Author: Jeanie Cisco Meth

Life’s Fragile

This past week I’ve been spending extra time with my family and friends. It started last Sunday, September 10, 2023. I sat on my bed thinking of the thousands of people who went to bed 22 years ago that didn’t live to see another evening.

How many of them didn’t kiss their kid’s goodnight? How many of them had a fight with their spouse? How many of them didn’t enjoy something they love because __________? Fill in the blank. We have our reasons for doing the things we do. Have you checked yours lately?

How do I live for today while planning for the future? I found out last week.

1. Take time to show love and appreciation for others. Smile, give hugs, say please and thank you, pause and look into their eyes, be with them 100% in that moment.
2. Dream Big guilt free. I have BIG dreams and I used to make them small because I felt guilty wanting more when others have so much less. I realized I was putting limits on God. I didn’t believe He could answer my requests and still have enough for others. Silly ME! He is abundant beyond my wildest dreams and can supply everyone with what they want. So, you might ask, “Why doesn’t He?” Because… (That is a very long answer I will attempt to answer later.)
3. Enjoy the journey. Take a moment to pause and see, really see, the beauty that is all around. Find the mini miracles in your day. Just a few of mine from the week:
   1. The birds and the bees, the green grass and the trees.
   2. My body’s ability to heal and repair the damage done during the day.
   3. Running water and a home.
   4. A cozy bed and a loving husband.
   5. The memory of those that have gone before and are no longer with me.
   6. My ability to learn and grow.
   7. Music to help me feel all of my emotions.
   8. The straw in my drink so I can partake as I’m driving, and I get thirsty.
   9. The funny cat and dog videos on social media.
   10. My ability to smell and touch.
4. The destination is short lived. That’s why we need to enjoy the journey. It can take years to achieve a goal and then you have it. Celebrate it. Enjoy it. Tell others about it because soon you’ll be moving on to your next goal.
5. Spend time with God every day.
   1. Read the Bible because it’s His love letter.
   2. Communicate with Him because relationships wither and die if we don’t stay connected. Sit in silence and let Him talk. It’s a two-way street and you know how it feels when you’re talked at not to.
   3. Ask Him what His will is. Let Him be in every moment.
   4. Keep Him in my boat.
6. Remember to do for one what I want to do for the world.

I pray you have a blessed day.

Thank you for spending some time with me.

Women’s Lib Robbed Me

When I was younger, I saw an ad of a woman dancing around the kitchen with a frying pan singing, “I can bring home the bacon. Fry it up in a pan and never never let him forget that he’s a man.” Now, I don’t know with 100% accuracy if those were the exact words because that was about 40 years ago.

I do know what it taught me because it has taken me all those years to learn something else. That ad coupled with many other worldly sentiments filled my head with the idea that women were supposed to do it all:

Provide for their families – financially and practically.

Be sexy no matter what they were doing.

Never show weakness because weakness was bad.

If you know me and my past, you know that I spent most of my life trying to be a strong independent woman, showing others I could do anything a man could. I was the first female to earn a spot on the Ranger Challenge team. I was the first female Rick Majerus hired for his boys’ basketball camps. I could list many experiences in which I was the only female. I was proud of those things, and I had worked hard to make it to that level. I was trying to prove I was acceptable.

As a single parent for many years, the belief that I had to be everything rolled into one was driven even deeper. I found myself being a father and mother in my home. It was difficult and it was necessary because of the way things were.

If I had known then what I know now, things would have been different. I’m not sure how but I know they would have because I have learned that God made us male and female for a reason. The list is long and important, and I want to focus on one part.

Men and women are different because God made us that way. God wants us to live a life of blessing and the best way to do that is by following His word. When we live as He wants us to, we are naturally blessed as much as possible in a fallen world.

There are traditional roles for men and women and the “women’s lib” movement has robbed many men and women of those traditional roles by blurring the lines and now removing the lines altogether. For time’s sake men are made to be providers and protectors and women are made to be nurturers and supporters.

In July of this year, my short-term disability payments came to an end, but my body was not ready to go back to work yet. I was still having health issues, so my husband and I had some decisions to make. Our discussions concerning those decisions took place over about three weeks. My husband said on several occasions he would support whatever decision I made. He also told me he was willing to work extra hours so I wouldn’t have to work outside the home.

It was agonizing and I labored over making the right one. Did I pick up the role I had been living my entire life or did I step into the one God had planned for me? This realization of the difference between the two came about from 22 years of my husband and God leading me in the direction I needed to go.

I’m proud to say I’m a housewife and I have stepped fully into that role. I really enjoy planning meals and cooking them. I even baked two dozen cupcakes for a fundraiser at our church. I was told they were a hit and everyone of them was purchased and enjoyed.

I was a bit nervous about dropping them off because I didn’t have a container to put them in for transport and the saran wrap I used to cover them stuck to a few of them. It feels good to be stepping into my role as a housewife. I think of how different my children’s lives would have been.

I pray we can turn the tide I see in the world of gender swapping and get back to what God wanted for us. Male and female He created us. Let’s be male and female and live life as God intended it in the beginning.