Running requires perseverance

In middle school I used to run track.  I think that they were just looking for warm bodies to put in uniforms.  I wasn't fast enough for sprints.  I could not endure the long distance.  So I was the middle distance runner.  I could run one lap pretty good, not great but okay to finish in the top 5 for middle school students.  Today I run from my daughters when they want to have a tickle fight, to the table when I'm hungry, or in an emergency situation.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12.1 (NIV)

People are watching us.  As believers, people are watching every move we make to see if there is something different about us.  There are many witnesses, both believers and non-believers, who are spectating our lives.  Would they say that we are different from the world?  If they were to go around with us for a day would they be able to tell that we are Christ-followers?

Each of have a course marked out for us.  Each course is different.  Each course is filled with it's own up's and down's, curves and straights, bumps and bruises.  Every course is different like the people who run them.  I know that doesn't sound fair because I would love to run someone else's course because it looks more fun, but that is how God works.  You have a course to run that I can't run.  You have a purpose that only you are meant to fulfill.

This course requires of you endurance and perseverance.  We, the members of the great crowd of witnesses, need you to run the race set before you with perseverance.  We need you to grasp, with all your might, the course that has been set before you today, don't worry about the course around the next turn or over the next hill, look only to the course that is just before you.  We need you to throw off every and anything that is entangling your and slowing your down.  Anything that is causing you to trip up needs to be removed.

It is time for us believers to step up to the line and start the race that has been set before you.  You might have stumbled and quit running.  You might have many bruises or even broken bones, but it is time to get back on the course and keep running.  Trust me, I know about bruises.  I understand the pain of broken bones, both physically and emotionally.  I have experienced my share of hurts and have even taken some time off of the course, or so I thought.  But it is time to get back into the race.

Whether you believe it or not, you have never stopped running the race.  People have always been watching.  They have always been evaluating.  They have always been cheering and encouraging.  Don't quit running!  Don't give up!  We need you to persevere for the saints that have gone on before, the saints that are present today and the saints that are coming after.  Keep running!

Why?

It's the start of a new week.  Yeah! Monday is here again.  That is a statement of mixed emotions.  I am glad to be back working with God's Word, but I really miss my family.  I love being with my family.  I love serving with them.  The question that comes to mind many times in life is, "Why?"  Just like a two-year old asking about doing something, "Why?"

Check out this verse:

Whatever, you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for teh Lord, not for me, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3.23-24 (NIV)

Why do you serve?  Why do you work?  Why do you do the things that you do?

This weekend my family served with Society of St. Andrew (http://www.endhunger.org/) gleaning a citrus grove in DeLand.  It was such an amazing time together with our friends and family gleaning fruit for the homeless.  We found out that fruit we gathered was being sent to Haiti to help with the relief there.  What a great opportunity to serve.

Talking with one of the guys with us, he said that he loves doing things like this.  He gets a good feeling inside when he serves and gives.  I get that same feeling.  That is because we are giving.  We are doing what we were called to do when Christ called us to follow Him.  "What ever you do to the least of these, you have done it to me." (Matthew 25.40).

Again, the question arises, "Why do you do it?"  Do you do it for the recognition of men or God?  Do you serve because you want others to pat you on the back and say what a great job you did, or because our Father rewards us.  It is Jesus Christ we are serving, not men.  We are here serving Him in all we do and with all we say.  Check out Matthew 6.1-4 for more on this subject:

Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them.  If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.  So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.  I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.  Then you Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

 So, what is your motivation?  Are you serving men or God?

Man of Few Words

This has never been said of me.  I have always been told that I talk too much.  My teachers in school would always put an "NI" next to the conduct box for talkative.  My parents would tell me that I just like to hear my own voice.  I love to talk.  But when it comes to prayer, we need, especially me, to take a different approach.

"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God.  Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage.  The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.  The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant.  They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God.  Don't fall for that nonsense.  This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better that you what you need.  With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply." Matthew 6.6-13 (MSG)

Keep it secret and simple.  I've been in churches when some has gotten up to pray and they put on this prayer voice and start using words that I don't hear in everyday speech like Thee, Thou, bountiful, beseech, etc.  What the heck is that?  Do they talk like that normally?  I seriously doubt that.  Many times they put on their special voice because other people are listening.  They do it for those who are within ear shot.

