Cathy Baker has become a delightful online friend to me. She's also an encourager who loves others. She is an experienced Bible teacher who’s led community and church studies for twenty years. As an award-winning poet, she delights in observing God at work in the nuances of life and sharing those observations through writing, blogging, and hosting Scripture-themed tea parties. Pop over to Cathy's blog and be blessed by her ministry.
Would
you talk to your friends the way you talk to yourself?
When
Tracy, my Weight Watchers leader, posed this question to our group, an arrow
doused in truth punctured the bullseye encircling my heart.
Truth
is, if I spoke to my friends the way I “speak” to myself at times, I’d be a
very lonely woman.
I can’t
imagine telling someone I care about that they’re overweight, lacking in
talent, or less of a person because a degree isn’t packed away in their
attic—yet I have no qualms with speaking those things into my own life.
Tracy’s
question awakened a reality within me that often dozes off when tested:
Words—spoken or unspoken—do but one of two things: build up or tear down.
“With
the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have
been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My
brothers, this should not be.” James
3:9,10
When we
tear ourselves down, speak lies into our being, God’s greatest desires for us
can be sabotaged, and what's worse, we insult the One who made us in His
likeness.
Sisters,
this should not be.
“Friends,
let’s make a promise today not only to cultivate the inner beauty God desires
to see in us, but also to search for the beauty in each other. After all, we’re
family, and families stick together.” - Vonda Skelton, Seeing
Through The Lies
No comments:
Post a Comment