O Be Careful, Little Eyes

We were in a Winnipeg Wal Mart when we heard the following conversation.

A young boy about 3 or 4 years old sitting in a shopping cart began the conversation with a dirty word spoken rather loudly.

Father (scolding):  That's a dirty word!

Son (a little louder):  %@#!*&

Father: I said, don't say that word it's a dirty word.

Son: %@#!*& is not a dirty word.

Father: yes it is and I don't want you saying it again!

Son: %@#!*&

Father:  Hey, I said stop saying that!

The mother comes from another aisle and asks: What is he saying?

The son answers her: %@#!*&

Mother: that's a dirty word, I don't want you saying that again!

Son: no it's not!

Mother: yes it is, where did you learn that word from?

Son: I learned it in school

Mother (now she's really upset): you don't even go to school yet!!

And that's when we exited the children's department leaving them to continue their conversation.  Did we chuckle a bit, yeah, cause for such a little guy he was pretty determined to prove a point.

Last week Pastor Dan spoke on Discipleship and one of the challenges he threw out to us was to ask the people around us if they noticed a difference in us because we had Jesus in our heart and it got me to thinking about what it is that people see or hear when I speak or act.  I'm not pleased with the fact that there may be times when someone might not be able to see or hear a difference from me as a Christian to a non-Christian.  Oh sure, we can offer excuses, I was upset, you have no idea what I've been through, it happened in the heat of the moment, but, like this little boy, those excuses don't really amount to a hill of beans when we clearly know better.

After we had walked away from this little boy and his parents a little song that I used to sing with my Little Marcy record growing up came to mind. The last verse goes like this...

O be careful little mouth what you say

O be careful little mouth what you say

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little mouth what you say

Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2