a weary, grumpy, short-tempered mama who is "at her wits end".

These years with our children in the home with us go by so fast. We have only but a little while to be a joy to live with. Soon they will be off on their own, living in their own home and living with us will be a distant (hopefully enjoyable) memory.

Ask yourself often: "what is it like living with me?" and then ask the Lord to reveal to you the ways He needs to work in your heart and life to make living with you a pleasure and not a burden. 

May we be more like this woman: "She opens her mouth in skillful and godly Wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness [giving counsel and instruction]. She looks well to how things go in her household, and the bread of idleness (gossip, discontent, and self-pity) she will not eat. Her children rise up and call her blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied); and her husband boasts of and praises her..." (prov. 31:26-28) and less like the other women described in proverbs as being: contentious, nagging and quarrelsome. 

Above all, abide in Him and cling to Him not only for your own sake but for those who live with you!  He alone is able to make you a joy to live with. 

My Relationship With the Computer

Relationship according to dictionary.com is: a connection, association, or involvement.

I don't know about you but I think I am too connected, too associated and too involved with my computer and not connected enough, associating enough or involved enough with my children, my home, my husband... my REAL LIFE.  

I have a burden for women and found facebook to be a great place to minister to them... but I was finding that my ministry to them was taking place over my ministry at home. Let's just say ministry on the internet was becoming a distraction. 

Isn't it interesting that God instructs OLDER women to teach the younger women (Titus 2:4-5)? I am thinking more and more that God might mean older women with no children left in the home or much older children at home because 1) they are not needed as much in the home and 2) the older women are to be instructing and training the younger women to: "love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands..." That is all ministry that must happen or can happen IN THE HOME (without the help/need of the computer).

If younger women are busy on the computer all the time they don't love their husbands and children as they should, they don't work at home with all diligence keeping it orderly and clean as they should and maybe even their husbands are losing out because they are so distracted and consumed with social media/the internet.

The computer basically can pull us in so many directions and can actually take us away from our children even if they are in the same room as us. You know what I mean, the all too familiar situation when one of your children is trying to get your attention and you keep shooing them away because they are interfering with another facebook chat or when you don't hear them talking to you or trying to show you something because you are entranced with another blog post on how to love your children. 

I often think of my mom now that she has passed away and all I have is memories; they are like little snapshots/photos in my mind. This is what I see: I see her at the counter top eating her white rice with Tabasco sauce, or I see her walking past me as I lay lazily on the couch watching tv while she is carrying another load of laundry to her room to fold, or I see her cooking in the kitchen (my mom was known as an amazing cook) and sadly I see her mostly as a drunk drinking one glass of wine after another. Those are the images in my mind. I naturally now ponder how my children will remember me... what will be the snapshots in their minds when I go to be with the Lord? Will they think of me in the kitchen? Will they picture me doing laundry? I fear they will picture me on my laptop. That is what I am so convicted about. The computer can make you think you are building relationships while the most important ones are losing out. I want my children to picture me playing with them in the front yard. I want them to remember me teaching them their school work. I want them to remember me baking with them in the kitchen or cuddling with them (not distracted) on the couch.

God has been challenging me greatly in this area and I am eager to change. I don't want to ignore this conviction only to regret it big time later. EVERYONE says: "Oh these years go by so fast." Why would I want to waste these fast years with my children on the computer? Last night when I was thinking about this post I came across this: http://www.wholeheartedhome.com/tips-clear-information-overload-wholehearted-wednesday-101/ and I really appreciated some of the challenging questions she asked in regards to our relationship with the computer/social media. Be sure to check it out! I am not sure what my "life-long" relationship with my computer will look like but here are some boundaries for me now:

1. No computer until I finish my bible reading. 
2. No facebook. 
3. No blogging unless kids are sleeping or out of the room playing outside or something. Basically no blogging when I am around my kids. (including reading blogs)

Three simple rules that will help me with my relationship with my computer but more importantly my relationship with my family.

