I hear talk all of the time!  I work with people everyday of my life and in all kinds of different situations.  I get to see people at their best and at their worst.  And as I get older, I am beginning to learn some simple little truths that have the capacity to have significant impact through our lives, in our relationships and on our planet!

Last week, I heard a lady talking and everything she said was negative.  Her whole conversation consisted of her telling the other person everything that was wrong with everything and everybody else.  I know this lady and she is basically a good person, but she has gotten stuck in the rut of critical negativism and she has no idea how to get out.

I walked away from what I had heard and thought about how damaging it was to this lady, who she was talking to, who she was talking about and anyone else that might have happened to hear it.  Everything she said, she said (in her mind) trying to be helpful, but she was not being helpful.  She was being everything but helpful!

I thought about what would and could happen, if before she went out and started talking all of this negative trash talk, if instead, she decided to take my Grandmother’s advice:  “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all!” How different would our world be, our relationships be, if we trashed the trash talk and replaced it with talk that builds up and accentuates the positive?

We live in a negative world, and if we expect or hope that it will ever be positive, then we must make this simple change:  Get rid of the negative and replace it with the positive! It’s not easy, but it is possible and it will change our lives, the lives of those around us and our world, if we will just attempt this simple change!

We are so busy!  A lot of us are so busy, that if we are not careful, we will miss out on what really matters.  Most everyone knows and believes that God is the Creator and Sustainer of life and we also know that we need to spend time with Him in prayer and Scripture, but we often fail to take or make the time!

We all have things that we do everyday.  We all have things that we would not dream of cutting out of our schedule.  Spending time with God needs to be one of those things.  If you have allowed other things to crowd God out of the schedule, then I want to encourage you to take the time to make the time to spend a little time with Him.

Time with Him will change your life in so many positive and productive ways.  This is not a “have to”, this is a “get to!”  So go ahead and take a little time right now to be with God.  Talk to Him and share what is on your mind and in your heart.  Be honest with God, He is not going to be surprised!  Ask for His help and you will be sure to get it!

God loves you and He is looking for ways to bless and grow His relationship with you!  Make time with Him a priority and then fulfill that priority – you will be glad you did!  G3!

I want to challenge you to try something today!  All day today I challenge you to look for small acts of kindness that you can do for others. Every person that you see or get a chance to talk with today, look for some small thing that you can do for them to make their day better and more positive.

You might let someone in front of you at the check-out.  You might volunteer to do some task at work that no one else likes to do.  You might get them a coffee or treat of some kind.  You could buy someone’s lunch, provide an afternoon milkshake or treat someone to supper.

From the beginning of your day, until you go to bed tonight, take some time to look for what you can do to make a person’s day better and do it! The more you do it, the better!

Start right now!  Find someone other than yourself, look for something you can do to make their day a little better and do it!  Remember:  “Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you!”