When I leave my children at home alone with my husband I always have to prepare myself for the fact that when I return there may be some amount of chaos going on. Now, this chaos that I speak of is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is indeed chaos none the less. Some friends of ours called the other day and asked if we would like to take on their one hundred gallon fish tank. Well, seeing that we had to leave ours behind when we moved across the country, I said yes. So, the tank arrived and after much cleaning and a new set of fish, it was set up nicely in the corner of our living room. I had left to do some shopping and they had all decided to stay home and watch a movie. Sometime during their movie watching experience the light on the tank apparently had started to flicker. The men folk then decided that we needed a new light. After a trip to the store they decided to change out the light. This is the story I got when I came home and found water all over the carpet. The meat behind the story was that one of the boys held the new light while my husband and the others directed him on placement. The light then apparently “jumped” out of my son’s hand and into the water, while it was not only plugged in, but also while it was still in his hand! Of course he is being shocked while they all laugh. The light submerges itself into the tank and of course also shocks and kills half the fish. Needless to say, chaos at its best, and we still need a new light!

Once upon a moon some time ago I heard a saying that has stuck with me throught the years, “garbage in, garbage out”. The saying was told to me by a wise man who was sharing with me the importance of guarding one’s heart. He explained to me that the more trash I allowed to go through my heart, the more that would take root there. He advised that I choose with care the friends that I had, the music that I listened to, the TV that I chose to watch, and so on. As goofy as I thought he was at my young age, as time passed and I began to grow into a young adult, I realized that he spoke truth to my heart. The more that I chose to keep consistent garbage from entering my heart, the less of a direct impact it had on my life. I realized that negative friends sprouted growth to negativity in my own heart…that trashy music and TV brought forth garbage from own my lips and attitude. I realized that if I wanted positive growth in my life, from my heart, that I had to have “good in, so that good would come out”!