Snowing Down South
A few years ago I walked into a lingerie department and asked for the location of the slips. I was flabbergasted when the sales lady told me that this department store didn’t sell them in the store anymore, but I could order one from the catalog. What? No slips? We never would have left home without them when I was a girl.
During part of my childhood, we wore can-cans so that our full skirts would stand out. I had a modern version. It didn’t have scratchy ruffles of netting like many can-cans; a few inches above the bottom edge was a plastic inner tube that you blew air into like a child’s swim ring! I guess it was a modern version of the hoops women once wore under their hoop skirts. It was fun to wear, but I had to make sure I got the rubber stopper in tight and that I pushed my skirt down in my lap when I sat down. Imagine wearing a circular balloon under your dress!
One problem with slips is that sometimes they hang down too far and people can see them below our hemlines. Women and girls used to help their friends avoid embarrassment by whispering to them: “It’s snowing down south.”
It’s nice to help each other. “You missed a button.” “Check your left nostril.” “It looks like you have a run.” (Oh, yeah! Folks don’t wear pantyhose much anymore either!) Don’t children love to tell their moms things like that!?
Sometimes it’s hard to balance when to say something and when to keep silent. Sometimes comments are welcome and sometimes people get embarrassed or even hurt. The children’s song is right: Be careful little tongue what you say.
This is a hard balance with our children. Do we point out every misspelled word? Do we mark every grammatical error? Do we point out the fashion faux pas of the purple paisley shirt with the blue plaid skirt — or pants? It depends on the child, his or her age, and his or her unique challenges, doesn’t it? Will our words lift up or crush? Will they bless or deflate? How do we know? We pray. We try. We apologize. We grow — and then we repeat that process again and again, as we learn how to use our tongues to glorify God and bless people.
Like apples of gold in settings of silver
Is a word spoken in right circumstances.
Proverbs 25:11, NASB
Good one, Charlene. Even at my age I need to ponder a little before I speak . Most times words of wisdom are spoken only after a great deal of thought.
So true…sometimes, it’s hard to know how our words will be accepted.
Thinking before I speak is not something that comes naturally to me. I have to try every single day to think before I speak.
This is so true. It is hard for parents not to correct everything that we catch our children doing wrong, but sometimes we have to decide what is something that we can’t compromise on and what we can live with so that we don’t crush the spirit of our child.
Having teenagers in the house, it’s hard to “pick my battles” sometimes. I have one daughter whose taste in clothing and hairstyles is vastly different from my own, but I choose to almost never comment in a negative way unless I feel I absolutely have to. I look back at pictures of myself when I was a teenager and sometimes shudder, “What was I THINKING with that outfit??!!” And yet my own mother let me make choices for myself and always told me how nice I looked. Isn’t that what mothers are for? Lord, help me to build up my children and help them to feel confident as they try their own wings.