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Now that I think about it…

Our daughter sent a short text conversation she had with 3 1/2 year old Graham on Wednesday.

She had asked him why he did something that wasn’t one of his better choices. His response that there was something in his throat that made him do it.

Uh huh. That makes sense…

At least he came up with a reason.

Because there have been times when I have done worse and when asked why…I really had no idea.

In our entryway is this beautifully refinished library table.

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It used to be a fixture in my parent’s family room. At that time it was the original woodwork.

One afternoon as I sat yakking on the phone with one of my high school friends, I took a nutpick out of the pecan bowl that sat on top and engraved large x’s in all the squares of the ornate gingerbread woodwork along the front of it.

I hear you gasp.

I still do so myself when I think of the moment my mother and father discovered the addition I had made to this heirloom.

If you have ever faced a German temper, you can well imagine…especially one who is gifted in the art of woodworking.

I may as well have burned the flag in the middle of the kitchen table…

It was the kind of anger that goes past yelling. As my dad’s face reddened dangerously; he demanded to know what in the world I was thinking to do such a thing. His language was more colorful, but that was the basic question.

To this day, I can tell you the same thing I stammered out that awful day…I have no idea. In fact, I am pretty sure I wasn’t thinking at all when I did it.

I can kind of laugh now…now that he’s safe on heaven’s shore; and time has healed me; and through his talents with woodcraft, the table is healed too…

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But isn’t that the way of it?

While I have gotten myself into a fair amount of heartache in my life through outright disobedience, often it’s just not engaging my brain in my actions that has cost me the most.

My memory verse for the first half of January has been 2 Timothy 1:7 and the promise that God has given me power and love and, thankfully….self-discipline or a sound mind. Additionally, we are instructed to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, strength and MIND.

While our thoughts are the overflow of the intent of the heart, it is the undisciplined mind that often heads us down the road of foolishness.

I find I do much better when I engage my mind in pursuing a life of purpose and meaning in Christ because anything else is just…plain…nuts <3

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