Everyone has struggles, everyone has things in their life that distract them and pull them away from God's best. This is one of my struggles, this is one of those things I have to fight.  

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1. Do you go to Facebook (or one of your other social media platforms) first thing in the morning before making your bed or taking a shower?
2. Do you start scrolling down through your newsfeed on Facebook and forget why you got online in the first place?
3. On Facebook, do you feel obligated to listen to every single music or video clip even though you think they are ridiculous?
4. Do you have 6-8 email accounts that are jam-packed with pending or unanswered mail? (I have 5 email accounts, so this is not unrealistic.)
5. When you open your inbox, do you become anxious with “information overload” before you even open the email?
6. Do you lose track of time on Twitter, Google +, Facebook, or Pinterest as you stress over the avalanche of twaddle?
7. Do you find yourself compulsively eating junk food while reading online?
8. Are you becoming sadly behind on your dishes, paper-clutter, laundry, and undone projects, as you spend increasing amounts of time online?
9. Are you irritable with your husband and children? Snappy? Can’t look away from the screen when they talk to you?
10. Are you playing Facebook games?
11. Do you become frustrated from the electronic information you need to process daily?
12. Do you become overwhelmed because you can’t get to the blogs or e-books you’d really prefer to process?
13. Do you sit at your computer for more than an hour without getting up?
14. Do you constantly check into your social media accounts and email (even in the bathroom) because you are afraid you’ll get behind?
15. Are you subscribed to more blogs than you can possibly read and you feel bad when you finally delete them?
16. Has reading your Bible become dull and so boring that you tire after reading 2-3 verses?
17. Before making a decision, do you check with your online friends first before asking God for wisdom?
18. Do you read so many posts that you are skimming and hardly reading them, feeling like you have to comment, “Like” and “+1″ all those in your niche?
19. Is your Kindle app full of books you will never have time to read because you are inundated with the ever-flowing avalanche of electronic information??
20. Did you forget to hydrate with 8 glasses of water? Electronic devices dehydrate you. Did you realize that?
21. When you make it to the end of your day, do you feel really guilty that too much time was wasted online and you didn’t live real life?

- See more at: http://www.wholeheartedhome.com/tips-clear-information-overload-wholehearted-wednesday-101/#sthash.cBqYRrtW.dpuf

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1. Do you go to Facebook (or one of your other social media platforms) first thing in the morning before making your bed or taking a shower?
2. Do you start scrolling down through your newsfeed on Facebook and forget why you got online in the first place?
3. On Facebook, do you feel obligated to listen to every single music or video clip even though you think they are ridiculous?
4. Do you have 6-8 email accounts that are jam-packed with pending or unanswered mail? (I have 5 email accounts, so this is not unrealistic.)
5. When you open your inbox, do you become anxious with “information overload” before you even open the email?
6. Do you lose track of time on Twitter, Google +, Facebook, or Pinterest as you stress over the avalanche of twaddle?
7. Do you find yourself compulsively eating junk food while reading online?
8. Are you becoming sadly behind on your dishes, paper-clutter, laundry, and undone projects, as you spend increasing amounts of time online?
9. Are you irritable with your husband and children? Snappy? Can’t look away from the screen when they talk to you?
10. Are you playing Facebook games?
11. Do you become frustrated from the electronic information you need to process daily?
12. Do you become overwhelmed because you can’t get to the blogs or e-books you’d really prefer to process?
13. Do you sit at your computer for more than an hour without getting up?
14. Do you constantly check into your social media accounts and email (even in the bathroom) because you are afraid you’ll get behind?
15. Are you subscribed to more blogs than you can possibly read and you feel bad when you finally delete them?
16. Has reading your Bible become dull and so boring that you tire after reading 2-3 verses?
17. Before making a decision, do you check with your online friends first before asking God for wisdom?
18. Do you read so many posts that you are skimming and hardly reading them, feeling like you have to comment, “Like” and “+1″ all those in your niche?
19. Is your Kindle app full of books you will never have time to read because you are inundated with the ever-flowing avalanche of electronic information??
20. Did you forget to hydrate with 8 glasses of water? Electronic devices dehydrate you. Did you realize that?
21. When you make it to the end of your day, do you feel really guilty that too much time was wasted online and you didn’t live real life?