This is what Jesus is talking about in this passage.  To be effective in your prayers we need to be praying in secret and simply.  We don't need to repeat the same words or speak certain phrases over and over again expecting that through repetition that God will answer our prayers.

We need to practice the KISS principle when it comes to prayer: Keep It Secret and Simple.  This will help our heart to focus on our God.  It will help to move our heart away from ourselves and put our desires where they need to be.  The focus of our prayers should be God and His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

Let's close this week and study on prayer with an excerpt from St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer.  This will help us to remember who prayer is about.

Christ be with me, Chris in the front, Christ in the rear, Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me, Christ at my right hand, Christ at my left, Christ in the fort, Christ in the chariot seat, Christ at the helm, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

Just come clean

In high school, I was hanging out in our house with my sister and some friends when we decided it would be a good idea to play with the super bouncy balls in the house.  We were dropping, maybe throwing, them off of the second floor balcony, when the one that I threw knocked a picture of my mom's with a ceramic duck on it.  Unfortunately, the duck fell off the picture.  I got some glue, of course it was craft glue, to glue the duck back on the picture.  Just FYI, craft glue take 10 years to dry completely and isn't made to glue ceramic ducks to tile pictures.

I left it on the counter to dry and when my parents came home I rushed it onto the nail in the hall way.  About 5 minutes later we heard a thud.  You guessed it, the duck hit the floor.  My dad then began the inquisition.  I was wrong for deceiving my parents and enlisting my sister into this charade.  I should have just come clean and let my mom glue it on properly.  Fun thing is, she still has this picture today hanging in her house.

Coming clean is an important part of prayer.  In James 4.1-3 it tells us:

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives... (NIV)

The Message puts rather approriately:

Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to.  You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

 That is so true.  I know that many times I want my own way and my motives are pure at all.  A key component to effective prayer is to possess a pure heart.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 5.8:

"You're blessed when you get your inside world -- your mind and heart -- put right.  Then you can see God in the outside world." (MSG)

We need to not only go to God and ask, but we need to confess our helplessness ("I am helpless.  How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord?  My strength is gone and I can hardly breath." Daniel 10.16b-17 NIV) and our wickedness ("If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear." Psalm 66.18 NIV).  We need to understand our total necessity and total depravity.  We are people of unclean lips (even the best Christian that you know) living among people of unclean lips.  Our confession in the presence of God, our Father, shouldn't be any different than Isaiah found in Isaiah 6:

"Doom!  It's Doomsday!  I'm as good as dead!  Every word I've ever spoken is tainted--blasphemous even!  And the people I live with talk the same way, using words that corrupt and desecrate.  And here I've looked God in the face!  The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!"

At that point an angel flew to him with a live coal from the altar of God and touched his lips.  At point Isaiah could hear the voice of God calling, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?"

The point is that we need to come clean with God.  Whatever we are holding on to is separating us from God.  He won't be able to hear us and we won't be able to hear Him.  It is time to come clean and quit trying to put things together with craft glue and hide our flaws.  Fall on your face in reverence and worship for you have looked God in the face!  The King!  God-of-the-Angel-Armies!  Come clean and hear His voice.

It's all in the asking

When I was in high school, my family had a plan to get a pool.  We (my mom, sister and I) devised a plan to talk to my dad about getting a pool put into our back yard.  Now you have to understand that we lived on top of a hill on 1.29 acres in Fayetteville, GA (out in the middle of no where).  The plan that we had was to take "Daddy's Girl" and have her ask for the pool.  My dad couldn't say no to her.  All she had to do was bat her eyes and ask with her sweet little voice, and Dad was puddy in her hands.  The plan didn't go as expected.  He was on it from the beginning.  After she asked he called us into the living room.  Needless to say, we never did get our pool.  But the point has stuck with me.

When it comes to our relationship with God, it is much like that.  It is all in the asking.  We don't have because we don't ask.  This isn't some weak version of the prosperity gospel, pray for a Porsche and get one kind of thing.  Get a load of these scriptures:

"And when you pray..." (NIV) or "And when you come before God..." (MSG) Matthew 6.5

Jesus expects us to pray.  Prayers is what connects us to God the Father, our Father.  It is what aligns us to Him.  It is like carrying-on a conversation with God where we talk and He listens, and then He talks and we listen.  So when you pray...how do you pray with effectiveness?

Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from?  Do you think they just happen?  Think again.  They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves.  You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it.  You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.  You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you?  And why now?  Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to.  You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way. James 4.1-3 (MSG)

Life is full of wars, fights and quarrels.  It is full of desires and passions that wage war in us.  We see killings all around us (spiritual, emotional, mental and physical) every day.  Life is full of these givens.  So how do we talk with God about this and let Him know our hearts with effectiveness?

We must first ask God.  We need to start talking with God.  Notice the with.  We don't need to treat Him like Santa Claus where we deliver our wish list and get off of his lap grab our candy cane and hope to get what we ask.  We don't need to be hiding in the kitchen while we send Daddy's Girl into to talk with him.  We need to approach the throne of God, our Father, with boldness and confidence.  We are children of God.  So we need to ask.

We need to get over our feelings of insecurity or over confidence.  We need to move past our pride of thinking that we can handle the things of life on our own.  We need to begin to understand that God loves us infinitely and completely.  He cares about our needs.

"Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."  Matthew 6.8

" Prayer doesn't change God, it changes me." C.S. Lewis ("Shadowlands" the movie)

More? No thank you I'm full

Growing up I was trained to eat everything on my plate, even if I did really like it I ate it.  But I never took seconds.  So, when Jen and I were "friends" (that is what we told everyone, but they didn't believe that we were more than just friends), she cooked a delicious meal of 5 cheese pasta.  She used cheeses that I have never heard of or could pronounce.  It was absolutely delicious, but the plate that she made for me was enough for an large Italian family.  I ate all of it because it was delicious and she made it.  She asked me for seconds and I answered that I couldn't eat any more if I wanted to.  She then asked me why I didn't like it.  I couldn't believe it.  My mom shared my secret with her.  I loved it, but I couldn't fit any more in if I tried.

Ever been there?  Wanting more but not being able to fit it?  Check out this scripture:

Why is everyone hungry for more?  "More, more," they say.  "More, more."  I have God's more-than-enough, more joy in one ordinary day then they get in all their shopping sprees. (Psalm 4.6-8 MSG)

Do you realize that you have more than enough in God?  I get so caught up in my days some times that I don't take notice that God is at work around me and in me and through me.  I don't need anything else.  I have all of God living in me, active in my life.  It is so easy to get caught up in the mad rush to accumulate stuff that I miss the point that I have enough - no more than enough.  I couldn't fit any more of God in me because I have all of Him there is.  I just don't recognize or utilize His presence in my life.

I used to sing this song to the girls when they were little as I rocked them to sleep.  This is so true.  Think about these words today as you go through your day.  Recognize that you have God's more-than-enough in your life already.

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You are my supply
My breath of life
And still more awesome than I know
You are my reward
worth living for
And still more awesome than I know

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You’re my sacrifice
Of greatest price
And still more awesome than I know
You’re the coming King
You are everything
And still more awesome than I know

More than all I want
More than all I need
You are more than enough for me
More than all I know
More than all I can say
You are more than enough for me

Shine like Stars?

Okay, as if I need more convincing, I am not perfect.  I know that this information may catch many of you off guard, but I'm not - even in my most righteous of moments I fall short.  This may surprise you as well, but no one is.  By now you are wondering what happened to give me this revelation.  I'm going to give you the cliff notes on last night.

I came home to my downstairs neighbors music thumping so loud that we could hear the lyrics to the songs in our apartment.  This went on for over 3 hours (6:30-9:30) with us doing everything we could to get their attention, but they wouldn't come to the door to turn it down.  Finally, at 9:30 there was a confrontation between me and the neighbor, because of my pounding on his front door as if to wake the dead.

The neighbor poked his nose out of the blinds and I asked him to please turn down the music.  He opened the front door and proceeded to tell me that he would and that they just turned it on, to which I replied, "No sir, it has been on since 6:30 and we've been knocking since 7:45PM."  He proceeded to talk about my daughters and how they make so much more noise for them.  So basically, he is stooping down to the level of a couple of elementary school age girls (6 & 9).  I didn't like how he was talking about my girls and telling me to "control them".  I don't remember what I said next, but I know that my tone was not the best and that my adrenaline was pumping so hard, because he is a big guy and I thought that it was going to break into something more than just spoken words.

