It was the third of January, another sleepy, dusty delta day...

The first Sunday in January 2010. I went to "Sunny School" as my son used to call it. Then heard one of the best sermons. Kinda based on one of my favorite scriptures: Phil 3:13. Most people use Phil 4:13, which is great too. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Part of 3:13 goes like this: "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead" Oh how I wish more people did that! Forget about yesterday, there's not a blinking thing you can do about it, it's gone, finite, nada, flushed, ain't coming back. There's only one direction, straight ahead. What's that saying, "Lead, follow or get out of the way!" Not only should we forget what we've done, forget about what others have done. IF by chance a teenager is reading this, or a pre-teen, when someone makes fun of you or says they hate you, or your clothes, your house, what ya daddy drives, just forget it, years from now they'll be sitting on a stage or telling a shrink they wish they had never said that and that they're trying to track you down to tell you they're sorry. The crap we say when we're young should be put in a folder and the big 'ol finger of fate hit the DELETE button. I didn't see people as rich or poor or whatever when I was young. I just loved people and wanted to have fun. I could usually make someone laugh who was sad or hurt. Looking back, I should have tried to be a stand-up comedian, but in the 50's, I never heard of one. Anyhoo, there's one thing I wish I could take back from my childhood. We had some friends of our family who mother used to give my hand-me-downs to. The mother of the family would give fresh vegetables to our family so I thought we were pretty slick and even. I saw the little girl in the rest room at school in one of my dresses, so I complimented her and then proceeded to tell her it used to be mine. She informed me pretty quickly that it was HERS. I'm sure I had a puzzled look on my face, and walked away. That afternoon I told my mother about it and she told me I had hurt the girl's feelings. But I didn't MEAN to! !!!!!!! I learned that lesson the hard way. I had loved the dress and I thought it was neat that the little girl was wearing it. I can still see her face and the hurt, I never want to see that EVER again. Now kids set OUT to text ugly words and put them on Facebook, and other public forums. How do you line yourself up with that concept? Until now, I had never written my mistake, and only told a few people. I was ASHAMED of it and I didn't want anybody to know, an innocent, childlike mistake, not intentional. I guess things are different, but people aren't, words hurt, you can apologize, but those hurtful things can still be replayed in our minds. I've asked God to forgive me for that faux pas, maybe I should forgive myself........