For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

Matthew 12:15b

I love how this passage reads in The Message:

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.

Wow. Makes me think twice about what comes out of my mouth. You too?

I  just finished reading Jen Hatmaker's new book, For the Love.

I've marked the whole book up like a madwoman and have noticed a common thread: freedom. Freedom to say no, freedom to set boundaries, freedom to be me...in the best sense of the word.

Freedom to wear yoga pants like a uniform (hah!) and freedom in the abundant love of Christ.

"God measures our entire existence by only two things: how we love Him and how we love people. If you get this right, you can get a million other things wrong." (p71)

How do all my random thoughts go together with Matthew 12:15?

Let me tell you...input and output.

Back in the 80's, when I was a painfully shy, sweet(ish) Sunday School girl, I spent most of class fixing my ever sagging tights where the crotch somehow always ended up mid-knee, the thin nylon sagging around my ankles, (I know I'm rambling, but please tell me I wasn't alone in this).

But when I wasn't wriggling around trying to get my undergarments just-so, I remember singing my little heart out. And I recall singing particularly loud to a song named "Input, Output".

Do you remember it?

Warning: it's sung in a computer voice.

Mhm. Yep. I never claimed to be cool.

Anyway, it goes: "Input, output, what goes in must come out.

Input, output, that is what it's all about.

Input output, your mind is a computer whose.

Input, Output, daily you must choose."

 And as cheesy and lame as the song is, complete with computer voice and motions, it's stuck with me.

If I pray and work hard on kindness and patience, I'll speak in a way that will make our children feel my love for them as they grow. They will see freedom in Christ through my words and actions.

But this not only means feeding our hearts with meat from The Word. It also means we need to be careful what we spend our time watching or listening to. What conversations we're having with others.

It also means if we're angry or dissatisfied, we need to have an outlet for it...before it comes out in an unhealthy way.

I'm a (recovering) stuffer. I hate confrontation and will just press anything unpleasant down further and further, hoping it'll just go away and I'll get over it.

UGH...so unhealthy!

It wasn't until being married that I realized that's NOT ok! You can't do that when you're on a team with someone for life. Your spouse will think everything is peaches and cream and then WHAM! A typhoon hits and takes everything out in it's wake. It ALL pours out.

The little issue from that day and everything all the way two years ago back. And his head will be spinning with confusion.

Talk about things AND pray about them.

Find a friend, your husband, or a counselor to just be crazy open and honest with.

And wouldn't we rather overflow with love, kindness, goodness, generosity, and encouragement for others?

. . . . . .

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