TWO BY FOUR TO THE HEAD...

Ever feel like the whole world is closing in on you... that everyone is "out to get you" and a few of them already have?  We've all been there... life get's hectic and you take a few hits you didn't see coming and the next thing you know... you're scrutinizing everything around you and you become hyper-sensitive to the slightest negativity.  We are all responsible for our OWN feelings but in turn we are responsible for how OUR words and actions affect others. We are to be as wise as serpents but as gentle as dove.  This is a bit of a balancing act and sometimes it's hard to know where you stand.  My Pastor once gave me an analogy that has stuck with me for 15 years.

"If you hit someone in the head with a two by four, does it hurt?"  You bet it does!!! "If you hit someone in the head with a two by four on accident, does it hurt?"  Well... of course... it still hurts.

If we think of words and actions this way, it becomes apparent that we may need to pay a little more attention to what we say and how we say it.  It does make a difference. The Bible says that the power of life and death is held in the tongue, which means we are either speaking life or we are speaking death to or about one another.  The Bible also says we eat good the fruit of our lips, meaning we will eat the words we speak.  If we are speaking rotten, ugly things over someone, that fruit isn't going to taste too good when it comes back around and we have to eat those things.  But if we are speaking life and positivity, etc. those words are going to be very palatable going down.

I don't know about you, but I'll take the good, sweet fruit over the rotten, ugly fruit any day!

If we are speaking negativity, it's time to take a look at ourselves and ask the hard questions:

1. Am I speaking death?

2. If the answer to that is yes, then why am I doing that?
3. What am I going to do to change that?

Once we've identified the problem, we need to filter it through God's Word and ask God to show us how to turn that around.  It can be as simple as paying attention to what we're thinking about and changing that to something positive.  Also, tempering our words with a little diplomacy certainly helps.


Bottom line... put down the two by four before you hurt someone!