Say What ?

August 2021

Careful what you say now!

Watch how you speak to people!

Think about what you are going to say before you say it; once it is said you can’t unsay it!

Every generation trains the next in proper conversation that delivers truth in a compassionate manner.

The outgoing brave child will glance at those requests but not curb who they are to express all that is within them. The more timid will be so unsure not wanting to do the wrong thing that they determine to maintain a safe silence; and the middle majority will swing back and forth between both extremes.

Parents, grandparents and teachers are not the only ones to show an interest in our words. The Bible has a lot to say about what we should and should not say. To whom it should be said and how it should be said.

The Book of Proverbs speaks much of our need for wisdom as we walk through life. Did you know there are 31 chapters in the Book of Proverbs? When you arrive at a month that has 31 days try reading a chapter from Proverbs each of those 31 days, especially if you have teenage children as God has packed that book with all the wisdom you will ever need for living life.

The Message translation of Matthew 12:36 warns that “It’s your heart, not the dictionary, which gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.”

There are many times when we say words casually as “part of our way of speaking” that actually are not the truth and can become a self-fulfilling prophecy in our bodies and circumstances. Phrases like “you will be the death of me” or “I was scared to death” or “I think I am going crazy”. Matthew 18: promises that whatever we say, we will have. The centurion seeking the help from Jesus for his sick servant knew Jesus could not come into his home without compromising his Jewish faith and told Jesus “just say the word and my servant will be healed”. The first chapter of John identifies Jesus as ‘The Word made flesh”. Remember in Genesis when God the Father and Jesus, spoke the levels of creation and the Holy Spirit hovered over the ‘deep’ or void and waited on the words from Jesus such as “Let there be light” and “Let there be fish in the sea” and then the Spirit of God acted on that word and brought to reality what had been spoken. There are many stories of successful men and women that confirm that as teenagers or young children they had already spoken that ‘when I grow up I am going to …’.

If you have having problems in life today, why not do an audit of what you are saying on a regular basis and ask God to help you become aware of those words that are allowing negative events into your relationships and circumstances. If you pray sincerely God will be certain to help you know the areas of vocabulary that you need to prune from your conversation and the Bible will be a great source of replacements and just as you watch a pruned bush in the garden, it won’t be long before the fresh shoots will appear and there will be changes visible to you and those around you.

David and Cherie Rodway

Perfecting the Flourish

July 2021

Up until the late 1900s it was mandatory that every child was taught to write in cursive. Not so much these days as we continually simplify so that children are not given the opportunity to be stretched and accomplished, but that is another story. 

I loved to take a clean piece of paper and cover it with words that used letters with flowing tails and capitals that had flourishes.  The word July was perfect for this.  It is short but it has opportunity to demonstrate flourishes both beginning and end.  July!  ​​You can choose a different colour on each letter or use a special pen and ink. So much fun in creating something special. Something that is the product of your own imagination and executed by you.  Don't settle for the pedestrian ordinary in life. Put a little extra effort into the end result.  Give it some thought and find that little something that says this event was created by me to give a little of the essence of me to another person.  It might be the words of encouragement you share with someone on a grey day. A bigger smile for a person who looks like life is not being fair right now. Allowing a mother with her hands full of young restless toddlers to go ahead of you in the line at the grocery store.  It might be what you don't do that gives you the flourish of a sensitive person. Not making a hasty retort in the heat of the moment. Not pointing out the obvious flaw in something someone has done their best to create. 

There are many ways you can be a flourish on the page of life today. You just have to set your mind to it.

The Bible encourages us with the words "whatever you do, do it with all your heart and bring praise to your Heavenly Father" . Matthew 5:16 says that when people see our good efforts they will glorify God, or in other words, we bring their attention to the goodness of the God that lives within us.

Have you ever written your name in cursive writing?  Why not find some paper right now as you are pausing to read this blog and try it out.  You might be surprised how good it looks and you will find a smile on your face just because.

David and Cherie Rodway

Revealing The Bottom Line

June 2021

For those of us that work in accounts or maybe own a business, June is a popular month for pausing and checking the bottom line.  There will always be bosses that might wish they could trade a few more months because they have hope that business is going to improve and that the bottom line will look much more attractive to interested parties when the sales have increased. 

It is common among all of us that we want to buy time to improve our situation when we get to the point of testing the truth. It can start in school. We didn't listen as we should have in class and it was much more fun playing outside than hitting the books and anyway, there is time yet. But suddenly, the reality hits. Tests commence next week! Remorse will never add to our knowledge. Only one thing does that. Get the books out and shut yourself away and use your best strategy to learn and retain maximum information.

In life, the test doesn't come at any one month or season. It is random. But we all have those instances of sudden financial crunch or shocking news from the doctor or that phone call that pulls the rug from under you. That is when you will know how strong the bottom line is in your life.  Has your account of faith in God been receiving regular deposits and growing and increasing so that you can reach into the deposit of God in your soul and encourage yourself. That is what David did when he and his army returned home after a long time of fighting only to find that his own village had been plundered and the women and children of all his men had been taken away by the enemy.  The Bible says that David went to a place on his own where he encouraged himself in his God.  When he had received the directions from God he was in a better place to return to his men and encourage them and inspire them to follow his commands.

What is your bottom line going to reveal when you reach the moment of test.  The Bible says that God's desire for us is that we have health and are prosperous according to the health of our soul.  Our soul is our mind, will and emotions. The expression of who we are.  When our soul is well schooled in God and his Word and his Ways we will not be destroyed in that moment but the challenge will be a magnet to the strength of God and his power.  The words we have already read in the Bible will come to mind by the power of the Holy Spirit, our comforter and teacher, and we will be able to strengthen ourselves in Him and not be over-run with fear and despair. Your life is not a series of events that self propel by itself. It is an opportunity for you to make God your source and cause the events of your life to glorify God and be a blessing to those around you and show God's goodness.  Don't be anxious. Don't fear. Don't sit and wait for the next bad thing. God has invested in you with the death and resurrection of His only Son, Jesus and he is very interested in you winning in every situation of life. He is working with you to give your a strong bottom line.

David and Cherie Rodway