Forever Beloved

Faith, Love & Truth

What I Learned From the Dukes of Hazzard

As a child of the 70’s and 80’s, I was fortunate to enjoy some of the greatest television shows ever made – Little House on the Prairie, The Dukes of Hazzard, Touched by an Angel, The Waltons, Alf, and the Smurfs. I know, right. Those were awesome shows! As kids, we were fortunate enough to experience what true, wholesome TV was. We’ve all gained pearls of wisdom from Caroline Ingalls, Grandpa Walton and the Dukes. 

The past week my Facebook feed is being blown up once again, this time by the Confederate Flag opposition and support. Now, in this household, we are lovers of the Confederate flag. Because we’re racist? No, that’s nonsense. Because, to me, that flag symbolizes all things country. I’m not going to go into that debate here, but all I will say is flying a flag doesn’t make you racist any more than wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day makes you a supporter of the IRA Pub Bombings. It’s simply an unfair generalization that was fueled by another media firestorm.

This girl right here proudly carried a Dukes of Hazzard lunchbox to school.  And guess who had all of the Dukes of Hazzard action figures?  Of course, Bo and Luke married my Barbies while Daisy stood in as maid-of-honor.  And yes, they spun out and drove away in my Barbie car.  How many of you just thought “Ohhhh, that explains a lot about her”?  

And with that, I give you the top 5 things I’ve learned from watching The Dukes of Hazzard.

Family comes first, always!

The single-strongest theme of the show was the strength found in the bonds of family. The Duke family was clearly fractured, as they were all cousins who lived with their Uncle Jesse. (Gy Waldron, the creator of the show, states on the DVDs that their parents were killed in a car wreck, but it was never mentioned in the show). Throughout the show there was a familiar thread woven.  No matter if you were raised in a “nuclear family” or not, or whether you’re even blood-related, those you call family are the people you should protect and keep closest.
These shows that we watched growing up helped form our morals and values.  They worked alongside our parents to teach us life-lessons.  One of the biggest lessons for me was your friends are your family, and family is to be held closest your heart.

A lady is to be respected and treated right.

Even if she wears shorts that are waaaaaay too short. I mean, come on, we can’t really say that Daisy was extra on modesty. But her cousins, her family and the men in her life would have never allowed her to be disrespected or treated badly in any way. As a girl who grew up watching that, it gave me high expectations of the men around me.

You know we’ve all heard at least once in our life “she was asking for it, just look at how she dresses”.  For decades women have fought against this belief.  And while I am a firm believer in modesty, I am also a firm believer in no means no.  No woman deserves to be disrespected, or worse, simply because of the clothing she wears.  
I can’t tell you that while I was growing up my shorts were always long enough, my shirts were always high enough and my jeans were always loose enough. But that certainly, in no way, meant I was asking for anything.
 

Never judge a book by it’s cover.
Cooter’s hands were always greasy.  Uncle Jesse was a former “ridge runner” (whiskey trafficker).  Daisy was less than modest and was a bartender.  Boss Hogg was sassy and usually trying to scheme people out of money.  Lulu Hogg was overweight.  Enos wasn’t the brightest.  And Bo and Luke were always, always running from the cops.  But at the end of the day, they were all (even Boss Hogg) good, kind, genuine people.  And if someone was in desperate need, they would all come together.

Good guys don’t always finish last.

Contrary to what the world would have us believe, good guys don’t always finish last! While Enos wasn’t necessarily the brightest bulb on the Dukes, Enos was possibly the most honest. Many times Roscoe labeled Enos a “Dipstick”, but that never tarnished his upbeat, positive nature (maybe another little hidden lesson of sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me).   Eventually Enos landed the most coveted role in all of Hazzard County, Daisy’s fiance.

Nice guys don’t always finish last and prince charming doesn’t always ride in on a white horse y’all. Kindness, compassion and humility aren’t overrated. If you always always do the right thing you are winning God’s favor!

Never underestimate a good burnout!

This one may sound silly to some of y’all (and I slightly hope my teenage son doesn’t see it).  But seriously, what can brighten up a day better than a burnout?  Some of my favorite teenage memories were burnout contests.  And I still may or may not occasionally light ’em up..

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th y’all
God Bless America!

Love, Respect and Godly Submission {Gods Design}

Hey y’all! Thanks for joining me for our July Bible Study on Godly submission! I’m so excited about this! I did this study two years ago and learned so much from it, I’m super excited to go through it again with you!

Submission is a word that holds many definitions among the world. Offensive, not acceptable, inferior, controlling and not politically correct are among the few. But yet, It’s something we, as Christian wives, are called to do.

