• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Blue House Blog

believer | creating a home of peace, health, abundance and beauty | laughing a lot

  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Truth
    • Contact Me
  • Recipes
    • Trim Healthy Mama
    • Nourishing Traditions
  • My Home
    • Remodeling
    • Before and After
  • The Fine Print
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy
    • Media
  • Shop

Legalism, My First Fiction Story, and Mrs. Needlenose.

Melissa Beene Ford/ Uncategorized

I wrote my first fiction story a little over a year ago, and this was it.

The story still hasn’t been finished, but I thought of it yesterday when Pastor David was talking about legalism, and I thought my story deserved a re-post.

Enjoy. 😉
~~~~~~~~

Once upon a time, in a small town in East Texas, there lived a very righteous and upstanding family: the Needlenoses.

Everyone knew the Needlenose family was righteous and upstanding because every Sunday, they were at the big Baptist church downtown. And not only was the righteous and upstanding Needlenose family at church, they were front and center at church….sitting in a nice neat row in their pew… every single Sunday.

Because they were so righteous and upstanding, the Needlenose family followed ALL the rules.

The most important rule of all, of course, being, “Thou shalt attend a big Baptist church every single Sunday.” There were other lesser rules, of course, most of them involving church attendance in one way or another (“Men shalt wear a suit and tie to church, and women shalt never wear pants, and neither shalt deviate from the dress code,” and the like), but it would take more trees than there are in all the rainforests to print a volume of encyclopedias large enough to contain all of the rules the Needlenoses were so careful to follow so thoroughly.

“Yes,” everyone thought, “that Needlenose family sure is righteous and upstanding… one must only check their pew on Sunday morning to know for sure.”

And the whole town was filled with admiration for the Needlenose family, who NEVER missed church, and NEVER broke the rules.

And out of the whole Needlenose family, the most righteous and upstanding of them all was Mother Needlenose. Everyone knew she was the most righteous and upstanding of them all because of the holy and pious way she glared her disapproval at the sinners through her monacle, down past her long nose, that struck fear and trembling into their very souls.

Of all the character qualities spoken of in the Bible, Disapproval was Mother Needlenose’s favorite. In fact, Mother Needlenose considered Disapproval to be her spiritual gift and because Disapproval was so very ingrained into her character, she had absolutely no need nor room in her personality for Joy, Peace, Patience, much less Love or Kindness, or any of those other nonsensical, non-essential character qualities.

And it was because of her disapproval of all things and all people that caused those who knew her to stand in amazement at Mother Needlenose’s righteousness, because everyone knows that the most righteous and upstanding children of the Lord are the most disapproving, because the truly righteous and upstanding cannot tolerate those who break the Rules, or even think of breaking the Rules.

To prove how upstanding and righteous she was, Mother Needlenose didn’t limit her disapproval only to sinners. No, her disapproval was evenly distributed amongst Jews and Gentiles, saints and sinners, and under the piercing glare of her monacle, no one was sinless enough to avoid Mother Needlenose’s stern disapproval.

It was, after all, her spiritual gift.

The church itself often came under Mother Needlenose’s scrutiny, as she disapproved of the WMU having an auction ~ yes, an auction! ~ to raise money for missions, because auctions are gambling, and Mother Needlenose did NOT approve of gambling. And she let the WMU know about it.

She disapproved of a young bride being allowed to have a bottle of sparkling cider in the church in her going-away picnic basket, because the bottle looked like a champagne bottle, and whether or not it was actually an alcoholic beverage was irrelevant, because Mother Needlenose disapproved of even the appearance of something as evil as alcohol. And she let the young bride know about it.

However, as helpful as her spiritual gift of Disapproval was within the church, she reserved the full force of her gift of Disapproval for the edification and building up of her husband and children, and eventually the spouses of her children.

To be continued. Click here to go to part two…

Recent Posts

  • Ask
  • Two Natural Ways to Cope with Grief
  • Covers Over
  • God vs Earthly Parents
  • For they are ever with me

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

About Me


Hey there... I'm Melissa! Texas girl. Mom to three + one goldendoodle. Believer. Old house fanatic. Creating a happy + healthy home with purpose is my passion. I'm so glad you're here!

Be sure to subscribe to emails so you don't miss a post!

Search for Something

ARCHIVES

I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 years of paint off of this door down to the wood and start over… but that person has no business starting new projects. 😅 My neighbors must have thought this project would never end. *I* thought this project would never end. 😰 If you’re thinking of doing this yourself? Just don’t, ok? Throw the whole door away and buy a new one. 😂🤣 Just kidding.  Old house weirdos like me… we can’t just do things the easy way. Anyhoo… after some trial and error, @sherwinwilliams Celestial is what I landed on, and I have to say… I like it. Periwinkle-ish blue looks great with the yellow house and will look even better when the azaleas are in bloom. Was it all worth it? That’s not important right now. 🤭 Will I do this all again in two years? The magic eight ball says… without a doubt. 👏🏻 I’ve already picked the next color. #gluttonforpunishment #somefoolsneverlearn #oldhouselove #oldhomelove #makinghome #southernliving #gardenandgun #azaleadistrict #tylertx
Spring in the Azalea District makes the winters in Spring in the Azalea District makes the winters in an 80-year-old house completely worth it … what broken pipes, icy hardwood floors and drafty windows? 🤔 I forgot already. #comeonspring #azaleadistrict #tylertx
Happy Saturday ☀️ Happy Saturday ☀️
Salt Lake City is always magical ✨ Salt Lake City is always magical ✨
2022 had its highs and lows for sure, but scrollin 2022 had its highs and lows for sure, but scrolling through my pics from the last twelve months made me realize how blessed and content I am. Prosperity, love, and peace have been ours in abundance, in spite of the pain of losing my dad. The second picture is the last picture of him… the last time I saw him. 💔 But God has been good to my family this year and 2022 is ending far better than it began. 😄 #2022inreview #thanksforthememories
Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍ Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍♀️
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
That’s it. That’s the tour. (Slide two). 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s a new trend I’m starting: bare Christmas tree. Lowe’s tag still attached (so quirky and unexpected)! Christmas ornaments still in boxes. Coming soon to an Anthropologie window display near you. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Every year I think, “next year I’ll do better. Next year I’ll have it together.” And then, here we are on the SIXTH Christmas that we’ve been in this house, the sixth Christmas I’ve dragged our chaotic bunch of Christmas mess out of a chaotic garage I still haven’t unpacked from our move six years ago. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Maybe this year is the year I’ll organize it all and put it back neatly so that by Christmas number 7, it will be smooth sailing. People will flock to my social media to see how I’ve pulled everything off SO PERFECTLY. Next year will be my year. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Seems every year there’s less and less bandwidth for all these things. There’s more grief and stress, less money. More demands, less grace. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I put this sign on the wall in my office so I could keep it in front of my eyes: Love. Joy. Peace. And all that. I am SO unlike Jesus most days. So lacking in all of these character qualities. And that’s WITH waking up most mornings and spending my first 30 minutes with God Himself. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
How lost would I be without that? Geez. I can’t fathom. I REQUIRE being transformed by renewing my mind every single morning, and even then, responding to people and life with love, joy, peace and patience doesn’t come naturally. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s the goal, though. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This weary world needs that from us Believers during this season, more than ever… even more than an Anthropologie-window-display worthy Christmas home tour. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I’m working on both.
Instagram post 18046618504353300 Instagram post 18046618504353300
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 · Ella Theme by Code + Coconut