Browing through an antique store the other day, I found a container full of yardsticks from a bygone era. A printing company tossed some old unused stock, or someone had once made a habit of collecting them. Who knows? I started thinking, even in their aged state, we could use them to measure today. The yardstick had not changed. It might not reference the word metric on any edge, and it may not work in every situation, but it’s still a yardstick we know.
From several years ago, an old thought posted recently in my “memories of another time.” I paused and wondered. Does what I think, wondered about, and said from another time still register in today’s economy. We know our ideas change, words change meanings, even our purpose shifts with the times. If words are the indicator of our heart, mind, and spirit, can we trust what we said back then to be important today?
I tweaked some of the words so it more grammatically correct (I’m still learning to use words better!).
Let my way of doing life not confuse you.
It’s slowly developed through the years.
Change is slow.
Habits hard to make. And break.
Lord, help me not compare others to me, nor me to others.
You made me special.
I’ve tried hard to “be the best me that me knows how.”
You would have to know the context of “why” I felt the need to say these words. The timing, and what else was happening. Was it explanatory? Or was I attempting to brag? Are they true? Or are they an anchor that weighs me down from being a better “me?” Can I improve my position by the words established as I move forward through my tomorrows?
This is my midnight analysis thinking it through. Did I even need to say it?
Words, even like our emotions, are weapons you cannot undo once they are released into the public sphere. Measure twice. Cut once. Think about your words before voicing them aloud.
Using Old Yardsticks: Words, even like our emotions, are weapons you cannot undo once they are released into the public sphere. Measure twice. Cut once. Think your words out before voicing them aloud. Click To TweetI Pause to Think
To be like Jesus. A goal many of us want. We sometimes respond appropriately. Other times we don’t. Jesus taught with every action and word. Some words seemed to be practically applied, but His Words had spiritual significance.
It is the spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing:
the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life.
(John 6:63 KJV)
Here’s the thing. His yardstick never changes. His Words in the Bible relate to his sameness. Constancy. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) Times may change, but He never does. (Malachai 3:6) Can we say similar phrases about us? Our words? Our position in life? Too often we are fickle people.
Paul talks to the church of Rome with an entire book that describes our difficulties.
This is so because the corrupt nature has a hostile attitude toward God.
It refuses to place itself under the authority of God’s standards because it can’t.
(Romans 8:7 GW)
The yardstick measures your nature and finds you not there, and it’s up to you to decide if you measure up to His standard. I picked up a book from a hundred years ago and cringed as a reader thinking that someone would have once talked about someone else so caustically and incorrectly. But we find that same spirit here today. From the news media to Hollywood, from the workplace to the playground, from public spaces to our private yards. We are entrenching who we are with how we repeat something that doesn’t measure up to God.
It’s In Your Hands
It’s in your hands to reject your old view and the words you used. You can do better. You can be better. It’s up to you. When you recall your attitudes, words, and actions from the past, hold them up to God’s Yardstick and determine if they measure up.