To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.

 -Ogden Nash

This is a quote I’ve used while performing many marriage ceremonies. At the time, the couple probably didn’t get the full weight of the poem. However, looking back at their video, they can let it hit home.

Colossians 3:19

Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Ephesians 5:33

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

If you haven’t yet memorized this poem accompanied by these verses, do so now.

Give it some thought.

Gary

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

-Walt Disney

Walt Disney built a tremendous empire because he acted on his philosophy that every day you go to work. It would be nice if someone like him were at the helm of Disney today. That being said, the Bible speaks of doing for every believer.

James 1:22

Be ye DOERS OF THE WORD and not hearers only deceiving your own selves

Gal. 6:9

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Heb. 13:16

But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Give it some thought and go out there and do it.

Gary

Something we had to learn quickly at school was the fact that there were some bad cats. You needed to give some real space to these individuals. Also, there were some who just didn’t like you, no matter how hard you tried to befriend them.

Those early school days were just preparing us for the real world. For there, too, there are some you should stay away from and some who will never be your friend.

Romans 16:17

Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

2 Timothy 2:23

But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.

Proverbs 1:15

My son, do not walk in the way with them.

Keep your feet from their path,

You can’t win them all. Give it some thought.

Gary

I graduated from high school in the spring of 1970 and talked my dad into letting me have a job in the woods’ industry. I worked with two Quebecers who couldn’t speak English. Through that entire summer before college that employment provided good money. However, working with people whose language you don’t understand is a challenge. They were probably saying in front of me at times, “Why do we have to work with the idiot son of the boss?”

The Bible does speak of being clear and gracious when you speak.

Proverbs 16:24 

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. 

Proverbs 17:28 

Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

Give it some thought; don’t sweat the speech of others, but be conscious of your own.

Gary

The voice I heard in the morning all through my school years was that of my mother telling me it was time to get up. The voice I heard at school was that of teachers telling me to be quiet. My third-grade teacher said she knew I would be a politician or a preacher because I wouldn’t shut up. Now I hear a different voice in the morning.

Psalm 143:8

Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

Listen in the morning to what God has to say in His Word and your day can take on a new meaning.

Give it some thought.

Gary

On June 24, 2021, at approximately 1:22 a.m. EDT, Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condominium in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida, United States, partially collapsed, causing the deaths of 98 people.

I would imagine that everyone went to sleep that night, thinking he or she was perfectly safe in the sunshine state. Not the case.

There is one secure place that will never let you down. This place has been constructed by God Himself.

Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You are perfectly safe in Him. Give it some thought.

Gary

The border between the United States and Canada is the longest international border in the world. The border between the two countries is 5,525 miles long. Both sides are very fussy about who crosses their border. The agents on both sides have sidearms.

The Bible has a lot to say about borders. The land of Israel was divided up into twelve well-defined parcels.

There are also spiritual borders:

Psalm 74:17

You have established all the boundaries of the earth;

You have made summer and winter.

Proverbs 22:28

Do not move the ancient boundary

Which your fathers have set.

The Canadians don’t like it when you cross their borders without permission. It is also true of God, so don’t cross the borders He has marked.

Give it some thought.

Gary