Love. Think. Speak.

It was about two months ago that I watched The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for the first time. I loved it! More importantly, it inspired me to read The Chronicles of Narnia again.

There was a line in The Magician's Nephew that grabbed me. As Aslan is finishing bring Narnia to life, and has just "woken" a group of animals to consciousness he says

“Awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters.”

I wrote the line down. It just stuck with me. It made me think. 

Love. Think. Speak. 

Brilliant. 

In that order. Love. Think. Speak. 

I think too often we speak. If we're lucky we think first but more often than not, we speak. It's our reactionary speaking where we do the most damage, when we're the most hurtful. 

But I love the order in which Lewis puts these three. Love. Think. Speak. 

Jesus said the world will know he belong to the Father because of our love for one another. The great commandment is Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, strength and to Love your neighbor as you would love yourself. Love. 

In all things we need to act first with love. Don't rush to judgement, but act in love and compassion (Ya know, like Jesus did). And then think, pray. Take our time to make sure we speak in wisdom and with the truth of Christ. And than, speak. Speak in kindness. Even in discipline and rebuke, come with the love and compassion of Christ to help set the course on the right path and not to damage and hurt.