When I got back upstairs the only thing that I could think about was, "Did I represent Christ or His love in that encounter, my first encounter face to face, with our neighbor?  Did how that go down help to point him toward Christ?"  This has been tugging at my heart since last night.  Check out this passage from Galatians 5.22-26 (NIV):

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

I am batting 100% for not having those qualities alive in me last night.  I was way past my point of fruit of the Spirit.  Then I thought, or better rationalized, that my behavior was protecting my daughters and family.  Yeah that is what I was doing.  But really?

Paul goes on to write in Philippians 2.14-16:

Do everything without complaining or arguing, (NIV) (readily and cheerfully -- no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! MSG) so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life (Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society.  Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. MSG)

Ouch! That hurts.  So I didn't start the confrontation with him in the right manner.  How would I expect him to respond when some one is banging on his door with obvious frustration and anger?  How would I expect the conversation to go when it was started with anger on both sides?

How are you shining?  Are you shining so that people receive a breath of fresh air?  Are you holding out the word of life?  Are you providing people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God?

None of us are perfect, but all of us are forgiven. Forgiven by He who exemplifies the fruit of the Spirit.  To forgive takes more than just saying, "I'm sorry."  It takes humility and the acceptance of peoples flaws.  We are called to be Christ-like and Christ is the epitome of forgiveness.  Give those around you a glimpse of God, both in you and through you.

Inward vs Outward?

As a child my family would go to the beach every year around the July 4th holiday.  Because my birthstone is chalk I  would burn just getting out of the car and walking into the hotel room.  I would then spend the daylight hours in the hotel room waiting for the night hours, because the I've never heard of anyone getting a moon-burn.  I stayed in the room unless I was covered from head to toe with sunscreen and had a long sleeve shirt, hat and socks (which I swam in).  I wanted to stay in because I was hurting.

Now because of the scars (emotionally not physically), I don't like the beach.  I don't like the sun.  I would rather head to the mountains than the beach.  Give me shade.  I'll go to the beach if there is significant shade for me to hide under, and I live in sunny Orlando, Florida - the sunshine state.  Don't tell me that God doesn't have a sense of humor.

Life is hard!  We all have been burned at some point.  You have been hurt by people to the point that you don't want to put yourself out there again.  It is easy to become overwhelmed with your hurt and then turn your focus and attention inward.  It is easy to put YOUR problems at the forefront of your mind and attention.

We used to sing a song, in jest, around our house when we would get like this.  "It's all about me, Jesus.  And all of this is for me, for my glory and my fame.  It's not about You, as if I should do things Your way."  This is a direct reflection of the struggle of life.  We say that we are Christians with our mouths and even our church attendance, but when it comes down to it, we are so wrapped up in our own thoughts and problems that we are not focused on those around us.

Check out this verse:

Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything?  does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it?  For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend!  Be clothed in Christ!  Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup -- where does that get you?  Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?...Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove...The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse.  Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse. James 2.14-17, 18b, 26

  As Christians we are human as well.  We battle to keep the main thing the main thing.  We have issues and struggles.  We lose focus on what is really important.  We are here to be the witnesses of Christ - to be His hands and His feet - to be His ambassadors.  As Christ taught us to pray, "Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."  We are the instruments that God chooses to use to bring His will to earth.

My mind is wrapped and bogged down with the weight of life so many times that I miss the opportunities that God is putting in front of me every day to show others Him.  I get so consumed with my own life, that I am like that person that Paul just described.  I don't mean to, but I'm just giving lip service to people's needs.  Emotionally, spiritually, physically and/or mentally I don't have what it takes to help them at the moment.

I am self-absorbed.

It is time to break out of the inward focused life and start looking up.  It is time for us to open our eyes to people around us.  It is time for us break out of our shells and start recognizing the people around us need us and what we have - Jesus Christ, our hope and salvation.

Playing Pretend

As a little boy I remember using all of my mom aluminum foil to wrap plates and sticks so I had a sword and shield to fend off the dragons in our yard. Today, my daughters have an entire drawer dedicated to dress-up clothes. As a little girl, Abby did a dress up tea party that I came home for lunch to attend. It was amazing to wear a crown and pink feather boa and drink tea from little cups. We laughed and had a great time, but it was only pretend.