First, let me share my story…

As a woman who spent her entire life striving to be viewed as strong and independent, the thought of being submissive to anyone, let alone my husband, scared me to death. And I have to say, at first it made me angry. So angry that I completely rebelled against it and refused it. Yep, I was a child rebelling against what my Father had not only told, but commanded me to do.

Are you serious Jesus? Um, hello…I’m Amy…the girl that took the words “honor and obey” out of her vows for a reason! And now you want me to be submissive to my husband? Seriously? (On a quick side note, completely embarrassed and mortified that I actually took that out of my vows. What in the world was my 20 year old mind thinking?)

And He answered loud and clear…”YEP”

Wow, okay…deep breaths, I can do this…

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Ephesians 5:22-24 22 

Definition of submission  The word SUBMIT, according to Strong’s Lexicon is the Greek word hupotaso which was originally a Greek military term meaning “to arrange troop divisions under the command of a leader”. In non-military use, it was “a voluntary attitude of giving in, of cooperating, of sharing a burden. In other words, when the word submit is used in the Bible, it refers not only to a yielding and obedient attitude of the heart, but also, and equally importantly, to an attitude of co-operation and support. Without co-operation and support, things just don’t work the way they should.

What is submission?  Submission is the acceptance of God’s order for our lives. As wives, we are to submit to Christ and submit to our husbands. Submission by a wife is to be voluntary. It’s part of our obedience to the Lord. There aren’t conditions to this submission either. We are called to submit to our husbands, even if we feel they don’t deserve it. We are to trust in their leadership, even if we don’t agree with it and submit to them even if we feel they aren’t meeting their roles.

Christian marriage is intended to be a picture of the relationship between Christ and His church. Let me say that again, because it blew my mind when I first learned it. Our marriage was designed specifically to mirror our relationship between Christ and His church. We are acting out a living parable where husbands represent Christ and wives represent the church to bring glory to God and to help our children and others around us grasp what God is like in a more concrete way. Does that change the way you look at marriage? It sure did with me. God intended marriage to mirror His relationship with the church so that we could basically be a testimony to others and SHOW them what God is like.

A marriage with Godly submission should be a faithful, intimate and loving relationship. Boy, doesn’t that sound like a far cry from what the world tells us submission is?
So it turns out submission isn’t a sign of weakness, like this silly girl thought all along, it’s a sign of respect! And of course I want to honor and respect my husband, I love him.

What submission is not  Submission is not abusive. God does not want women to be submissive to abusers. As wives, we have to be confident of our husband’s goodwill. Remember, the command to wives to submit to their husbands is followed by the command to husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life for her (Ephesians 5:25). In cases of abuse, there is a mighty need for an intervention and Godly counsel. If you are in an abusive relationship, I would urge you to reach out to focus ministries. It’s a Biblical based non-profit organization that offers counseling by phone, email, or in person. They want you to know you aren’t alone and you are oh so valuable to God!!!

Submission also shouldn’t be used for leverage. Submission absolutely comes with no strings attached. It is a heart desire to please God and do what is best for your family. I mean really, what wife doesn’t want to live in peace? Don’t we all desire that? There is such an inner peace that comes from living in harmony with our husbands while obeying God.

As women, we are quite good at knowing how to manipulate our husbands to get them to do what we want. Oh come on girls, we all know we’ve done it at one time or another. That is definitely not submission. And it’s something we should never, ever do.

Chuck Swindoll said this about submission:

Webster says that manipulation means “to control or play upon by unfair or insidious means, especially to one’s own advantage or to serve one’s own purpose.” In other words, secret manipulation is an unfair, insidious technique that results in getting what one wants. When handled cleverly, a wife can substitute secret manipulation for a quiet, submissive spirit. 

Why is submission so hard? And why is this so hard for me? It’s from a lack of surrender. Because I am, by nature, a controller. That controlling nature is nothing more than pride and sin bubbling to the surface. And the thoughts of not having control over a situation scares-me-to-death. But I believe God’s advice and His will to be the best for my life. Even if I don’t fully understand it, I trust Him. With that being said, I somehow had to figure it out because I don’t want to live my life is disobedience. So I asked God to teach me what it means.

Often we wives are afraid of losing control (and by “we wives” I really mean this wife right here) and WE get in the way of creating the marriages we ache for. You know, the one where we have a strong, confident, Godly man, who loves us like Christ loves the church. I know this girl certainly wants that type of marriage.

So this week, be an asset to your husband and try your best to learn what submission looks like in a Godly marriage. Don’t forget to stop back next Friday as we take a look at the beauty of submission. Remember, keep your eyes on Him!