Careless Words: We Must Learn to Bridle Our Tongues

Careless Words

It is amazing how much we can learn about God from children. As I watch my students each day, I learn so many lessons from them until it is almost mindboggling. Just the other day I learned 2 valuable ones from one of my students. This is the first one. Careless words can hurt and they can destroy.

I know you are probably thinking that we all know that. True. But, it is still a lesson worth repeating. Children don’t seem to realize that the little thing in their mouths called a tongue can get them into a world of trouble. The Bible says in James 3: 4-7: Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. 5So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.…

One of my students learned this lesson after she decided to announce to the class how much she wished I would go away. This little announcement came as the result of my correcting her inappropriate behavior. Once the words were out of her mouth, the write up slip was filled out and sent to the principal’s office. Next, the call was made to her coach and to her parent. In the end, she was severely punished for not controlling her tongue.

Yes, we all get angry. Yes, we all think evil thoughts at times. Sometimes those evil thoughts are about our boss, our co-workers, our fellow church members, and even our spouses. However, we don’t just say these things out loud. If we did, it could have disastrous results. We could lose our jobs, our spouses, and our places in society. There are so many marriages and relationships that have been brought to ruins over careless words~careless whispers. So, what do we do?

First, as Christians, we learn to bridle our tongues. We pray and ask God to help us when our boss or our spouse or our co-worker is getting on our last nerves. We ask him to show us why we don’t like our neighbors. You would be surprised at the answer.

This brings me to the second thing we must do: Pray. Several years ago there was a nurse that I worked with. Without knowing why, I talked about her negatively all the time. I was constantly pointing out her faults and talking down about her to my family and friends. One day, this question popped into my head: “Why does this woman irritated you so much?” I stopped and gave this question some serious thought. Then, the answer came to me.

 I didn’t like this young woman because I was jealous of her. I was jealous of the fact that she didn’t have children and could do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. I had a small child, and my activities centered around caring for him. I was jealous of the fact that she had more money left over after she paid her bills. I was jealous of the fact that her parents had bought her a car, and my parents had not been able to do the same for me. I had had to purchase my own car and pay my own bills. Yes, I was jealous.

Once this reality came to me, I learned to control my tongue, and I stopped talking about her. I prayed and God showed me that I also had many things to be thankful for.

The tongue is such a dangerous thing. It can lead us to success or it can lead us to death. We must learn to choose our words wisely.

Lessons about God I Learned from My Children: Part 2

 

 

It is amazing what we can learn from children. I did a post earlier on one of the lessons about God that I learned from my oldest son. Well, just the other day, one of my students also taught me about the ways of God. One of my female students spotted the school secretary in the hall. She jumped out of her desk and declared that she just had to speak to the school secretary. I informed that student that she could not speak to the secretary. For one thing, this was during class time and as a teacher, we protect that time. For another, the secretary was headed into another teacher’s room. I was not going to let my student interrupt another teacher’s class for something trivial. I had to tell her to have a seat 3 times before she finally gave up and sat down. The thing was- I was going to let her speak to the secretary anyway after she came out of the classroom next door.  Not only was I trying to prevent the loss of class time, but my main goal was to get my hard-headed student to obey. I needed to let her see that we can’t always have things the instant we want them, and I was going to share this with her. Sadly, as soon as she sat down, she instructed another student to call the secretary for her. I looked at her and shook my head. This killed my plan to bless her. This demonstrated her lack of patience and confidence in me. So, now I was really reluctant to let her speak to the secretary.

I couldn’t help but think about how we act. How we, as Christians, act just like this little girl. We ask God for something. He doesn’t give it to us instantly, and like Abraham, we become impatient and try to do things in our own power. God knows when we are ready to receive our blessing. And, he knows when our blessing is ready for us. Sometimes, he tells us to wait because it is not the right season. He is going to bless us, but we have to be patient. Sometimes, he is just testing our hearts. Sometimes, he just wants us to obey. I am guilty of being impatient. I often want what I want when I want it. Thankfully, God is helping me to learn how to wait on him because he knows what is going on behind the scenes. So, you see there is so much that we can learn from children.

 

Genesis 16 (Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar)

1 Samuel 15:22 (Obedience is better than sacrifice)

Luke 11: 13 (Our father gives good gifts)

Ecclesiasts 3 (There is a season for all things)

Isaiah 40:31 (Those that wait upon the Lord)

Destiny and Address

 

God is Not Limited to an Address

When I was growing up, I can remember wanting to leave Mississippi as fast as I could. I knew that I was from a small town and that there was no way that I could make my dreams come true living here. Well, things did not go as I had originally planned. I am still in the great state of Mississippi. However, I have made a shocking discovery. I am able to make my dreams come true even while living right here in Mississippi.