- See more at: http://www.wholeheartedhome.com/tips-clear-information-overload-wholehearted-wednesday-101/#sthash.cBqYRrtW.dpuf

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1. Do you go to Facebook (or one of your other social media platforms) first thing in the morning before making your bed or taking a shower?
2. Do you start scrolling down through your newsfeed on Facebook and forget why you got online in the first place?
3. On Facebook, do you feel obligated to listen to every single music or video clip even though you think they are ridiculous?
4. Do you have 6-8 email accounts that are jam-packed with pending or unanswered mail? (I have 5 email accounts, so this is not unrealistic.)
5. When you open your inbox, do you become anxious with “information overload” before you even open the email?
6. Do you lose track of time on Twitter, Google +, Facebook, or Pinterest as you stress over the avalanche of twaddle?
7. Do you find yourself compulsively eating junk food while reading online?
8. Are you becoming sadly behind on your dishes, paper-clutter, laundry, and undone projects, as you spend increasing amounts of time online?
9. Are you irritable with your husband and children? Snappy? Can’t look away from the screen when they talk to you?
10. Are you playing Facebook games?
11. Do you become frustrated from the electronic information you need to process daily?
12. Do you become overwhelmed because you can’t get to the blogs or e-books you’d really prefer to process?
13. Do you sit at your computer for more than an hour without getting up?
14. Do you constantly check into your social media accounts and email (even in the bathroom) because you are afraid you’ll get behind?
15. Are you subscribed to more blogs than you can possibly read and you feel bad when you finally delete them?
16. Has reading your Bible become dull and so boring that you tire after reading 2-3 verses?
17. Before making a decision, do you check with your online friends first before asking God for wisdom?
18. Do you read so many posts that you are skimming and hardly reading them, feeling like you have to comment, “Like” and “+1″ all those in your niche?
19. Is your Kindle app full of books you will never have time to read because you are inundated with the ever-flowing avalanche of electronic information??
20. Did you forget to hydrate with 8 glasses of water? Electronic devices dehydrate you. Did you realize that?
21. When you make it to the end of your day, do you feel really guilty that too much time was wasted online and you didn’t live real life?

- See more at: http://www.wholeheartedhome.com/tips-clear-information-overload-wholehearted-wednesday-101/#sthash.cBqYRrtW.dpuI am not sure what my life-long "relationship" with the computer will look like but for now here are a couple of boundaries I have set: 1. No computer until I have done my bible reading. (too often the computer/social media come before a Christian's relationship with God.)Those are my three simple rules. I think they will help my relationship with the computer and more importantly my relationship and ministry to my family.Everyone struggles in different ways. Everyone has to fight the good fight in different ways and make God and His calling on our lives a priority in different ways. This is one of my struggles and this is where I have to fight.  

Maybe you can relate? My friend shared this verse with me about this topic: 
 
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." 1 Cor. 10:13 

I am sure this temptation is common among many women. We are social beings and are looking to socialize to the extreme through our computer screen. Our children and husbands desperately need us to socialize with them. God is faithful! If He is convicting you in this area and you are looking for a way of escape AND WILLING TO FOLLOW THROUGH He will guide and direct you! Pray and seek His will in all things, even in your "relationship" with the computer/internet. 

"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands..." 1 Thess. 4:11 

 

You can read the follow-up/part 2 to this post here: http://mrsscottlapierre.blogspot.com/2014/08/my-relationship-with-computer-part-2.html

Be Encouraged "Stay at Home Mom"!