We like to pretend a lot. Many of us would like to stay in pretend mode because the reality of life is hard. But when it comes to being a Christian, we can't pretend that. It is time to stop pretending and start being.

Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish veneer." Matthew 23:1-3

This is where many of are. We talk a good talk, but we don't live it out. It is either out of fear of rejection or embarrassment or something else that we don't live it out in front of people. Usually I want people to like me, and I don't want to offend them with my faith. But seriously, those are excuses that I tell myself to make myself feel better.

Check out this from James 1.22-25:

Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear. Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God--the free life!--even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.

We need to stop pretending to be what we are not. It is time to stand up for God and be His follower no matter what the cost to us. Let's quit playing pretend church and start being the church. Let's start living what we believe. Imagine how different life would be if we lived what we believed.

We are the answer

Growing up my parents would take me to my great, great aunt and uncle's house in Georgia. They lived on 20 acres outside of Atlanta. This was a huge thing for a city boy like myself to head to the country. It was definitely interesting. I remember eating big southern country breakfasts (toast, eggs, grits, molasses, honey, fig preserves, etc.). Then we would head out into the field to pick corn, okra, beans, watermelon, squash, snap peas - you get the idea. It was fun for this city boy to head to the field and harvest the food that would be cooked for supper.

The fields are where I still am - and where you are as well. Check out this passage from Matthew 9.35-38:

Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. "What a huge harvest!" he said to his disciples. "How few workers! On your knees and pray for the harvest hands!"

That is usually where we stop reading that story. It is convenient because that is where Chapter 9 stops. But we have to continue to Chapter 10, verse 1. It is a critical component in this story.

The prayer was no sooner prayed than it was answered. Jesus called twelve of his followers and sent them into the ripe fields. He gave them power to kick out the evil spirits and to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives.

What a great verse. The prayer was no sooner prayed and it was answered with the followers of Christ being sent out into the fields to kick out evil spirit and tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives. So, this leads me to a question for myself and you,

"How are you doing in the fields? How are you doing at tenderly - yes tenderly - caring for the bruised and hurt lives of those around you?"

Many times I just walk through the mall, my neighborhood, my church, even my own home, and miss the bruised and hurt lives of those around me. Some times I add to the bruises and hurts. I am definitely not tender in my care of people. I definitely don't have a broken heart when I people watch at the mall, restaurant, or ball park. I have to admit that many times I'm so wrapped with my own bruises that I don't care to see others.

This is a huge problem. Because the call of the harvest is still going out today. Check out what Christ said as some of his final words on this earth:

Jesus, undeterred, when right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

You and I have all been commissioned to go into the fields. We have all been given the authority of the Father to drive out the evil spirits of this world and mend the bruised and hurting lives of those around us.

Think about this as you walk through the mall, halls of your work, or the living room of your home.

Be careful little lips what you say

I remember this little song when I was a kid, "Oh be careful little eyes what you see..." What a great song. It should serve today as a reminder to me, but like many things from my childhood, I've moved on and gotten too busy to remember them. I have learned that lesson but it doesn't apply to me today, or so I think many times.

Ephesians 4.29-32 is a great set of verses that I forget many times. Check this out, "Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted. Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you."

WOW! I know 4.29, but to think that in the middle of all of that Paul tells me not to grieve, or break the heart of, God - to not take the most intimate gift of God's presence in my life through the Holy Spirit for granted. Then he follows that up with my words again. There must be a connection between my words and God's heart.

Many times it isn't what I say, but how I say it. Notice that Paul asks us to make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk - to be gentle with one another, sensitive. This is no easy task. You talk about a New Year's Resolution...watch what you say and how you say it. Especially with those that you love the most. We think that we talk however we want to with them because they will always love us. We treat them many times with less care than we do a complete stranger. I am tired of this in my life. I want my family to know that I love them because they hear it in my voice and my words.

Think about making this your New Year's Resolution.

O be careful little mouth what you say
O be careful little mouth what you say
There's a Father up above
And He's looking down in love
So, be careful little mouth what you say