Most of the people I love all fall in to one basic category - they love me back. This makes for a perfect relationship.   I love them, they love me and we all get along so wonderfully. (There's a rhyme for you..) And then there a few people I love and I don't think they love me.  And of course, that set-up does not make for a perfect relationship.   But, for some mysterious reason, I keep loving them.  There are other people (thankfully and hopefully few in number) who do not like me at all (go figure).  I wouldn't say they're my "enemy".  I don't think they HATE me.  

Maybe, they don't "get" me... OR... maybe they DO "get" me and don't like what they get.. or what I might give.   I don't love these people.   I really have no relationship with them.  I don't think they lay awake at night crying over our lack of relationship.. and.. neither do I.   

"The people I really love are the people who really love me" is something that God says also. Isn't is something how we've created a heartless Christianity in our land that ignores the fact that LOVING God with everything within us is a COMMANDMENT?   What's up with that? 

And what about the fact that Jesus CLEARLY warns that He prefers us to be either hot or cold... because being lukewarm is unacceptable and will cause Him to spit us out of His mouth?  Those are pretty tough lines.  Yeah.. they're in The Bible.    God loves people who love His Son.  With a passion.  With a first love.  I've said it before - If you're not in love with the Groom, what makes you think you're the Bride? 

The people I really love are people who love me. 
 

Words are my profession.  I get paid to type them.  What a deal!   To be paid to do something that I would do anyway.  This has got to be a miracle.  The greatest miracle of my existence on this planet.  Well, ok.. maybe not the GREATEST miracle... but right up there in the "TOP TEN MIRACLES OF MARIE'S LIFE."  Words come easy to me. 

Another way of saying that is... I talk a lot.  I admit it.  I confess. I tell LONG stories.  I tell FUNNY stories.  I just talk and talk and talk.  I know I do this.  I know I talk a lot.  I try to talk less.  I just sit there sometimes, when we're with friends, or in a Sunday School class or something and I say to myself,  "Don't talk. Don't talk. Don't talk". And the words build up inside me like a ticking bomb, and boom!, someone says something, and I honestly believe that if I don't talk.... I will literally EXPLODE.  Of course, I've never actually remained silent long enough to see if I actually WILL explode. 

Thankfully, my husband is not a big talker but a great listener.  Does he have a choice?   Funny how God works things out, isn't it?   He seems to get a big kick out of my stories. Although, he isn't Saint Phil. Sometimes he ignores me.. or politely.. one way or another.. gets the message across that he isn't interested, at the present moment, in discussing HOW beavers know they are required to build dams..but.. squirrels are not.. and why not? He's an accepter.. a person with the gift of Faith.  He just accepts that God has a reason for everything.. and if God wants to discuss it with him, He will.  Otherwise, he's content to let God run the Universe without having to explain it to him.  I don't want God to have to explain - as in answer to me.  But..... I just wonder.. wonder.. why.. wonder how.. wonder who...wonder when.   I can't help it.  

I talk a lot because I was talked TO a lot.  Yup.. it's not my fault.  I was surrounded by an extended family of cousins, aunts and uncles, and my parents and older brother.. and... we all TALKED about all kinds of stuff.  And we were OPINIONATED.. and being OPINIONATED was not a crime in our family.  Actually, it was applauded. We were SUPPOSED to come up with our own opinion on our own.   And so, I was taught at an early age that words are the way to live.  Words can make or break a family, a marriage, a church, a business.   But.. it's not just saying TOO many words.. or the WRONG words.  It's not saying ENOUGH words or the not saying the RIGHT words.   

And so for today... I will turn the tables. I will NOT apologize for one day to one person because I have so many thoughts and ideas swimming and jumping and exploding in my head. NOT talking can do as much damage as talking too much.  

So today, I will say to those of you tight-lipped ones around us...

SPEAK UP, for PETE's SAKE!! (Someday, I'll figure out who Pete is and why we do things for his sake all the time.)  We talkers have taken all we can take.  Everyone feels the freedom to say "Shut up!".. so today I turn the tables and say SPEAK UP! SOME OF YOU SIT THERE SO SMUG FACED AND SILENT AS IF THE WORD POLICE ARE GOING TO COME AND MAKE YOU PAY TAXES ON EVERY WORD YOU SPEAK.
 

Today I'll say to you stern-faced mothers  -WHY don't you tell your kids that you love them? Why don't you find ONE thing to build them up about instead of tearing their little hearts down with your deadly silence and lack of approval???????????  In  my years of dealing with broken hearted people, I'd have to say that more people have been destroyed by the things a  mother DIDN'T say than by mothers who said cruel things. 

And to those insecure women I'm asking -   "WHY don't you give someone a compliment for Pete's sake?  WHY do you refuse to tell your pretty friend that she looks pretty? Why can't you simply state a simple compliment?  Why??? Why??? Why???  It's free.  It's over so quickly.   It doesn't hurt you and it could possibly change someone's day to hear something nice."

And to those of you blaming your parents for every problem you have I say,   "WHY can't you tell your mom what she did right, instead of what she did wrong? Even if the only HONEST thing you can say to her is, "Thanks for not selling me to the circus, mom."  JUST SAY IT.  Just because you acknowledge something someone did right doesn't mean they will get away with what they did wrong.   BUT PLEASE...  You won't die if words come out of your mouth.  Saying words is not as difficult as you are making it.

AND ANOTHER THING: 

"WHY don't you thank someone for something they've done for you?"  

"WHY don't you acknowledge the way someone has shown kindness to you?"

"WHY don't you admit it to a dear friend that sometimes you feel insecure?"

"WHY do you hide behind a silent smile?????????????  WHY???? WHY???

OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND SAY SOMETHING ENCOURAGING TO SOMEONE!!!  TALK!!! SPEAK!!! OPEN YOUR MOUTH and thank GOD for all He's given you.  And to those of you who might have a "talkative" friend or relative in your life I ask you, "Who told you that we don't need to HEAR that you love us?"  We tell YOU we love you, we tell YOU the things we love about you.   Would it absolutely KILL you forever to say ONE REAL sentence to us?  I doubt it. Just because we use our mouths a lot, doesn't mean our hearts are not still connected to our ears.   If you love us, tell us.

WORDS ARE THE WAY.   Say them.  (OK... phew.. I feel much better. Thanks for listening.  Now about Pete.. and doing things for his sake...........................and the whole beaver/dam issue.... and.........)