In 2009, 5 years ago, I wrote a simple post called: Stay at home mom encouragement. Five years later it is still my most visited post! It's a pathetic post really, with a simple picture and a quote... that's it! And yet, this tells me stay at home moms need to be encouraged to stay at home. I thought I would do a more detailed post on this including more of my very favorite quotes that inspire me in this stay at home mom journey!

Scott and I knew from the beginning of our marriage that I would stay home. I got my degree in psychology and planned on pursuing my masters in biblical counseling but got married and had babies instead :) Even though there are days I want to run away (just being real) I am forever thankful that I get to be the one to train my children, be with my children and clean my home without having to worry about a secular career on top of all that. 

Our society screams: "Get out there and make a name for yourself!" and it also screams: "you can't do that by JUST staying at home all day!" And yet, the Word of God screams: "Keeper of the home, you are doing a mighty and noble task. Do all you do as unto the Lord and don't grow weary in doing good."

This quote has been my all time favorite quote on being a stay at home mom: "The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home, filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing something better than anything else her hands could find to do beneath the skies. A true mother is one of the holiest secrets of home happiness. God sends many beautiful things to this world, many noble gifts; but no blessing is richer than that which He bestows in a mother who has learned love's lessons well, and has realized something of the meaning of her sacred calling." J.R. Miller

I recently listened to a very encouraging message on motherhood from revive our hearts and here is one of the quotes from that: "your children are an unreached people group. They come to earth without an understanding of God. They don’t automatically know Him as their Savior. Someone has to teach them. Someone has to train them. They’re your mission field."- Erin Davis. You can listen to the message here. 

John MacArthur said: "To be a mother is by no means second class. Men may have the authority in the home, but the women have the influence. The mother, more than the father, is the one who molds and shapes those little lives from day one."

How true it is! God has given men the authority, they are the "head" of the home but you mom are with your children (especially if you home school) exponentially more than any other person in the world and therefore you are the greatest influence in their life! The question is, what kind of influence are you? Do you influence your children to walk in the ways of the Lord? Do you push them toward grace and love or do you push them away with your grumpy mood? Will your children say they learned much about the Christian life from you and how to run a godly home? Or will they talk of a controlling, unhappy mother that moped around the house all day shouting out orders? Your influence and potential as an influencer is continually great stay at home mom!

"Mothers, don’t let anyone ever dupe you into thinking there’s anything ignoble or disgraceful about remaining at home and raising your family. Don’t buy the lie that you’re repressed if you’re a worker in the home instead of in the world’s workplace. Devoting yourself fully to your role as wife and mother is not repression; it is true liberation. Multitudes of women have bought the world’s lie, put on a suit, picked up a briefcase, dropped their children off for someone else to raise, and gone into the workplace, only to realize after fifteen years that they and their children have a hollow void in their hearts. Many such career women now say they wish they had devoted themselves to motherhood and the home instead." John MacArthur

How could time with your little gifts from God EVER be a waste? Do you ever hear older women say: "I just really regret all that time I spent with my children!" No. (Unless they are ridiculously selfish, and you don't want to be like them anyway right?)

If God calls something good and worthy you know the enemy, our culture and our flesh will want to say it is bad and futile. Remember that God designed you to be a mother and a homemaker. Embrace it! Accept it! Love it! Or you can despise it, hate it, refuse it and fight it and make everyone (including you) in your home miserable. Stay in the Word and out of the television. Look to your Creator to encourage you in this wonderful calling! 

"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27

"After years of society belittling the calling of motherhood, something wonderful is happening – something wonderfully counter-cultural! In the midst of the anti-life, anti-motherhood philosophies which pervade the culture, there is a new generation of young ladies emerging whose priorities are not determined by the world’s expectations of them. They have grown up in homes where fathers shepherd them, where children are not merely welcome, but where they are deeply loved. Some of these women have been home educated, which means that many of them have grown up around babies and their mothers. They have learned to see motherhood as a joy and a high calling, because their parents see it that way. And when asked about their future, these girls know their own minds. These are the future mothers of the Church. Young women who are not afraid to say that the goal of all of their education and training is to equip them to pursue the highest calling of womanhood, the office of wife and mother." Author Unknown

Do You Have the Liberty to do that?

