“Every day you preach to yourself some kind of gospel." ~ Dr. Paul David Tripp
“Where the hell are my car
keys?” Dana screamed in frustration.
They weren’t on the hook where she normally kept them and
she was running late for work again. A second expletive died in her throat as her
cherubic three-year-old uttered words that shattered like a two-dollar mirror, “Mommy,
you said a bad word.”
Frustrated from being
sequestered in their tiny apartment all weekend, her first instinct was to tell
her son to “shut up!” She glanced over
at the tiny human sitting on the floor, eyes of pure mischief and a heart of
gold.
Tears slowly crawled from Dana’s
sleep-deprived eyes. Laughing didn’t
feel like the right way to go either. She
pondered another response, but Dakota had already moved on without bother.
“Bunny ears, Bunny ears,
jumped into the hole, popped out the other side beautiful and bold," he
recited using a nursery rhyme as a reminder of the motions involved. Ask a toddler to tie their shoes and you’ll
almost certainly hear the directions out loud to reinforce the process.
As a single mom, she didn’t
receive much credit for all that she did.
As the mom, dad, employee, teacher, handy-person, chef, and so much more,
she tried so hard. But the world felt
like it was caving in. The only thing keeping
them alive and well was her love.
Sometimes she just wanted to quit.
Dana bent down and picked up
Dakota (mangled shoelaces and all). She cradled
him like the cherished child he was. In
that warm embrace, she felt her worries lose their sting. She could do this. She WOULD do this!
No one is more influential in
your life than you are. Nobody talks to you more than you do. Most of us have learned it’s best not to move
our lips because people will think we’re crazy, but we are in constant dialogue
with ourselves. In those inner
discussions, we talk about God, life, others, and ourselves. The things we say are formative of the things
we desire and choose to do.
So, what limiting stories are
you telling yourself? What gospel will
you preach today? By changing those
limiting stories, you’ll be able to change your life. God by His grace has given you His Word so
you can preach to yourself when it seems no one else is listening … or
cares.
