Modesty - Part 1

I can’t write the date of September 7 without remembering that it was 34 years ago today that I became a mother! And what a wonderful ride it has been! Happy Birthday, Tim!

I told you last week that I was going to talk about modesty today, and I will. I briefly covered some things related to this topic on June 2 when I was covering Titus 2. However, since then I did some more extensive study on the topic and taught it in our church Ladies Bible Study, so I want to cover it more thoroughly now.

This is a topic about which I am VERY passionate, and I pray that I can pass some of that passion on to those who read this. I first of all want to remind all of us that God created the genders and He created marriage and the normal attraction between the genders. He created men to be visually stimulated and to be attracted to females in a physical way in order that His design for marriage and reproduction might be fulfilled. (Genesis 2:24 and Malachi 2:15) He created females to be responsive and very relational in order that they might be able to love their husbands and nurture the children that are God’s intended fruit of that marriage union. So, the fact that men respond to the sensual manner of dress among women that we see flaunted so brazenly in our culture, is not a surprise to God and it shouldn’t be a surprise to us. It should however, be a caution to us as women to be careful how we dress so as not to defraud our Christian brothers (or those outside the Body who don’t even know how to control the stimulation they receive from seeing such things). (Just a note here on what it means to defraud someone – It is like placing several bowls of fine chocolate around my house and then telling me that I can’t have any! When we “tease” our Brothers by what we wear, but then there is no way, either righteously or any other way they can act upon their desires, we are defrauding them!)

Now one thing that we need to make perfectly clear is that men are totally and solely responsible for any acts of immorality that they commit! Women, however, sin when they consciously or carelessly place temptation before men (defraud) so as to cause them to lust sinfully! (I Thessalonians 4:1-6)

I would like to mention a few comments I heard on a tape called “Not Even a Hint” by Joshua Harris. (If you think you are familiar with that name, I will remind you that he is the young man who wrote the book, “I Kissed Dating Good-Bye”.) I trust that these thoughts stated by him will help make the case for why this is such an important issue and why we as Christian women need to be educated on this topic. I fear that, though some flaunt their bodies knowingly before men, many are just plain not aware of or simply don’t care how this affects men or of the mandates in Scripture concerning this very important issue!

Here are the statements from the tape, and though maybe not verbatim, they are close to direct quotes:
1. “Modesty is about saving the delight of your body for ONE man, your husband.”
2. “Modesty is a matter of the Heart, Life, and Manner of dress.”
3. “God has given women a precious and powerful gift.”
4. “The purity God calls us to is a ‘gift’ for us.”
5. “Sin has infected and affected everything that God created.”
6. “Our culture encourages women to flaunt their sexuality! Fashion trends exploit sexuality and emphasize sexual parts of the body.”
7. “You are the only person on this planet who can protect your spouse sexually.”
8. Then Josh quoted Al Mohler (President of the Southern Baptist Convention): “Men are tempted to give themselves to pornography, while women are tempted to commit pornography.” (Josh Harris: “When women dress in such a way so as to arouse sexual desire in a man, they are committing pornography.”)

My heart desires to share this material in a straightforward manner so as to cause us to be aware of the problem and to build up a love and concern for our Christian brothers that will manifest itself in our desire to protect them in any way we can and help to build them up spiritually (Romans 15:1; Hebrews 10:24) and not break down their defenses. Please pray about your response to this and let’s search the Scripture to see how we can accomplish this goal. Next week I will give more specific guidelines and Scripture that will help us to grow in this very important area.

Training Your Children -- Part 3

I have one more lesson for now on training your children, and it maybe should have been the first lesson as the other principles will go better if this one is in place. This principle has to do with training and teaching your child’s heart. There is an excellent book that I would highly recommend that deals with this topic and it is called; “Shepherding a Child’s Heart”, by Tedd Tripp.

You know, when children are born, they SEEM very innocent and sweet! And to some extent they are in that they have not yet chosen rationally to commit evil. However, one thing we need to remember as Christians is that God’s Word says that “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child…” Proverbs 22:15. (And it isn’t long after birth that we start to see the beginnings of some very obvious sinful attitudes!) We are also aware that when children are born, we parents are quite a bit bigger than they are, so by sheer force we can for a time make them do what we want them to do if we work at it a little. However, it is not our job as parents to just make our children look like “little Christians” on the outside. We are to help God do His work of bringing them to the point of regeneration and we are to work on changing them from the inside out so that the changed behavior will have life-long ramifications. It is not enough to just cause children to do certain things because they are aware in their heads that this is what Mom and Dad want me to do. We somehow need to get it into their hearts so that they have a heart to do the right thing and do it for a lifetime.

