Life by Grace Alone

I wrote this piece years ago. When I read it recently I realized a word of explanation is needed. The words chastity and chaste come from a Latin word that means pure. Today we have misused the word and now it is used  interchangeably with the word abstinence. My intention was to discuss chastity based more on its Latin origin. Our attitude towards sex can be an indicator of how much we value the purity of our hearts as we approach many areas of our lives. Abstaining from sex? Oh, that's like the usual American diet, isn't it? You know,when you eat broccoli and keep your hand off pizza and french fries, You hope that abstaining from the usual goodies will be worth the sacrifice. Abstaining from sex must mean closing your eyes to all the temptations around you and hoping that your self control lasts long enough for  you to meet Miss.or Mr. Right. Isn't there a better way to deal with sexual temptations until your wedding day? Yes there is.It's call chastity. Abstin...

We took our eldest to dinner for a belated birthday meal. All 4 of our children are full grown.  All these many years have done little to dull the memory of anticipating the arrival of our four, two by adoption and two home grown. The story of each child as he or she entered our family is unique but each story  is marked by joy and thanksgiving as we watched the work of God. My eldest son's birthday reminded me of the letter I intended to write to 2 of our children  a couple of  years ago. I was at a retreat on prayer. One of  the workshops had us write down some of our prayer requests over the years. One of mine was that I would overcome my infertility. We were still childless after 7 years of marriage. After stating  the prayer request I had over 30 years ago, I immediately started to write that the adoption of our two oldest  was the answer to this prayer.  It suddenly struck me that after we had our 2 adopted children I was still infertile. ...