When Robert Schuller was a little boy, he studied piano. His mother was his teacher. When it came time for recital, his mother made him go over the conclusion again and again. He had to get it down perfectly!

"Keep on practicing the conclusions, Bob. Learn those last measures!" she used to say. "Look, Bob, you can make a mistake in the beginning; or you can make a mistake in the middle. The people will forget it — if you make the ending glorious!"

We all make mistakes as we go through life and we all learn from those mistakes. Every time we try something new we run the risk of making yet another mistake, and yet, if we are to be successful, we must run that risk constantly, every day. Every risk we take and every mistake we make builds our knowledge and increases our chances of making the ending glorious.

Jesus was rejected and knew the pain that comes with rejection. He knows how to help and He is there to help. He will stoop and pick us up when we fall and take our hand when we stumble. All He asks of us is that we have faith in Him.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, it seems that life was not meant to be easy but You are there to help us. Often our lives appear to be clouded by problems and difficulties, but You are there beside us. We lose faith in ourselves, and feel insecure and inadequate, but You have faith in us. It is difficult sometimes to look on the bright side of things, but if we have faith in You then we can see that side. Like Paul, we have thorns in our flesh, and we ask that You give us the strength to bear and conquer those thorns so that we may come to a glorious ending. Amen.

One of my daily e-mail blessings is a free mailing from Chicken Soup for the Soul. In a recent story called Do It Now by Robert Reasoner, this paragraph leapt out at me:

I won't get another chance to tell my son all I would have wanted him to hear, but, other parents, you do have a chance. Tell your young people what you would want them to hear if you knew it would be your last conversation. The last time I talked to Jim was the day he died. He called me to say, "Hi, Mom! I just called to say I love you. Got to go to work. Bye." He gave me something to treasure forever.

How different this world would be if we treated every word we uttered as if it were the last word we would ever say to that person. We would have to weigh each and every word we said with extreme care. We would have to consider every word carefully and examine every nuance, knowing that whatever we said could never be taken back, any wrong imparted could never be righted.

Our conversations would become much more positive; we would share more love, more hope, more encouragement. Angry words would be tempered; hateful words would be held in check.

The rewards would be without measure. Our spirits would be uplifted. We would gain joy through seeing joy in others. We would feel loved through loving others. We would give others something to treasure forever.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, it is so easy to utter words that hurt and tear down. Give us the patience to weigh our words. Grant us the wisdom to understand how they will be perceived by the listener. Help us to control our wrath so that we utter no hurtful words in anger. Guide us to say things that others will treasure forever. We ask this in the name of our Saviour, Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.