I Am Resolved...

I made two New Year’s resolutions last year. The first was to read through the Bible by the end of the year, and the second was to pick up my clothes instead if leaving them strewn on the floor around the bed. I kept the first resolution. Now, whether I truly “kept” the second resolution is a bit “iffy,” but I did so very well compared to the way I have been most of my life—last year none of my clothes stayed on the floor longer than overnight—that I decided to reaffirm those resolutions for this year and make an additional one, which I suspect is going to be very difficult indeed given the pattern that has developed in our lives over the years.

One way that we have found to help us cope with the depression, frustration, anger, and heartache we feel as a result of our son’s life is to call him names—never to his face, of course—but in our conversations about him:

• He’s an idiot.
• What a fool.
• He is so stupid.
• He hasn’t got a brain in his head.
• He’s as dumb as a box of rocks.
• He is hopeless
  

And more...

Having succeeded in reading through the Bible last year, I have been having trouble ignoring certain verses that talk about words being as “sharp as swords” vs “healing,” and “blessing” vs “cursing,” and “the tongue has the power of life and death.” And then, finally, there is bruising my nose on the stone wall of “...every thoughtless word you speak you will have to account for on the day of judgment.”

True, none of these words have been spoken to his face, but they have gone out into the spirit realm, and who knows what negative effect they might have had. At any rate, for the New Year my goal will be to eliminate those phrases from my speech—and my thoughts—and speak blessing on his life, words of healing and positive affirmation. I hate to think that the thoughts and words I have been transmitting might have thwarted the power of God to work in our son’s life. So, we’ll see what a change in the broadcast does...