So, how do we accomplish this task? The first thing we need to do is to realize that a child’s heart is evil and needs to be changed. Genesis 8: 21 says, “…the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Our culture teaches that children are born pretty good and it is the environment that causes the evil that manifests itself in the lives of children. Once we realize and embrace the fact that our child’s heart is evil, we can then work to take care of that. If you look back at Proverbs 22:15, you see that the answer to the foolishness that is in the heart of a child is this: “…the rod of correction will drive it far from him.” Children need to learn that they are responsible for their behavior and that if they act in certain ways, there WILL be certain consequences. There are no quick fixes for the sin problem in children, but daily, consistent loving discipline including some physical punishment will send a message that God endorses since He is the One who authorized the concept of spanking, done in the proper way and with proper love and care.

Beyond the use of the “rod” to reach a child’s heart is the need for parents to be actively and emotionally and intimately involved in the life of their child. Children need your time ( not just the leftovers after you have worked and done all the things that are on your list of “necessary” activities). They need to see that you are willing to sacrifice some of your desires to meet their needs. You cannot reach their hearts with “stuff”. It isn’t a bad thing to give some meaningful things to your children, but don’t let that substitute for time and communication. You will get to know their hearts best by taking time each and every day to listen to them and give them some undivided attention. And nothing substitutes for a mother that is there every day meeting their needs in all areas; spiritual, emotional as well as physical.

Finally, I want to give one example to help you see what is meant by “shepherding \” their heart. Suppose you hear two of your children arguing over a toy and you go in to see what is going on. The first thing you would probably ask is: “Who had it first?” Well, that is probably how most of us would solve it as we are so focused in on what is “fair”. However, by the time you arrive on the scene, both children are probably displaying a very selfish attitude and it would be a good time to try to reach some hearts. They are both displaying an attitude that says, “I really don’t care how it affects my sibling, I want that toy and I want it more now that I know my sibling wants it!” So at this point, you have the opportunity to help the children understand selfishness and how we are taught in the Bible to “love one another” and to “be kind to one another”, etc. Now this may take some practice for you to get this kind of response into your daily acts of disciplining, but this is why it is so important for you to be there and be the one who deals with the daily activities in the lives of your children.

I pray that you will be able to reach the hearts of your children because if you teach and train them from the outside only, the changes will not be permanent. They will fall away when things get a bit tough and soon there will not be much left of the training you have worked to accomplish. Have a great week!

Teach the Young Women to be Obedient to Their Own Husbands

This is a very “new and unique” topic in this present culture! However, it is not unique to God who created male and female and established the rules of how marriage was intended to be!

First of all, notice that it says to be “obedient to their OWN husbands”. This takes us back to our earlier discussion concerning whether women should place themselves under the authority of men who are not their “own” husband in the work place. It is particularly crucial if the other man is going to be requiring time and allegiance that belongs only to your husband. I believe that this gives credence to my earlier statement that women ought to consider this before they take a job outside the home and avoid this circumstance if at all possible!

Now we get to the topic of obedience. This is a bit hard to describe as we live in a culture where these role issues are very distorted and we don’t have a good picture of what this means. Basically, God meant for the relationship between husband and wife to be one big picture, but sin entered in and everything went haywire! God meant for the husband to love his wife as Christ loves the Church and gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25). With that in mind, God gave women the responsibility to submit (obey) to the leadership of her husband (Ephesians 5: 22 and Titus 2:5). However, most husbands don’t know what it means to really love their wives as Christ loves the Church and that makes it very difficult for a wife to submit to her husband. Some husbands think that to obey means that he rules and she is his door mat. Husbands in this culture aren’t being encouraged to be the loving Spiritual leaders of their wives, so in some cases the wife must make her own way and the family submits to her. There are so many issues here, and I am not prepared to confront them all, but I do want to speak to women and I pray that God will use this lesson in your life in whatever circumstance you might find yourself.

