April 10, 2012
You’ll Meet An Old Lady One Day
Sharon Jaynes
Today’s Truth
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” (Galatians 5:22 NIV).
Friend to Friend
One of my favorite books I have written is The Power of a Woman’s Words. One of my favorite sentences in this favorite book is, “Our words become the mirrors in which other people see themselves.” That is a huge responsibility and a powerful privilege.
At the very end of the book, I included a piece that someone passed along to me, and I want to pass it along to you today. I think about it often and pray about it frequently. Let me know what you think.
You are going to meet an old lady someday. Down the road, ten, twenty, thirty years; she’s waiting for you. You will catch up to her. What kind of old lady are you going to meet?
She may be a seasoned, soft and gracious lady. A lady who has gown old gracefully, surrounded by a host of friends – friends who call her blessed because of what her life has meant to them. She may be a bitter, disillusioned, dried-up cynical old buzzard, without a good word for anyone or anything – soured, friendless, alone. The kind of old lady you will meet will depend entirely upon you.
She will be exactly what you make of her, nothing more, nothing less. It is up to you. You will have no one else to credit or blame. Every day, in every way, you are becoming more and more like that old lady. You are getting to look more like her, think more like her and talk more like her. You are becoming her. If you live only in terms of what you are getting out of life, the old lady gets smaller, drier, harder, crabbier, more self-centered. Open your life to others. Think in terms of what you can give and you contribution to life, and the old lady grows larger, softer, kinder, greater.
These little things, seemingly so unimportant now – attitudes, goals, ambitions, desires – are adding up inside where you cannot see them, crystallizing in your heart and mind. The point is these things don’t always show up immediately. But they will – sooner than you think. Some day they will harden into that old lady; nothing will be able to soften or change them then.
The time to take care of that old lady is right now, today. Examine your motives, attitudes, goals. Check up on her. Work her over now while she is still pliable, still in a formative condition. Then you will be much more likely to meet a lovely, gracious old lady at the proper time.
So, tell me what you think.
Let’s Pray
Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight today. Help me to be the woman that You created me to be.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Now It’s Your Turn
Go back and look at today’s truth. Which one of the fruits of the Spirit do you need to fertilize with prayer to make it grow in your life?
More from the Girlfriends
I wouldn’t call it a “spoiler,” but you did get to read the very end of Sharon’s book, The Power of a Woman’s Words. If you’d like to learn more about how to be a woman who speaks life into those around her, and “work over” that woman that you will one day become, then check it out on her website, www.sharonjaynes.com. You can also download a free chapter and watch an introductory video. And don’t forget to check out all the free resources!
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Originally published Tuesday, 10 April 2012.
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