Practice What You Preach

Michelle:

One day our daughter Taryn came home from school and said, “The word practice is really confusing.” It can mean to work at something to gain skill, like when I practice my different tumbling passes at cheer.  But it can also mean to be a professional at something. Like a doctor has a medical practice.”

Chris:

Taryn’s confusion about the word ‘practice’ really made me think. I responded, “It can also mean to carry out or do something-like practice what you preach.” Why is it important to practice what we preach? People should be attracted by our light in the way we live and in the words we speak.  Whether we like it or not, people are watching us and seeing how we respond to the ups and downs of everyday life. Children watch adults and then imitate what they see and repeat what they hear. Are our words and actions something we want repeated by our children? I learned, the hard way, how influential my words were on Taryn.

Michelle:

One evening, when I arrived home from work, Taryn greeted me at the door to tell me, “Dad installed my dirty (insert cuss word here)!”  Chris looked at me sheepishly and said, “Her ceiling fan is in and, as you can imagine, it didn’t go well.”  This was not the positive influence he had hoped to be. 

When our daughter was a competitive cheerleader, our lives revolved around which state we would be in over the weekend for a competition.  One year, we had watched a team from Hawaii fight and grind during every competition, yet they always came up short. Week after week, they would take home second place. As we were driving to Texas for the last competition, Taryn said that she hoped the Hawaii team would win their division because they deserved it more than the team that continuously beat them out.  When we asked Taryn why they deserved it, she said, “Everyone on that team is happy.  They are all so nice.”  Then she hit us with this, “You know what else, the parents are way nicer too.  They don’t yell at the coaches or one another.  I think their attitude is what makes them deserve it more. I guess they just have a winning attitude.” They did go on to win that last competition, but this interaction reminded us as parents that we do have to be very careful about the words we speak.

Chris:

You can tell a lot about a person by the words they use. You can tell even more by the words they use when they are distressed, angry, or threatened. Do our words build people up or cut them down? Do our words bring peace and calm to a situation or do they add fuel to the fire? When we practice what we preach, we act in public the same way we act wherever we are.  The words we speak should match the person we claim to be.