Basically, I believe that God designed marriage and that He knows how it works best. He knows that someone must be in charge and someone must follow. He gave it to the husband to be the leader and the wife is to follow. His intention was for the husband to love his wife and lead her in a loving and gentle way and for the wife to respond with loving submission. When sin came into the world, things changed drastically and mankind has never recovered. However, God repeated His design for marriage in the New Testament and it is to be our lifelong desire and goal to obey His desires in this area. God used the example of a marriage relationship as His picture to the world of how much He loves the Church and gave His Son for the Church (Ephesians 5:25). It is therefore VERY important for us as Christians to present to the world an undistorted picture of marriage where the husband loves his wife and she lovingly submits for a lifetime.

As none of us is perfect, we must daily make course corrections in order to keep the picture pure. If we have a husband who is not fulfilling his part of the plan, we must pick up the slack and do the best we can to still respond in a Godly manner. God does not let us off the hook at that point, but He tells us to stay with our husband and do everything we can to win him for the Lord. So, if you have a Godly husband who loves you in a Christ-like way, praise the Lord and do everything you can to keep him happy and to submit to him in a loving manner. If you don’t have a husband who is loving you as Christ loved the Church, then lovingly submit to him anyway and pray for him and do everything you can do to let him see the love of God in you! Remember: You can only control your own attitude and that is your responsibility! God is at work and He will do the work that needs to be done in your husband and He may very well use you to help accomplish that, so be sure you are up to and ready for that task!

I will be away from the computer for a couple of weeks now, so I pray that you are all having a great summer! When I get back, I will start a new series as this pretty well finishes Titus 2. “Talk” to you soon!

Teach the Younger Women to ... Be Keepers at Home

Last week I wrote on being “keepers at home” and I included two thoughts about why I think that is an important concept for all of us women to consider. The first idea that I covered was the fact that working in a place with men other than our husbands makes women vulnerable to the possibility of making relationships with men with whom they work which is not a good thing. I also commented on the fact that God has given women many ministries within and outside of the church and many of those aren’t getting done because so many Christian women are in the work place. If your children are grown and you have a job where you are used for the growth of God’s Kingdom, then praise Him and be sure that you are following the guidelines in the Scripture on how you approach your situation.

Today I want to cover two other reasons that I believe God would have young women to be “keepers at home”. The first one today has to do with the care of your children. I believe with all my heart that mothers and dads should raise their own children. I can’t give you a verse and reference for this thought, but I just know that most all of the guidelines in the Scripture given for parenting are given to parents and not to babysitters! And since God has given the dads the main responsibility of earning the living for the family, that leaves moms home to care for the children. I think that one of the main reasons we are where we are as a culture is that moms have given the privilege of raising their children to others! I don’t care how loving the caretaker you find, she is not going to love and teach your child as you do. And if you think that your child just loves to be out with other children and learning to “socialize”, you may very well be mistaken. From my experience, children love the security of being home and being in the same environment during their formative years! And don’t expect your child to necessarily tell you that. A young baby or young child has no way of expressing himself and you are responsible to do the right thing for him from your own Biblical understanding of what he needs.

Remember the verse I talked about in one of the earlier lessons? Deuteronomy 6:6&7: “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them DILIGENTLY (emphasis is mine) unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” In order to accomplish the intent of this verse, I believe it takes more than the short time and diminished amount of energy that is left after a busy day of doing whatever one might do outside the home. There is so much to teach and so much learning that needs to be taught in order to help protect our children from the culture, we must remember that when God gives us children that becomes our full time job; and though the responsibilities change, we never “retire” from the job of being a mother! By the way, when God wrote through Paul that women are to be keepers at home, I don’t believe He just meant not to have a job outside the home. There are many other ways a woman can violate this principle and you know the areas where you might be crossing the line.