My husband preached two excellent sermons the last couple weeks on Christian liberty. You can listen to part 1 here and part 2 here. God used him to bring so much clarity to me in regards to Christian liberty and not judging other Christians on their liberties.

There is a big difference between sin and liberty. Sin is when we deliberately disobey God/scripture. Liberties are more of those gray areas: how we dress, what we watch, what we do with our time, homeschool vs. public school etc. These are areas we have the liberty to decide how we feel led and go forward as long as we are not going against our conscience/conviction. To read more about this from the Word of God read Romans chapter 14 and 1 Corinthians chapter 8 and be sure to listen to my husband's sermon because he lays it out much better than I ever could.

One concern I have is this: can we use our liberties in such a way that we are sinning? Can someone say: "I have the liberty to watch movies." and then watch them all day long and/or watch something that's content is what the bible calls evil? There is nothing in the bible that says: "Don't watch tv all day."

How do we know if we have a liberty to watch certain things or to dress a certain way or to be involved in a certain activity? How do we know when we are crossing the line of living out our freedom in Christ verses when we are abusing that freedom? When asking these questions I can't help but think of these verses:
 
1. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship." Rom. 12:1 Is this liberty going to cause you to use your body in a way that is holy and pleasing to God? If not, then you might want to rethink it. 


2. "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." Col. 1:10 Does this liberty afford you the opportunity to walk in a manner worthy of your God? Will it please Him in all respects and bear good fruit? Or will it compromise your walk and not please Him?

3. "I have the right to do anything," you say--but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything"--but I will not be mastered by anything." 1 Cor. 6:12. Another verse almost identical: "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify." 1 Cor. 10:23 Is this liberty beneficial? Does this liberty tend to master you or control you more than you master it or control it? Does it edify or compromise? If it is not beneficial, if it masters and controls you, if it comprises your witness more than it is a means of edifying you might want to reavalutate if this is a liberty Christ would have you participate in. 

These verses come to mind when I am making decisions on how to spend my time and in what liberties I choose to be involved in. We shouldn't be seeking to live as close to the world as we can while still calling ourselves Christians. We should seek to live a life worthy of Christ and sometimes that means being strange... set apart... different... peculiar...maybe even what many consider "extreme".  


This is how God views us: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9

Many liberties Christians participate in look like the same activities the world participates in. Often times Christians will say they didn't have time to read their bible today but when you find out what they did have time for it is obvious that their liberties are taking priority over their relationship with God, this should never be so. If your Christian liberties are getting in the way of you growing as a Christian you should probably put those liberties aside. 

The idea that someone is "weak" in their faith because they choose not to watch television is silly. The idea that someone is more mature or "stronger" spiritually because they have the "freedom in Christ" to watch lots of television is equally silly. If someone is choosing to have little to do with the world and worldly entertainment this does not make them weak, it makes them set-apart. It is their way of recognizing that "friendship with the world is enmity with God." (James 4:4) Our homes and lives should look much different than a non-believers home and life. The way we spend our time should look much different than how a non-believer spends their lives. We should be, as Jesus said, about our Father's business and His agenda and His kingdom... not our own. Our liberties should not stand in the way of accomplishing this.

When looking at and praying about how you will spend your time and deciding what liberties you have as a Christian it is my hope and prayer that some of the things I have written will encourage you and give you direction. 
 
