A fountain of Life

Sooooo it's been a super long time since I've written on here. I was still in California when I put something up. Sometimes it seems like that time in my life is something I made up. Or dreamt about. It's really strange. But then other times it's like in my face and very real to me. I'm still remembering lessons and relearning some and digging deeper into others and realizing how it has all effected me as a person. How I think, how I act, how I speak, how I work and plan and organize and communicate...it's all been effected by my experience in the wilderness. I think that's what God wanted for me though. I know it's what I wanted for myself. There will probably be more thoughts to come on this, but for now this is what's on my heart:

"The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life..." (Proverbs 10:9a)

I've been thinking a lot about my words and whether they are life-giving, encouraging, thoughtful, and intentional. We've all heard the phrase coined by Thumper from Bambi "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin at all." And while that may be true (to an extent) I think this verse goes much deeper than just saying nice things to people. I think it's talking about being intentional with what you are saying. It's talking about bringing life to another person and maybe even yourself through thoughtful and intelligent words. The way you speak and what you speak about can signify what you worship, what you care about, what you don't care about, and your integrity. I want my mouth to be an overflow of my heart and I want my heart to be a fountain of life. I want to talk more about things that matter instead of what I've done today or what I'm doing tomorrow or over break, I want to be more bold instead of silencing my thoughts because I'm afraid of what people will think, I want to be more encouraging instead of cutting, I want to speak with more wisdom instead of shallowness. I want to choose to speak in love instead of hatefulness. (A good friend reminded me of that the other day :) ) And I want the community that I live in to want this too. I want Johnson to be known as a community filled with men and women of purpose and integrity. Who lift each other up instead of tear each other down. Who speak in love to one another. And bring life to each other.

So this is what's on my heart and what I'm hoping to work on and get better at. Being a fountain of life.