My final thought that I would like to cover on this topic of being a “keeper at home” is also VERY important. When we marry, we willingly put ourselves under the umbrella of the man that God has given us to be our husband. When we work outside the home, we are putting ourselves under the authority of another man who, in most cases, is not our husband. That means that conflicts could arise. What if your boss requires something that conflicts with the desires of your husband? Maybe your boss expects you to travel away from home? What if your boss expects long hours that interfere with your responsibility at home to make the evening meal for your husband? How will you resolve that conflict? In reality, your husband’s desires should trump the requirements of the boss. And please don’t buy the “feel good “ lines of the culture that tell us that if we are both bringing in our “share” of the income, then we both take on “our share” of the household work. Now, there are things at home that men do that we just kind of expect them to do. But in general, women are given the responsibility of keeping the home and making it comfortable for our families. The other consideration on this topic (I kind of covered it last time, but I think it bears repeating) has to do with spending that much time with someone that isn’t your husband and how you must dress for your job. My guess is that if you work in an office, you probably dress more professionally and spend more time “looking good” than you would if you were spending the day home cleaning house. That is just the opposite of how it should be. Your husband deserves your best as you have the most invested in that relationship. “Looking good” in the office is also a bit of a danger as we don’t want to attract the attention of men that aren’t our husbands.

I pray that you will all take these blog entries in the spirit in which they are written. Remember, these are things that I would want my own daughters and grand daughters to know for the protection of their own marriages and for the Spiritual well-being of their own children. You are just sitting in on my very personal “chats” with my girls and I pray that they will be a challenge and an encouragement in your lives! And above all, may God use these feeble words for His Glory in the lives of whoever may read them! Next time I will take a break and do something related to July 4 which has and always will have a very special place in my heart!

Teach Young Women to be Keepers at Home

Part I

Well, we are back home after a wonderful time in Minnesota. Our kids gave my husband and me a little “get away” to Minnesota for our 60th birthdays which are both this year. They planned a B & B for us along with some fun eating, dinner train, riverboat lunch, and even some spending money! We were very touched and thankful for their love and the way they ministered to our hearts!

Now we are back to the subject at hand. The verse is Titus 2:5 which tells the older women to “teach the younger women to be … keepers at home”. I am very passionate about this topic. I was listening to a message by John MacArthur on this topic once and he said, “What does it mean that women are to be keepers at home? It means that women are to be keepers at home!” It is pretty hard to misinterpret this one. I believe that there are several reasons why God encouraged women to be “keepers at home”. I will cover some today and the rest next week.

I do not think that there is a huge problem with women earning money. I do not believe that this is the reason for this teaching. After all, Lydia was a seller of purple and we know other women in Scripture who had opportunities to make money. I do believe, however, that if a woman is going find a way to earn some money, she needs to be very careful where she finds that opportunity.

Now I know that there are extenuating circumstances and different conditions in our culture that require some women to be out in the work force, but I also know that many women are in the work force for many other reasons which do not fall into the category of need! Now let me preface this with a thought that I think is Biblical and that is that I believe this is mainly speaking to younger women who have children growing up in their home. I think it is necessary for obvious reasons for single women to be out working and I think that if an older woman has a job where she can be used openly to promote God’s Kingdom, then these cases fall into a different category. Even in these cases, however, I think this should be approached with a great amount of discernment since we live in a culture where we need to always be on our toes because the prince of this world is always on the prowl for the purpose of destroying homes and families.

For instance, we live in a society where people in the work place think nothing of making relationships with people who are not their spouses and they get fooled into thinking that going out to lunch or having a cup of coffee with another woman’s husband is a very innocent event. Besides the consideration of the children in the home, (which I think I will consider next week as a specific topic) the opportunity for contact with the spouses of other people is one of the other main reasons that I think that God wrote what He did to women. Our eyes should be opened to this danger as we are hearing quite regularly about people who fall into sinful situations with people at work or in other situations where men and women spend a lot of time together. I don’t believe this mandate of women keeping the home only applies to work opportunities. There are many other ways this contact can occur if a woman is out and about too much away from her husband and vice versa. Now do you see why this topic relates to the one about being “chaste”? So, I believe that one good reason God told women to be “Keepers at home” was to preserve our marriages! He knows our sinful natures and He knew what would happen if men and women work 8 hours a day, five days a week in the same office! He knows how easy it is to look to someone else to meet our needs if we perceive that our needs aren’t being met by our spouses! This admonition is for all ladies, even those who are single and those who have raised their children. Be on guard at all times if you are working or otherwise spending time with the husbands of other women.

