It's October and the laptop is sticky from meal preps and possibly too many snacks.
With Walmart decked out in all things Halloween I enjoy finding new ways to buy bags of chocolate.
I'm pretty sure the only "trick" with these "treats" is that because they are now bite sized pieces, you forget just how many of them make up a full-size candy bar.
I plead the fifth when asked by my children.
These are days when it seems like everything is sticky.
Counters are sticky, tables are syrupy, and even the front of the oven has its own biosphere of breakfasts from days ago.
I caught myself stuck to a jellied coupon for McDonalds that I needed to use and could only sheepishly smile handing it to the cashier!
Just spreading the love.
Once upon a time I could keep up with the mess.
I could wrangle the toddler, wipe the noses, stir the noodles and even catch the evening news without a hitch.
Yesterday I decided to attack a little moth that came out of a cabinet with AN UNOPENED BAG OF PENNE which resulted in a little home-grown Italian meteor shower of sorts.
There's no rhyme or reason for attacking a moth with a pound of pasta and I had to just stop and laugh at myself and my mess.
(FYI, stepping on uncooked penne brings a much better reaction than Fourth of July Poppers.)
I have SO enjoyed reaching the sticky, gummy, mothy forties.
Maaaaybeee a bit too much.
There's so much joy to be had in the mess if we wives and Mamas will just slow and laugh over pools of penne on the counter.
It's okay to have a bit of a gooey kitchen AND bathroom AND spare bathroom while your girls are learning to make slime.
Most of your cereal in the week ahead will undoubtedly taste a bit like Suave from above mentioned processes but that will wear off.
I was walking into the grocery store and noticed someone treating one of the workers very harshly. It was so troubling to me that I decided amongst the baking items that I would find her and speak kindly to her before I left.
It cost me nothing, but meant something to that worker for me to offer a smile and a "Have a great night!"
And it reminded me of Proverbs 16:24 -"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones."
How little it costs us to spread a little honey everywhere we go.
My husband convinced the kids years ago that peanut butter and honey sandwiches are a small luxury, so every now and again you see them all lining up to make a ROYAL mess of the counter and floor and everywhere else their sticky fingers take them.
In first grade I was cast in the school play as Laura Ingalls and it was grand. I loved the braids, I loved the dress and pinafore, but what I didn't love so very much was my lunch.
The Prop Manager for our production, some zealous teacher, decided that we MUST have butter and honey sandwiches in our lunch pails to stick as accurately as we could to the original story. And yes they were wrapped in handkerchieves.
Me and make-believe Mary had to sit on the stage and take ginormous bites of our DELICIOUS literary corrected sandwiches.
My new sister dug into hers as if she hadn't eaten in a week, whilst I just nibbled the crust. Mary always was a little too "goody goody" for me.
I'm not sure how many times we practiced before the real deal, but if I didn't care for honey when we began, I detested it by the curtain call.
I do not share my husband's love for honey.
In my home growing up, the only honey I was acquainted with was a Little Debbie Honey Bun.
Gimme raw sugar or regular sugar or even a hunk of sugar cane. Just don't give me honey.
So when I read Proverbs 16, I like to imagine the caramel of a fresh snickers bar.
And though I debated adding the word "fresh" in there, those candy bar aficionados out there know what that means and have stories of old bars to tell....
Either way, it's the fact that our words can deliver sweetness all the way down to someone's soul.
And pleasant words don't stick to your bones like Snickers do.
The "health" mentioned in verse 24 literally means, "Healing."
Proverbs 18: 21 warns that, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."
So, with our little member, our tongue, we can bring about healing- deep soul healing- or death to a spirit.
And our words will never heal more or hurt more than in our own homes among those we claim to love with everything we have.
It's beyond easy to greet the stranger at the store, or the postman at my own door or the neighbor down the street with pleasantries.
It's harder to wake each morning with a praise for my husband and children who are already downstairs spilling cereal on the already dirty floor.
This year we are using "Living Books," in school.
Sure they're great.
Truly.
But they won't remember which major waterway "Paddle to the Sea," begins in years from now.
They WILL remember me, an open book to them, and how I spoke to them over the test I am fully aware they didn't study long enough for.
Am I a "Living" example of THE Book?
The honey peanut butter sandwiches are a mystery to me, but it's not beyond my understanding as to why one of my kids doesn't want to open-up to me about something close to their heart.
I might have injured them with my impatience, with my rudeness that I would never show to a church member or friend.
Shouldn't all of our homes be one heap of honeycomb?
Shouldn't our words to each other just give so much sweetness to each other that we attract all of the bees in our county for the savor of it?
Can you see it in your mind's eye? One big heap of a family stuck together?
Shouldn't our main concern for our children and our husband's health reach all the way down to their bones instead of stopping at their multivitamins?
I for one need to remember that if I fail to love those closest to me well, I have failed in what matters most.
If my kids yearn to be with someone or be part of something to fill their tank of love to the brim, than I have let it run dry at home.
I have forgotten my main job.
To show Christ's love through my words to those whom I would give my own life for.
To speak life into dry bones.
Ironic, isn't it, that you hear so many wives or husbands call each other "Honey," when you can just sense that there has been a bit of a dearth of sweetness for some time.
I don't want to have a marriage without sweetness.
I want one healthy and strong.
Bone strong.
So strong that the pressures of this life can weigh on us and we will not break.
With this person that I promised to "Love, honor and cherish," with my words until death parts us.
Have you ever been around someone who just helped to heal a hurt with a pleasant word or two?
I have.
Just this week, about this here little blog, I have been the recipient of a bit of honeycomb to chew on.
A thoughtful friend spoke kindness over this little spot and it was so very sweet.
And I hope beyond all hope that I have been pleasant to many this week.
I hope and pray that I am learning to be MOST pleasant to those right here under my nose.
Psalm 133:1- "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"
I aim to make this week one where our home is more unified than the last with humble words of kindness.
Doesn't that sound lovely?
How about you join me?
No butter and honey sandwiches required for the part!
