AUGUST 28, Titus 2:12

Kate makes me so mad! Tammy fumed as she returned home from Kate’s house. The two friends had argued, and Tammy thought of some things she wished she had said to Kate, and they weren’t nice. As soon as she got home, she scribbled an angry note to her friend, marched to the corner mailbox, and dropped it in. That’ll fix her, she thought.

But as Tammy began to walk back to her home, she remembered what a good friend Kate had been for a long time. I shouldn’t have sent that letter, she thought. Maybe I can get it back. Turning around, she ran to the mailbox. She pulled open the slot and tried to retrieve the letter but was not able to do so. “Oh, no,” she whispered. “It’s gone for good.”

When Tammy got home, she sat down on a stool at the kitchen counter and told her mother what she had done. “I don’t know why I sent that letter. I was so mad, I wasn’t thinking straight. How can I get it back?”

“Sorry, honey,” she said, “but you can’t.” “Maybe I could wait for the mailman to pick up the mail tomorrow,” suggested Tammy. “He could find it and give it back to me.” Mom shook her head. “No, once we mail something, we can’t get it back. No one can interfere with the mail. You should have thought twice before you sent that letter.”

“But, Mom,” wailed Tammy, “then what can I do?” Mom hugged her tearful daughter. “Call Kate and apologize. Why not invite her over to play?” Tammy blew her nose. “Okay,” she agreed. “I can do that.”

“And, honey,” said Mom, “always remember that just like you can’t take back the letter,we can’t take back any part of our lives.”“What do you mean?” asked Tammy. “God has given us a certain number of days in which to live,” Mom said. “He lets us choose the words we say, the thoughts we think, and the things we do. So we must take care that our thoughts, the words we say and the things we do, will bring honour and glory to God.”

Thought: Are you careful about the things you do and the words you say? Have you done something mean when you were angry?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, teach me to be godly in my thoughts, actions and speech. In Jesus’ name I pray – Amen.