Before you speak calm your mind.

"Before you speak calm your mind. You cannot speak peace from a place of chaos, anger or depression."

The first thing I ever wrote dates back to my childhood years. I was 7 years. Yes, 7 years. All those story books were paying their overdue debts and I was cashing them in. It was a love letter-yes, a love letter to a girl I had a huge crush on. It was the last day of school in second grade and I was smitten by the sound of her voice. She was cute in every way and quite a catch too. So, on the last day of the third term of school, I wrote her a love note detailing my feelings for her. Can you believe it? A 7 year old has feelings. My friend, George, at the time, said to me, "Ebenezer, you should secretly put it in her school bag." I was afraid like amateur sailors on their first voyage on dangerous seas. I dreaded her parents finding out, because then, all hell will let loose and my mother will scold me terribly. Eventually, after much deliberation, I chickened out. I couldn't do it. I was not about to get a terribly beating for being sweet. Walking back home with a disappointed look on my face, I knew that was the end of it but I couldn't bring myself to shred the letter. The words were finely written in pencil and I cannot even begin to tell you about the vocabulary. I felt like a young, modern day Shakespeare and my exquisite handwriting was like lemon frosting on a lemon cake. Love was in the air, and this young lad was right there in the middle of that beautiful chaos. The following day, just before our daily devotion, my sister was asked to go bring her Bible and I must admit; to this day, I still don't know how she found the letter. I was seated next to my mom and suddenly she called out, "Mom, I found this note written by Ebenezer."
     At that instant I knew I was in trouble. I knew it like I knew my nursery rhymes. And my face gave me away. My mind had finally settled on one thing, "Don't say a word..." For the first few seconds that followed, she opened the note, and started reading it out loud. Every sign on my mothers face said, "You have no idea what's coming.." When she finished everyone laughed and then my mother turned to me and said, "Did you write that? tell me the truth." What to do... what to do. "Tell me the truth or else..." I saw how fiercely she looked at me. Someone was in trouble. "Tell me the truth! I won't ask again!" She continued, this time in a rather loud voice. Then I remembered, "Before you speak, calm your mind." I took a deep breath and said, "No! I didn't. It was George! He asked me to write it for him and when I finished, He just wrote my name there to make it look like I did." If there is one thing I knew about my mother, it was the fact that I could not, under any circumstance, outsmart her. And my sisters knew it so they kept yelling, "He's lying. He's lying!" He deserves a beating, mom! How can you write a love letter at this age." I was calm as if  peace was breathing down my neck. Seeing me so calm in the middle of that chaos, my mother figured I was innocent. Oh boy... oh boy, what a happy day it was. My heart was singing, "Oh happy day...Oh happy day."
     That was the song that did me in. Because as it run through my heart and to my mind, I laughed so loud. and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. My mother- a great teacher that she is- taught me that no feelings were too strong for the power of the cane. They bow down and pledge
their allegiance to the cane.