Getting Bumped

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. Matthew 12:33-35 (NIV)

So a friend of mine was helping us replace the big water jug in our cooler at work, and I don't know what happened, but the poor guy bumped into something and, as he was trying to regain his balance, all of the water was just spilling everywhere.

I know - we should have helped him, but we were too busy... laughing. The whole scene reminds me of a lesson I learned long ago: you can tell what’s inside of something - or someone - by what spills out when it gets bumped.

Oh, It's easy to gush with kindness in the good times. But when the trials come - when we get rubbed the wrong way - when we get bumped - then what is REALLY inside of us is what spills out.

The Bible says that "out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks."

Sometimes our testimony is far more powerful: not when everything all goes so right ...but when we get bumped, and somehow a kindness still manages to spill out.

Father, fill our hearts with You.

Suzie Thomas