And if at all possible, don’t be out there at all! Don’t work just so you can have more “stuff” or because you think you are bored at home! This brings up another reason I believe that God told women to “Be keepers at home”. He has given women many ministries within and outside the Church (besides raising children) and many of them are not getting done because so many women have put “things” ahead of people. I have been home for 34 years and I can honestly say that I have never lacked for good things to do. The opportunities for ministry are endless and we just need to respond to God’s guidelines in Scripture and be available to Him and He will keep us busy!
Next week, I will revisit this topic of being a “keeper at home”. There are, of course, issues related to raising children and possibly being under the authority of a man who isn’t your husband. Have a great week and I am keeping you all in prayer.

Loving Your Husband Part III

Loving Your Husband - Part III
(Fun ((and inexpensive)) ways to show your husband that you love him)

Today I am just going to share some ways that I have found to be helpful in showing love to my husband over the 37 years of marriage that we have enjoyed. None of these things are in the Bible, but if they can jog your mind to think of things to do for your own husband, then risking my personal thoughts and ideas is worth it!

First of all, I remember when I was growing up, they told us that “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”. Well, after being married for over 37 years, I am not sure if that is entirely accurate, but I do know that it helps! Since I love to cook, it has been very fun for me to think of things to do related to food that have been an encouragement for him. If cooking isn’t your thing, you probably still like to eat good food. Part of my motivation for cooking good food is that I enjoy eating and I am too frugal (cheap) to buy it all out! There are lots of ways of finding good and fun recipes. There are cookbooks that give the most beautiful and appealing pictures of the food for you to prepare. There are very beautiful food magazines with delicious recipes that aren’t difficult. “Taste of Home” is the one that I thoroughly enjoy. And finally, there are WEB sites where you can find hundreds of recipes for anything you might like to cook! The availability of recipes is boundless!

We live within 10 miles of Lake Michigan, so one of the fun things that we enjoy from time to time is to go to the Lake and eat our supper. I make something cold (wraps, salad, etc.) along with some chips and cookies and we go over and park the car so we can see the lake and we eat our supper. If the weather permits, we often sit at one of the many picnic tables along the channel and enjoy the boats coming and going. I know that you are not all blessed to live near one of the Great Lakes, but you have your own kind of beauty wherever you live. Be sure you enjoy it with your husband/family. We often did this when our kids were still home as well.

We do go out to eat from time to time, but that isn’t our source of happiness, so when we are on the road, we often plan fun things to eat in the car. I plan things similar to the things we eat at the Lake and we enjoy things that I don’t make often when we are home. Instead of always going to a restaurant where we are bombarded with the coming and going of other people, we will just take fun things that aren’t on our “diet” and have a little enjoyment with the food!

Another thing I do to love my husband is to try to schedule my days around his schedule. I try to make sure that my “work” is done before he comes home so that I can be available to be with him and share our evenings together. I love to help him when he has a project around the house and we love to chat about the things going on in our lives. I used to tell my kids that “people are more important than things” and that is especially true in respect to our husbands! No one deserves our best time more than he does!

Finally, we love to do things together like bike riding, walking and camping. These activities are conducive to being able to spend uninterrupted time chatting without the phone and other disruptions.

I am sure that you have your own set of options, but just be sure that you schedule those things into your day! If you always talk about doing things with him in the future it will never happen, because the future never gets here! God will be glorified in the marriage of a husband and wife who are devoted to being together and doing things with each other! That is not a common sight in our culture, so you will be sure to attract others to “see your good works and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven”! Matthew 5:16

“Picnic by the Lake” recipe ideas:

Wraps: 2-4 flour tortillas
2-4 tablespoons sour cream mixed with some dry ranch dressing mix
Spread tortillas with sour cream mixture. Lay a piece of thin smoked turkey over the sour cream. Put some shredded cheddar cheese over turkey and roll up like a jelly roll. Insert a toothpick to hold. Serve with pickles – dill or sweet.

Chicken Salad: The meat from two chicken breast halves cooked and shredded.
1 cup pineapple tidbits OR chopped grapes
½ cup finely chopped celery
½ - 1 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup shredded cheese
½ cup sour cream
½ cup mayonnaise
Mix all of the above and serve over a lettuce leaf or whatever you have to make it pretty.

