Friday, June 30, 2006

From My Mother's Heart: Words Matter

Have you ever said something you regretted? Well, join the club! How many times I have said something and wondered, “Why did I even say that?”

The saddest story I recall was that of a childhood friend. She and her family were riding in the car when a discussion between father and daughter turned into an argument. My friend, agitated by her dad, said to him, “I hate you!” Just then, a drunk driver crashed into their car. My friend’s dad got out of his car to see if the man was alright, and when he did, he dropped dead on the road, right in front of his family. Her last words to her dad were, “I hate you!” She didn’t hate her dad.

Words matter.

I want the last thing I say to those I love to be, “I love you!” It is very important to me. My family has gotten into the practice of expressing love to one another many times a day. I like it. It’s not corny. It is a blessing. The phone rings. It is one of the kids saying they will be an hour late coming home. “Thanks for calling,” I say. “I love you”. “I love you, too. Bye.” Our family members always end our phone conversations with “I love you”. Even siblings!

When one of my family members drives out of the yard, they tap their horn, toot, toot, toot. You know what that means? It means, “I love you!” And though they don’t hear me, I say from the house, “I love you, too!” They all know I say it though, because they have all heard me say it when someone else is driving away.

If you are not in the practice of telling your family you love them, I encourage you to start now. No one gets tired of hearing they are loved!

There are plenty of other things we could go without saying. Because words matter, the prayer of my heart is this: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

~By Mrs. H~

5 comments:

Kristi said...

Mrs. H, I really liked that post. Your family sounds a lot like mine with ending every phone convertion with "I love you" and even the tooting of the horn. It is so importnat to tell those you love that you love them.

Emma said...

This made me smile. My little family is right now all cuddled up to their father on the couch and we all have said I love you to each other in the past five minutes. We say it a LOT in our house :)

Lisa said...

We say "I love you" a lot also. Hubby sometimes squeezes my hand three times which tells me without words. :)

Anonymous said...

How true Mrs H. I do try to tell my kiddies and my husband and my family that I love them all the time.

I do have a habit of speaking before I think though. I often regret my words spoken in haste.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh.... such a good reminder.