Learning to Swim

Psalms 15:1-3
From the porch swing came the hum of animated conversation, with every now and then a merry laugh. In the living room Aunt Jane clicked her knitting needles impatiently, and sniffed disapproval. “Really, Stella,” she remarked acidly, “I wish Joan had more independence and backbone. That Marshall girl treated her mean as mean only last week, and yet here’s Joan talking and giggling with her as sweetly as if she hadn’t been shamefully used. Now I wouldn’t stand it! I wouldn’t!” Mrs. Hartwell looked up, and her eyes lingered on the hard, bitter lines that marked her sister's face. Then she listened, with a smile, as the sweet, gentle voice of her daughter came drifting in through the open window. “Why, I don’t think Joan lacks spirit,” she answered. “You know how, as a little girl, she used to resent a slight. But lately she seems---” there were gay “Goodbye’s” outside; the screen door banged; the “culprit” stood before them smiling. “Joan,” began Aunt Jane severely, “How can you be so spineless as to treat that girl as a friend? Have you no pride? She’s been saying the meanest things about you--lies every one of them! Why, Mrs. Gray told me---” “Oh, stop, auntie! Please stop!” and Joan put her fingers in her ears. “Don’t repeat it, please. I don’t want to know!” “And why not?” Inquired her aunt. There was a moment or two of silence, and then a brave face, in which two gray eyes swam with tears, was lifted to Aunt Jane’s stern visage. “Because,” she explained calmly, “I’m leaning to swim. You remember, Mother,” and she turned to the one who was sure to understand, “what a time I had learning to swim when we were down at the coast last summer? My head just would go down, and then I’d come sputtering, with such a dreadful salt taste in my mouth. At last my teacher said, ‘Keep your head up and your mouth shut, and then you’ll be all right!’ and, sure enough, I was! After we came home I got to thinking about it, and I finally decided like this auntie: if I listen to all the gossip that’s floating around, I’m sure to go down with it and come up sputtering. That just makes me feel mean all over. But if I keep my head up and my ears and mouth shut, then I can have a perfectly lovely time-- riding the breakers. And it’s ever so much more fun then to be sputtering all the time! It really is!” “Humph!” said Aunt Jane; but the teller of the story says that her frown was a bit less deep, and her knitting needles clicked a bit more softly.--
___Let's be like little Joan, lets be learning how to swim, and not go down with the unkind things people say about each other. Lets keep our mouths and ears shut from speaking and hearing unkind things, and pray for those that may gossip to us and say some unkind thing about someone else! Lets turn the other cheek, and be like Christ! Lets forgive when someone says something that makes us feel bad or mad! Lets turn the other cheek in love and treat them as if nothing was said!! By God's grace and mighty strength we can do so!

____Words
Words are the vehicles of thought,
The magic means by which we’re taught.
They are the messengers that tell
The way to heaven, the way to hell.
__Words have a wondrous winning way,
__Whene’er we know just what to say;
__But when we fail to chose them right,
__They change our day to darkest night.
Words soothe our souls, words rouse our fears;
Words touch our hearts, words bring the tears.
Words build us up, words tear us down;
Words make us smile, words make us frown.
__Words bring us hope, words bring despair;
__Words make us hate, words make us care.
__Words make us meek, words stir up pride;
__Words prove us true, words prove we’ve lied.
Words make us good, words make us bad;
Words make us weep, words make us glad.
We bless or curse by what we say.
God, teach us how to talk, I pray.
__Teach us wise words; teach us their power;
__Teach us to use them hour by hour
__In such a way that we can know
__We’ll bless the world, where'er we go!
At last, in God's great judgment tried,
By words condemned or justified!
Since by our words we’re saved or lost,
Before we speak, let's count the cost!
___By: A. A. Esteb.


Posted by: Sister K...