Be Sweet

A few weeks ago when I was dropping Eli off at school I heard my friend saying goodbye to her son. After the basic "I love you" and "Have a good day" she said "Be sweet". Her comment stood out to me because I don't think I have ever heard or said those words before. I figured it must just be a Southern thing - she is from Georgia. However, in the past few weeks I have really battled with Eli's sassy mouth and I have been reminded of her words on numerous occasions. The way Eli has been speaking to me, his brother, and friends on the playground is so frustrating. As I try to deal with his words and sassy tone, I am also forced to look at my own. Although I think he was born with a little "know-it-all-sass", he must have learned these patterns of speech from someone . . . probably me.
The desire of my heart is to "be sweet", not the artificial sweetener sweet, but the real good old fashioned pure cane sugar sweet. I can't stand Equal, Sweet-n-low and Splenda. They leave this nasty too sweet taste in my mouth, but a little bit of sugar is simple and divine.
I'm praying that God will take away my natural sassy, vinegar-like speech and replace it with the sweetness of sugar. My desire is for my speech to be fragrant to the Lord and to my family. Proverbs 12:18 says "Reckless words pierce like a sword but the tongue of the wise brings healing".