You Said What?

"What did you say to my child?"

"I said she was stupid for not remembering where she put the book."

"Excuse me! What gives you the right to call my child stupid?"

"Well, look at her. She's running around in circles, accomplishing nothing."

"She's MY child and you don't have the right to call her anything."

"But she's running her fat little legs off and still can't finish the job."

"Did you just call MY child fat? Where do you get off saying negative things like that?"

"Can't you see, she eats too much, not much exercise, and sits around all the time?"

"She's creative, talented and has a loving heart. She's MINE and I love her just as she is so keep your negative comments to yourself!"

That crazy little conversation actually happened one day…between God and me. The child He referenced was me. I was the one calling His child stupid, fat, lazy, ineffective - among other things. Not all at one time, mind you, but certainly on the list of uncomplimentary adjectives I've used to talk about the child in question. Then one day I received the holy tap on my shoulder and God opened the dialog with, "What did you say to my child?"

Self-talk is important and powerful. It can lift up or tear down. We can be no better than a street bully to our own self-esteem or we can be a cheerleader that encourages…either way, we're talking to and about a Child of God.

Some days I have trouble putting three words together to make a complete sentence. Trying to put out a daily blog that actually makes sense is a task of Herculean proportions. God gives me the subject matter and smacks my hands if I get too far off track (His part) and I have use the brain He gave me to put it in print (my part). Staring at the keyboard does not a blog make!

Working on the book I've been writing for what seems 150 years is no different. Writing, Friends, is not easy. Again, staring at the keyboard does not get a book written. You can say all kinds of ugly things to yourself when feel like the most untalented, misguided and (yes) even most worthless excuse of a writer that ever lived. God took exception to me saying those things to His child.

So, I had to ask for forgiveness for being ugly to God's kid. I catch myself on occasion starting to get down on the kid and negative thoughts start percolating in my head again. THIS is where self-talk gets down to the nitty-gritty. 

If I am to be a professional writer for God's purposes then I must think, talk and act like a professional writer of God's purposes. Slouched in my jammies, I do not feel either professional or accomplished. I tell myself …aloud…"A professional writer looks like a professional." And I get dressed in real clothes. "A professional writer does not look like she just rolled out of bed." Then I do my hair and make-up. "A professional writer does not slouch." I sit up straighter. Once I've done that, I sit down at the computer and dedicate the work of my hands to His glory. I acknowledge it is His creativity, His inspiration, His glory I seek, not my own. I can write only because He first gave me an aptitude and love of writing, and the desire to serve Him by writing for His purposes. I am to tell other people of His love, grace, and mercy. MY PART

"Lord, you are my strength when my body feels weak. You are my mind and intellect for you live in me, we are one. Lord, I can do nothing apart from you. Help me today to accomplish all You would have me do." HIS PART.

The Bible says God called David was a man after His own heart. David talked to himself about God for strength and encouragement when the world was crashing around him. Self-talk, People, was practiced by the man after God's own heart!

"What did you say to my child?"