Like it or not, we all have a job to do

What happens to a partnership if the partners continually pull in opposite directions? If one partner pulls while the other sits? If both partners sit on their arses? The relationship fails. Someone (or both) gives up.

Here’s the problem, as I see it, with marriage: most men don’t know how to be men and most women don’t know how to be women. Some relationships can be saved by just one of the partners doing their part; the other eventually comes around. That doesn’t work all the time, though. Many people will get really tired of carrying all the weight, and eventually they’ll just stop. They’ll take their ball and go home, maybe waiting for a better, saner game on some other day. They’re the John Galts of marriage.

Men, you need to learn how to be men. Not men in touch with their feminine side, and not men who bully their way through everything. Men with strength and humility. Burn your pink polos and your black sabbath t’s, too. (Metaphorically, of course. There's nothing particularly wrong with pink polos or Black Sabbath T-shirts.) Then you need to hold the line. Don’t back down. Don’t give in to political correctness. Don’t let the zeitgeist (or your wife) set your rules.

Women, you need to straighten up right now. Lose the tattoos, the whorish dress, and the attitudes, and take some responsibility for yourself and especially for your family. I don’t care if you don’t like it. I don’t care if it makes you sick. Submit to your fathers and husbands. Now.

Female Emo-Shine

Over at Voxday, Pretty Lady wrote, "Thus a woman's behavior may appear to be controlled by her emotions in the moment, as in weeping easily, but does this necessarily imply that her subsequent decisions upon all matters related to the situation in the future will be controlled by the fact that the situation caused her to weep? Or will she simply factor in the emotion as one more variable in the equation, and proceed to evaluate the other variables accordingly, once she has calmed down?"

In my experience, emotion is a factor in everyone's decision making process, however it is more heavily weighted in the minds of most women. Men and women tend to see in slightly different cognitive spectra and emotions shine brighter at the female wavelengths, like the sun overwhelming apparently lesser considerations like the moon and stars and west-bound traffic in the morning. The moon doesn't shrink and the cars don't stop coming when the sun is in your eyes; they're just harder to see.

Random Thoughts on Yitro

A few random thoughts on Yitro:

• There must be some kind of behind-the-scenes parallel between Yitro and Laban. Both were unbelievers and God arranged marriages between their daughters and patriarchs of Israel.
• Zipporah and the Ethiopian woman, Moses’ other wife, are prophetic images of God’s people. Zipporah is the Jews who were sent away under the tutelage of a priesthood (in the form of the rabbinate) gone astray. Like Zipporah, they will be united with the Messiah by that same priesthood after the Greater Exodus. The Ethiopian woman was a believing gentile grafted into Israel, just like those of us who have been united in faith with Yeshua. Like her, we are made citizens of Israel at our exodus, and given Torah in full afterwards.
• The Ten Commandments can be categorized in many ways. One interesting way is into groups of three, one, and six. The first three commandments deal directly with how we relate to God. Three is the number of divinity and the triune God. The last six commandments deal directly with how we relate to our fellow men. Six is the number of man. The middle command deals with how we relate to God, our fellow men, and ourselves. One is the number of unity. If counted with the first three, this command makes four, which is the number of the Messiah. If counted with the last six, this command makes seven, which is the number of completion. In Yeshua, our divine Sabbath Rest, we are made complete and united with God.
• Exodus 18:18 - Thou art not able to perform it thyself alone... Although the husband is meant to be the head of his house, the head cannot live or even command the body on its own. Effective command requires the trust and cooperation of the commanded as well as good communication and delegation. A husband’s and father’s authority may be freely delegated to servants, sons, and wives. When his children are young, he authorizes his executive officer, his wife. Later, that responsibility should gradually move to his lieutenants, his sons, as he teaches them to be men. Under most circumstances, the firstborn son should be placed ahead of his siblings, but that is not an inviolate law. Reuben was passed over for Judah, Ishmael for Isaac, et cetera, all for good reasons. The point is that a man cannot expect to effectively govern his house on his own. He must train his family to lead in his place, and he must trust them to do so.

More Global Warming, Please

With the Denver area temps ranging between -8° and -18° at 6 AM today, I'm thinking I could use a bit of that famous French global warming. Throw in a hot cup of cocoa, and I'll be your friend forever.