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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Train Up Tuesday: Sweeter Than Honey

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bone."
Proverbs 16:24

This is the verse my family is learning this week (thanks to "My Father's World" curriculum). My oldest son remembers this principal (that of kind words being like jewels) from some studies last year. We came across an old fairytale at the library called "Toads and Diamonds" (read it here). It left quite an image in my son's mind. He often will say to me, "Momma, your words are so nice. It's like jewels are falling out of your mouth!" (That may only make sense to you if you read the previously mentioned fairytale.) :)

This week, as we are memorizing this verse and studying ways to apply it, we used this illustration: place one spoonful of honey and one spoonful of garbage in front of your child. Ask which one he/she would rather have. Even if your kid doesn't like honey, I doubt they would ever consider the garbage! I really didn't even want to serve the garbage - dig for it, put it in a bowl and place it on our table. We should take that same consideration with the words we decide to serve to others.

Upon further meditation on this verse, we talked about where we could get inspiration for these "pleasant words". We realized that the best words can be found in God's Word. We can pray for others, pray for what to say (or not say), say "I love you" or "God loves you". We also talked about the "healing" benefits of honey (hey, I was curious why the Bible says the words are like honeycomb). You should look that up, you might be surprised at all that honey can do for you! Our words can be a healing salve, an antiseptic, a soother for someone's soul (all things that honey can be for the body).

Your family might have a "hive" full of honey that a hurting world, neighbor, or family needs access to. Or maybe your own little family needs those "pleasant words" put into practice inside the home. Either way, take a little time today to get some honey from The Word so that you can have kind words to share with others.

Much love,
Ashlie

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