Love Your Husbands Part 2 - Titus 2:3,4

My last entry was concerning the responsibility for wives to love their husbands. I shared three areas which are important manifestations of your love for him. They were:

Keep yourself looking nice and attractive to him. (And ONLY him!)
Keep your home looking warm and clean for him.
Keep good and enjoyable food on the table.

Today I want to just add a couple more ideas of ways you can love your husband. (There are MANY more. Be creative!)

First of all, loving your husband involves giving him high respect! Scripture doesn’t exactly use the word “respect” but in Ephesians 5:22, we are told to “submit to your own husband as to the Lord”. Is there a better way to show respect than to submit to his desires and plans? I know this is not a popular practice in our culture, but we are under the authority of the Word of God and not under the whims of the culture. I do not want to get into a whole discussion here about wifely submission, I just want to remind us all that God is the final authority on marriage and it was all His plan and design and the ways of the culture haven’t proven themselves to be very sound and don’t have a good track record. So we need to listen to the one Who ordained marriage instead of the culture which is very good at destroying marriages!

The last point that I want to mention today is to pray for your husband and let him know that you are doing just that. I know that many of us know this in our heads, but how often do we actually remember during our busy days to pray for the man that God has given us for our lifetime companion? How often do you remember to thank God for your husband? (While we are on the topic of being thankful, when is the last time you thanked your husband for being your husband?) If prayer is our God-given way to talk with our Heavenly Father, then let’s be sure we come each day to talk with God about the man God has blessed us with and let us allow God to use us to be a blessing to him!

May we all be encouraged to see how God might use some of these thoughts in our marriages as we seek to be the wives that God has called us to be!

Loving Your Husband

In the last entry, I mentioned the fact that Titus 2 admonishes older women to teach younger women to love their husbands and children. Today I want to expand on what it means to love your husband and some practical things you can do to show your husband that you love him. It is, after all, of little use to love your husband if it doesn’t manifest itself in some way so that he can see it!

I am thinking of three areas of practical applications to this principle. They are:
1. Keep yourself looking good to him.
2. Keep the house neat and warm and inviting.
3. Keep good food on the table.

As I expand on the first point, it is necessary for you to remember that if your husband works out of the house, he is exposed at every turn to women who are dressed so as to attract his attention to them in some way! Be up and cheerful and somewhat ready for the day before he leaves so he will have "happy thoughts" of you during his day. It is the right thing for you to be dressed and fixed up in a nice sweet way in order to bring his attention to you as soon as he walks in the door. This does not mean extravagant dressing in the definition of the culture. It just means to present yourself when he comes home as neat and clean and sweet.

The house should be neat and clean as well. This doesn’t mean there is no dust or dirt, but it does mean that he doesn’t have to jump over toys, magazines or see a pile of dirty dishes in the sink or whatever may be your weakness. Be careful of the priorities of your day and make sure that you are “prepared” for his return home at the end of his busy day.

And make the meal attractive and tasty! Make meal time enjoyable! You can serve good food without spending all day and you don’t need a three course meal so as to avoid adding those extra pounds. Just put some thought into it and plan. If you serve soup, make some muffins to go with it! It you serve a sandwich, make a good salad to go with it. Once in a while, serve a roast with mashed potatoes and a pie for dessert. Pies aren’t really hard to make once you get the hang of it. A little time and effort in making things interesting and comfortable may save you a lot of time in court at a later time!

Here are a couple of easy recipes to start:
Chicken Breast Supreme -- One of our favorites
6 boneless chicken breast halves
8 slices dried beef
3 tablespoons real bacon bits
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Grease the bottom of a glass 9 by 13 baking dish. Lay dried beef on the bottom of the dish. Trim chicken and lay on top of beef. Sprinkle with bacon bits. Mix soup, sour cream and cheese and spread over chicken. Bake uncovered at 275 degrees for 3 hours. Serve over rice.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 ½ sticks real butter melted
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
Cream the above.
1 large egg plus one egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
2 cups chocolate chips
½ teaspoon soda
Mix well and add to creamed mixture.
Place 1/3 cup dough on cookie sheet about 2 ½ inches apart. Bake at 325 for 15-18 minutes until edges begin to harden and cookies turn golden brown. Cool cookies on cookie sheets and then remove with large metal spatula. Makes 18 large cookies.