I always wanted to become a writer. I just couldn’t figure out how I could get my work published and live here. For years, I thought my dreams were lost to me. I took my son, who was sixteen years old at the time, to convince me that I could make my dreams come true. He pushed me to pursue my dream. One day he said to me, “Momma, why haven’t you published any of your work.  You need to get out there and do something.  Send your work in and see what happened.  Don’t give up on your dream”.  I remember thinking again, how can I make it when I live here. Then, out of the blue, I discovered an article on The Krazy Coupon Lady that described how to become a freelance writer for online companies. I took a risk and tried it. From that point forward, I became a content writer for two different online companies, Yahoo Voices and Helium Network. I also started publishing in our local paper.

What I learned from all of this ways that it is not the address. It is the determination. It is the drive, and it is destiny. God is not limited to an address. It is does not matter if you live in New York City, San Francisco, Atlanta, or a small town in Mississippi. God can make your dreams come true. So, the next time you want to just pack up and move, ask yourself is this where God wants me to be. Is God too small to work where I am? Does an address really matter?

No, an address is not a handicap. God can find you where you are. He can help you find your destiny where you are. Lesson learned!

Leaving a Legacy Behind: Things We Must Leave Our Children

A few years ago, I wrote an article called “Legacies” for Yahoo Voices. In this article, I talked about a family from Kemper County whose parents had left them a lasting legacy of love, pride, and service. How wonderful it must be to be left with a legacy like that. As parents, it is our job to leave a lasting and positive legacy for our children. We should strive to ensure that our offspring is better off than we were to begin with.

Yes, I know we may have struggled, and many of us feel that our children are not any better than we are. But, did you ever stop to think how different your life would have been if you had been left with a positive legacy? Did you ever wonder how much further along you would be if your parents had provided a better financial foundation for you?

Well, I do. I think about all of those people who inherited their grandma’s house or their parents’ old car. I think about the money I would have saved. I also think about how much better off financially I would have been if someone had only taught me to budget my money when I was younger. No, I am not crying over spilled milk. The past is the past. And, I believe in moving forward. As my mother once said, you can’t drive a car if you are constantly looking back.

What I would like to do, however, is ensure that my children don’t have the same struggles. No, we should no give our children everything they want. No, we should not make them lazy. Yes, we should encourage them to work and make a living. But, we should make it a goal to leave them a legacy of honesty, hard-work, integrity, and financial and spiritual wisdom. We must educate our children on how to budget. We must teach them how to have a good work ethic. We must teach them respect. We must teach them be empathic to their fellowman.

So, as parents, we shouldn’t waste all of our substance (money/knowledge) on ourselves. We should provide a financial and spiritual legacy for our children.

http://voices.yahoo.com/leagacies-11617932.html

http://voices.yahoo.com/ending-cycle-poverty-indentifying-cause-12028759.html

http://voices.yahoo.com/ending-cycle-poverty-among-african-americans-11980800.html

Luke 15:11-32
Proverbs 13: 22

Lessons about God from My Own Children

 

 

I learn more and more about God each day from my children. I can remember one time being so angry with my oldest son. He said some things he shouldn’t have said. And, I remember thinking that I was done with him. If he wanted to act like an adult, then I was going to treat him like one. He could provide for himself. He could pay his own bills. I was finished. However, as I was driving to work, it came to me that despite what he had said or what he had done, he was still my son. I loved him in spite of his wrong attitude and wrong way of thinking. And, I remember thinking that this is how God is. He loves us even when we mess up and fall. He loves us despite our faults. I am not saying that we should never punish our children or let them do whatever they want. Because even though God does love us, he punishes us for our wrong doing. It is when we recognize our wrong and repent, he welcomes us back. And, just as these thoughts were crossing my mind that day, my cellphone rang. It was my son calling to apologize for his behavior.

The Birds Got It Right

You know life is kinda funny. As women, we work so hard to get noticed by men and other people. But, if you pay attention to nature, you would see that things are different. As I watching a group of birds the other day, I realized that the birds got it right. The male of the species is the most brightly colored. This is to attract the attention of the female bird. How much easier it would be if we women didn’t have to put so much effort into attracting the opposite sex. The reality is that men should have to work hard to earn our affections, our attention, and our goodies.