I would like to conclude with one of my favorite site's, http://www.gotquestions.org/, thoughts on this subject: Christian liberty can mean that Christians are freed in respect to such activity that is not expressly forbidden in the Bible. Therefore one can feel free to engage in such activity as long as it doesn't "stumble" or "offend" another Christian (Romans 14:12-16). Most of these activities revolve around social "do's" and "don'ts, such as whether or not to wear certain kinds of clothes, make-up, jewelry, tattoos, piercings, and/or practicing certain things, such as smoking, social drinking, recreational gambling, dancing, or viewing movies or videos. As the passage in Romans 14 says, these things may not be strictly prohibited by God's Word, but they can be bad for one's spiritual growth or Christian testimony and can cause other Christians to stumble.

Furthermore, Christians who tend to vigorously promote such liberties can sometimes fall into a loose lifestyle of undisciplined living, while, on the other hand, Christians who tend to vigorously limit such liberties can sometimes fall into a legalistic lifestyle of being defined by what they are "against." So, it is wise to seek God in prayer and His Word to determine whether or not a particular activity is actually forbidden in Scripture. If it is, it should be avoided. If it is not forbidden, then we should seek to determine how the activity reflects on our reputation as Christians and whether it will help us or hinder us in representing Jesus to unbelievers around us, whether it edifies them or not.

The ultimate goal for the Christian should be to glorify God, edify fellow believers, and have a good reputation before unbelievers (Psalm 19:14; Romans 15:1-2; 1 Peter 2:11-12). "For you brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another" (Galatians 5:13).

Why I Wear a Head-Covering

I have been wearing a head covering to "public worship" for about 2 years now. I have been a Christian for 13 years. I was not raised Christian and I definitely wasn't raised around women who wore head coverings.

When I became a Christian I remember reading 1 Cor. 11 and wondering: "Why don't women still wear head coverings? If God says it's a shame for women to have their head uncovered then shouldn't what He considers a shame be important to us?" The fact that it was in the new testament carried a lot of weight with me too in that it wasn't under the old covenant, this was a new covenant guideline.

The argument I often/almost always heard was: "it's a cultural thing." hmmmm, how do we get to decide what is cultural? Shouldn't God decide that? If He says a woman should have her head covered shouldn't we do that regardless of what the culture is doing? Since when is a Christian called to do what culture dictates? Don't we allow the Word of God to direct our lives/decisions?

I moved to WA about 3.5 years ago. When we came there was one family here that had a couple of the ladies wearing one. It intrigued me. So I asked them about it and how they came to that conviction. Fast forward a few months and I am on the phone with a friend that went to a church where there was a woman teaching pastor. I asked her: "How can you choose to go to a church where a woman is teaching men when the bible clearly teaches that shouldn't happen?" (1 tim. 2:12) Her response: "I'll give you the same reason that you aren't wearing a head covering, it's cultural." Oops. Can't argue with that. She was letting the current culture which says women should be able to teach man dictate that it was okay for women to teach men just as I was letting the current culture decide whether or not I needed to wear a head covering. I was convicted and on a mission to figure out once for all if God wanted women to wear head coverings and if He did, I would.

Let's look through 1 Cor. 11 together. Some of the information here was taken from a helpful website you can see by clicking here.

Paul starts out with saying in verse 2: "Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you." Interesting. Maintain traditions? Isn't our current culture all about doing away with traditions? Well, I guess that isn't just the current culture, looks like it's always been the case for people to stray from traditions and let the world determine what they will or won't do. Traditions aren't always popular but they often serve a purpose, especially if they are biblical (like head coverings). Paul commends the Corinthians for maintaining traditions.

Verse 3:  "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." This is the beginning of explaining the symbolism of a head covering. We are to wear one as women as a symbol that man is the head of his wife. When I put my head covering on it reminds me of this. I remember that Scott is the head of me and our home, not me. This is also why I believe headcoverings are for married women.

Verses 4 & 5: " Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, ⁵ but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven." This verse particularly intrigued me. MEN STILL PRACTICE THIS TODAY. They recognize it isn't talking about long hair but as an actual covering.  They have decided to not go with the culture, but to maintain this tradition, why haven't ladies made the same decision? In fact, it is seen as disrespectful and shameful to keep a hat on when we pray, just as God said it was a shame for a woman to pray with her head uncovered. 

