life lessons from a tube of toothpaste
***
Well my dear ones,
I am running behind on encouraging things;
the passing of my Mom took a lot from me;
thank God, I know I’ll see her again
past heaven’s gate.
And one thing I’m really happy about
is that, while she was here,
I told her like a million times
how much I love her;
hence, if you have someone you love,
someone who has been a huge
influence on your life,
please tell them,
...even if you’ve told them before
...you can’t say I love you,
or tell someone that you care,
too many times...
...trust me on that. J
Anyway, back to some encouraging words
that you can live by; but first off,
I have to say that these are not mine;
they came to me from my friend, Ashley,
and the story belongs to Amy:
My daughter starts middle school tomorrow.
We've decorated her locker,
bought new uniforms,
even surprised her with a new backpack.
But tonight just before bed,
we did another pre-middle school task
that is far more important than the others.
I gave her a tube of toothpaste
and asked her to squirt it out onto a plate.
When she finished, I calmly asked her
to put all the toothpaste back in the tube.
http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2016/08/toothpaste.html
She began exclaiming things like
"But I can't!" and
"It won't be like it was before!"
I quietly waited for her to finish
and then said the following:
"You will remember this plate of toothpaste
for the rest of your life.
Your words have the power of life or death.
As you go into middle school,
you are about to see
just how much weight your words carry.
You are going to have the opportunity
to use your words to hurt,
demean, slander and wound others.
You are also going to have the opportunity
to use your words to heal,
encourage, inspire and love others.
You will occasionally make the wrong choice;
I can think of three times this week
I have used my own words carelessly
and caused harm.
“Just like this toothpaste,
once the words leave your mouth,
you can't take them back.
Use your words carefully, Breonna.
When others are misusing their words,
guard your words.
Make the choice every morning
that life-giving words
will come out of your mouth.
Decide tonight that you are
going to be a life-giver in middle school.
Be known for your gentleness and compassion.
Use your life to give life to a world
that so desperately needs it.
You will never, ever regret choosing kindness."
Thank you, Amy!
That’s a wonderful illustration
of some great advice; I love it! =D
grace, peace, and love to you,
dave