Consider The Source

This morning I am thinking about my recent conversation with an ex-boyfriend.  Initially, his sweet compliments and sincere-sounding confessions bounced hollow off the walls of my heart and mind.  What reverberated deeply, however, was the question: “Isn’t he still married?”  He got around to answering the question before I could ask.  His line was, “You know how you go to a restaurant and there’s two meals on the menu that you really want, and after you’ve chosen one, you wish you had chosen the other?”  I silently gave thanks to God for sparing me from life with a man who would use such a bad analogy.  After learning that I was single, he went on to give me relationship advice, peppered with terms of endearment about all my virtues he once enjoyed.  Honestly, I found myself feeling flattered, even though his intimations made me quite uneasy at the same time.  Then he said, “I know you loved me.  And, to be honest, I think you still do.”  So, that’s where his words registered about a 10.5 on the WRONG Scale!  It shook me completely back to my senses.  It shook me back to a place of remembering that, for all his lovely words, I was the meal not chosen.  Yet, there he was, trying to sneak a bite.  It’s funny, I had always associated the expression, “Consider the source” with counsel or information that was negative or unfavorable.  However, this encounter helped me see that I should be equally cautious about messages I receive that are gratifying and pleasant.  I must be wise to discern when words are from a source that may be tainted and impure, even if it’s exactly what I think I want to hear.  Anyway, when I saw him with his wife at the store not even a week later, I resisted the urge to say, “Listen, thanks so much for the other day.  You really made me feel good!”  I chose, instead, to operate from a source of wisdom and grace.  And for now, I’ll silently give thanks to God for the chosen man who will one day speak genuine words of love and respect…from the source of a heart that is sincere, faithful, and true…just for me.