Verses 6-9: "For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. ⁷ For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. ⁸ For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. ⁹ Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man." These verses again demonstrate the symbolism of head coverings, men are the head. The end of verse 6 confirms again that it is a literal covering and not long hair because it says: "let her cover her head."

Verse 10:  ^"That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels." This was one of the "clinchers" for me. This verse helped me in great ways to confirm that head coverings were not cultural. Angels do not change with the culture. Angels do not let the world determine what is right, they go by the Word of God and if they are involved with head coverings then I have all the more reason to wear one.


Verses 11-15 "Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; ¹² for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. ¹³ Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? ¹⁴ Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, ¹⁵ but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. " Verse 15 tripped me up for years and gave me "permission" to not wear a head covering because I decided my hair was my covering. But, as I clarified earlier there were a couple verses prior to this that confirmed it was an actual covering. (When I went to a young lady who wears one and asked her about this verse she said: "Oh yes, people who don't want to wear a head covering love that verse." :)

There are also several passages indicating headcovering was a common practice among married/betrothed women. "And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a veil, and covered herself." Genesis 24:64,65
Another verse showing the practice of wifely headcovering was an established practice is in the case of a woman before the priest when her husband suspects infidelity. And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering...." Numbers 5:18 In order for her head to be uncovered it must have first been covered.

When I studied the greek I found further confirmation that our hair is described as a different type of covering.


Paul said that men should not cover/katakalupto (Strong's 2619) their heads. And in verse 11 Paul contrasts that with: "Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered/akatakaluptos?" (Strong's 177) Note that 'uncovered'/akatakaluptos is the opposite of 'to cover'/katakalupto. Katakaluptos basically means to UNcover or UNveil. So far, we have a 'men uncover, women cover' command. Now for where the confusion comes in: When Paul refers to a woman's natural hair covering, he uses an altogether different word: "But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering/peribolaion." (Strong's 4018). Peribolaion means something thrown around (loose items like a veil, a mantle, a vesture). Hair is more like a glorious decoration given to woman. Now if Paul had meant the naturally occuring hair covering and the headship-type covering to be one and the same, he would have used the same word for each. Instead, a woman's natural hair covering (peribolaion) is being contrasted to this other covering (katakalupto) that women wear. In fact, the katakalupto actually *covers* the peribolaion.
 
Paul has begun this passage showing the contrasts between men and women in this passage: men are uncovered, women are covered. Then Paul supports his case for headcovering by pointing out that even in nature a women is given a covering -- by her long hair. But Paul never makes the leap that hair itself *is* a suitable headcover alone. If such a natural covering sufficed, then Paul is wasting his time teaching this since the women already had a natural hair covering. Paul deliberately used different words for the two coverings so we would understand they were complementary to each other but not identical. So there is no choice offered in this passage that one may choose to either shave one's head and cover it, or to leave one's hair long and remain uncovered. The natural order is to either wear a covering over the hair or to fully exploit the shame of being uncovered by also shaving off one's hair too. Better: if you resist submitting to the customary female headcovering, you may as well reject your natural hair as well. 

These are all the reasons I wear a head covering. I should also mention I only wear it to "public worship" since the chapter seems to be addressing "public worship" (which some of your bibles may state). It would also make sense that if it is a shame for a woman to have her head uncovered publicly than it would also be a sin for a man to wear a hat/be covered publicly. I believe the context is for public worship.


For further reading I highly recommend: www.headcoveringmovement.com This site is very helpful and encouraging and seems to prove that God is stirring women's hearts everywhere to cover their heads.
 
Lastly, the pretty girl pictured in this post wearing the headcoverings is not me :) She sells a plethora of beautiful headcoverings that can be found at: http://garlandsofgrace.com/


Be sure to check out a second post here that has some more links!
http://mrsscottlapierre.blogspot.com/2015/08/headcovering-movement.html