Soft Water/Hard Water

Have you ever had someone come out to your house for a "water test" and then try to sell you some very expensive water softening system? Oh gracious I have. I get a call one night from this company telling me that they are going to be in our area and are asking for families who are willing to allow them to do a "science experiment" on our water. My kids were a little younger and I thought the "science experiment" would be good for them so I agreed. I had no idea what I had just agreed to!

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When the man arrived he was toting what appeared to be a suitcase and as he pulled it out my kids were all over it. He had test tubes and widgets and gadgets of all kinds. He took samples of water out of every faucet in our house and then started his test and showed the kids what he was doing, allowed them to help and then dum-dum-dum-duuuuummmmm he looks up at Shane and says "Man, ya'll got hard water out here!"

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Well, that opened up a can of worms because the man immediately started trying to sell us this water softener system. It was outrageous and something that we surely couldn't afford and didn't really need. Now, tempers often flare in my house, harsh words are thrown like daggers from time to time so had he been selling a WORD softener system we would have been all over that one!

"A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare." Proverbs 15:1 (NLT). I would love to sit here and tell you that I am a soft spoken, quiet, meek woman. I would love to say that I keep my thoughts to myself and allow things to just work out on their own. I would love to say that I know when and where it is appropriate to address a situation and I would surely love to say that my expressions/body language says WAY more than my words. But, I can't. I often times fly off the handle at any given moment. I'm sort of like a rocket, never quite knowing when I might explode. I pop off at the dumbest things sometimes and even though I don't mean to I am often sarcastic, rude and just plain tacky. That is why I love this verse so much! I must remind myself time and time again throughout the day that A GENTLE ANSWER DEFLECTS ANGER! A gentle answer...a gentle answer...a gentle answer...

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I often laugh at myself because I wonder why people get so defensive with me and I act like something is wrong with them when the truth of the matter is...my harsh words make their temper flare...oh yeah...that's in that verse too...YIKES! Harsh words make tempers flare...HARSH words make tempers flare...

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Today is Friday and here we are back to school, I can smell the football stadium in the air, Fall is coming and the wind is starting to blow...okay maybe not quite but it's getting there! Be kind with your words today...don't flare anger! =)