Let Your Life Speak
When Joel and I were first dating, he came over to my house for dinner one night. We were talking in the kitchen, and as I was putting the finishing touches on the salad, I started asking him question after question about various Scriptures in the Bible because, after all, he was John Osteen's son, and I thought he'd want to talk about spiritual things all night. I handed him a Bible so he could look up the Scripture that I was asking about, but before long, he just set it down on the counter. At the time, I was surprised at his response, but I later realized something very profound about him. Joel wasn't interested in trying to impress me with fancy words and lofty knowledge; he just wanted to get to know me for who I was.
You've probably heard the saying, "Actions speak louder than words." It's not necessarily what a person says, but what they do and how they do it that communicates the most about their character. The way people treat others is how they will eventually treat you.
As we continued dating, I took every opportunity to study how Joel treated his family and how he talked about his friends and the people in his life. I observed how disciplined he was and how he was always on time everywhere he went. I noticed how he would always lend a generous hand to the people around him. I took note of the people he surrounded himself with and the things he enjoyed doing. I paid special attention to how he treated me and talked to me, and he was always consistent in his actions. I knew that Joel read his Bible every day since he was a little boy, and he knew more about Scripture than I ever imagined. But, it was the example he led that meant more to me than if he would have quoted a whole book of the Bible that night we were having dinner!
You've probably heard the saying, "Actions speak louder than words." It's not necessarily what a person says, but what they do and how they do it that communicates the most about their character. The way people treat others is how they will eventually treat you.
As we continued dating, I took every opportunity to study how Joel treated his family and how he talked about his friends and the people in his life. I observed how disciplined he was and how he was always on time everywhere he went. I noticed how he would always lend a generous hand to the people around him. I took note of the people he surrounded himself with and the things he enjoyed doing. I paid special attention to how he treated me and talked to me, and he was always consistent in his actions. I knew that Joel read his Bible every day since he was a little boy, and he knew more about Scripture than I ever imagined. But, it was the example he led that meant more to me than if he would have quoted a whole book of the Bible that night we were having dinner!