When I was in high school there was a rather popular movie
made. I loved this movie and watched it many times. This is significant because
this was during the late 70’s. No HBO, no Netflix, no streaming on the
internet, and very few VHS players. To see a movie more than once involved
spending money at the movie theater, which I willing did. And then… I bought
the record album, and sang to it constantly. Yep, I was hopelessly devoted…have
you guessed the movie by now?
Yes, Grease was the word back then, especially for young teen
girls who wanted to be Sandy. The
sweet, wholesome girl who had met a sweet, wholesome guy on vacation…and then she
discovers he is a shallow pig who is willing to brush her off so he can hold on
to his bad boy image in the local gang community. Obviously she should count
herself lucky to have seen his true nature and move on to a boy with more
substance of character! But no, she instead jumps on the shallow bandwagon
herself and transforms herself into…well, honestly? Not the type of girl I would
want my teenage son to date!
Ah, such is youth. But what about that idea of “wholesomeness”?
Is it an antiquated notion? Something that is laughable in our modern world?
Would you want someone to call you wholesome? What if someone called your 12,
14, or 16 year old daughter wholesome? Hmmm…it may not sound so bad after all.
According to most dictionaries, wholesome means;
Conducive
to or suggestive of good health and physical well-being, or conducive to or
promoting moral well-being.
Well, I want to take that just a little bit further. Proverbs
15:4 states;
“A
wholesome tongue is a tree of life…”
Ouch! I just hate it when the tongue gets involved! Which is
why the book of James is the most worn part of my Bible, I have to read it a
lot to stay on track! But author Rebecca
Barlow Jordan says it far better than I ever could…
Wholesomeness
is choosing to participate in only the things that are helpful and spiritually
uplifting in my life. It is a decision I can make to let God speak through me
only those words that will edify and help others.
A decision I make. I have a choice of whether to build others up, or tear them down. I decide whether to participate in
things that are uplifting and bring glory to God, or that which pulls others,
and my own faith, down. Should it really be such a difficult decision to choose wholesomeness?
In Him ~Marla
