LB's Lads to Leaders Speech 2013

LB wrote her speech based on wisdom my Grandmother Whittle (her great-grandmother) use to give her girls.  She wrote it completely herself and we are so proud of her!!!

The “Three Bs”

“God gave you two ears and one mouth so you need to listen twice as much as you talk.”  “You may not make the best grade but you can sit there and behave.” “Peas and pone.  Eat it or let it alone.”  “Pretty is as pretty does.”  These are some of the things my great-grandmother told her girls as they were growing up.

She was one of the wisest people I knew.  She was especially known for three wise sayings.  They were called the “3 Bs”.  They are “Be Good! Behave! And Be Careful!”  It was her way to say, “I love you,” but it was also good advice.  Let’s look at my Grandma’s “3 Bs.”

BE GOOD:  Ephesians 5:1 tells us that we are to “Be imitators of God as dearly loved children.” We know God is good.  If we are His children, we should be good too.  Proverbs 3: 9 – 10 says that if we are good, He will reward us.  But just as a father disciplines his children if they disobey, God will discipline us if we are not trying to be good (Proverbs 3:12  “For whom the Lord loves He corrects just as a father the son whom he delights”). 

BEHAVE: Behave means you act right.  Proverbs 20:11 says, “Even a child is known by his actions by whether his conduct is pure and right.”  Joseph was a young man who tried to do what was right.  When Potipher’s wife wanted him to sin, Joseph ran away and ended up in jail.  God knew Joseph was trying to do what was right just as God knows whether or not we are tying to do right.  Proverbs 5:21 “For a man’s ways are in full view of the Lord and he examines all of his paths.”  If young people are behaving, or doing what is right, our example will be “like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day” (Proverbs 4:18). 

BE CAREFUL:  Grandma wanted her girls to stay safe.  She wanted them to be physically safe and stay on the right path just like in Proverbs 1:15.  There Solomon warns us not go follow sinners or to “set foot on their paths.”  Those unsafe, sinful ways look good and sweet and smooth, but they lead to death according to Proverbs 5:3-5.

If someone asked my grandma if she was smart or wise, she probably would have said, “No, I just have common sense.”  Her family thought Grandma was very smart and very wise.  We learned so much from her common sense wisdom.  Our heavenly Father has given us lots of wisdom in His book, the Bible.  We can learn even more from studying God’s book.  As you study, remember Grandma’s three wise sayings:  Be Good!  Behave!  Be Careful!