Maxine, the church gossip and self-appointed authority of the church’s morals, kept sticking her nose in the other members’ private lives. Church members couldn’t stand her activities, but feared her enough to keep their silence.

She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member of the church, of being an alcoholic after she saw his pickup truck parked in front of the town’s only bar one afternoon.

She commented to George and others that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing.

George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just walked away. He didn’t explain, defend or deny; he said nothing.

Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of Maxine’s house — and left it there all night!

Have you noticed there are those who believe themselves to be morally superior to those around them? They tend to look down their noses at others who are not as “perfect” as they are themselves.

Behind this sense of moral superiority is often a deep-seated anger that is the result of being hurt deeply. At some point, such a person was belittled in such a painful way that, in an unconscious attempt to regain a sense of confidence and acceptance, they have a need to put down others to build up themselves.

That is quite a shame. It is an example of how a harsh, impulsive comment can injure a person for life. And such a hurt can continuously perpetuate itself.

In the book of James, we are cautioned about the language we use. In chapter three we read, “The tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.”

Be careful with the words you use. Think before you speak. There is great wisdom in the adage of counting to 10 before saying something in anger, because once the words are out, they cannot be taken back and the damage is already done.

Remember what Solomon said: “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Think before you speak

We just celebrated Mother's Day and, in a few weeks, we shall be celebrating Father's Day.

How have your parents shaped your life? Parents shape our lives in many ways: they help us become the adults we are today. No parent is perfect, but I have found that the overwhelming majority of parents do their best to bring up moral, upright and productive children.

In today's world, one doesn't have to give birth to a child to be a loving mother. We have various types of mothers: birth mothers, adoptive mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, spiritual mothers, those we adopt as our mother, mothers in heaven, pet mothers and so on.

How has your mother shaped your life?

Did she encourage you to follow your dreams and help you achieve them?

Did she help you with your school projects?

Were you perhaps adopted by a wonderful family?

Perhaps your mother is in heaven and you have adopted a lady from your neighborhood or church to be your "mother?" 

Grandmothers are now rearing their grandchildren; one's mother doesn't necessarily look like someone else's mother.

Did your mother, or grandmother, teach you to garden, bake, cook, sew, scrapbook, iron and other skills?

The poem by William Ross Wallace written in 1865 reflects upon the importance of our mothers. Here is the first stanza:

"Blessings on the hand of women!          

Angels guard its strength and grace,

In the palace, cottage, hovel,

Oh, no matter where the place;

Would that never storms assailed it,

Rainbows ever gently curled;

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world."

In the Ten Commandments, the Lord commands us to "Honor thy father and thy mother," so it is obvious that God gives great importance to our parents. 

Perhaps you are one who has the pleasure of having your mother living here in Crestview and get to spend time with her; treasure this time.

How did you make Mother's Day special?

Did you take her to her favorite restaurant?

Did you make her favorite meal at home?

Did you go to church with her?

Did you give her a special card, flowers or a plant? 

Most importantly, did you tell your Mother that you love her, as we never know what tomorrow may bring.

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Celebrating our mothers

If you're a certain age, or getting close to it, you might hear something like this: "Now that you're older, you need to invest more conservatively." But what exactly does this mean?

For starters, it's useful to understand that your investment preferences and needs will indeed change over time. When you're first starting out in your career, and even for a long time afterward, you can afford to invest somewhat aggressively, in stocks and stock-based investments; because you have time to overcome the inevitable short-term market drops. At this stage of your life, your primary concern is growth – you want your portfolio to grow enough to provide you with the resources you'll need to meet your long-term goals, such as a comfortable retirement.

But when you finally do retire, and perhaps for a few years before that, your investment focus likely will have shifted from accumulation to preservation.

And this certainly makes some sense. Even though you may spend two, or even three, decades in retirement, you actually have many shorter time frames for withdrawing money – that is, selling investments – from your retirement accounts, such as your 401(k) and IRA.

In fact, you may be taking withdrawals every month – and you don't want to be forced to sell investments when their price is down. Consequently, you'll want a portfolio that's less susceptible to market downturns. This means that you may need to reduce the percentage of stocks in your investment mix and increase your holdings in investments that have less growth potential but offer greater stability of principal, such as bonds.

If you follow this formula, you will have become a more conservative investor. But this evolution – from aggressive to conservative – isn't that simple, or at least it shouldn't be. If, as mentioned above, you are retired for two or three decades, you will have to deal with inflation. And even at a relatively mild 3 percent annual inflation rate, your purchasing power will decline by about half in just 25 years. This is a real threat to retirees, who, unlike active employees, can't count on increases in earned income to overcome increasing costs of living.

Given this reality, you will have to find your sources of rising income in your investment portfolio. One possibility: Dividend-paying stocks, some of which have increased their dividends for many years in a row. Still, like all stocks, these dividend payers can lose value from year to year, and they can also reduce, or even eliminate, dividends at any time. In other words, they aren't risk-free – which brings us back to the question of how "conservative" of an investor you can really afford to be when you're retired.

In the final analysis, there's no simple answer. On one hand, you probably shouldn't be as aggressive an investor as you were when you were much younger and still working. On the other hand, if you were to primarily own certificates of deposit and U.S. Treasury securities, you might face the prospect of outliving your money. Ultimately, you'll need to maintain a balanced portfolio that helps you control risk today while providing you with growth opportunities for tomorrow.

This article was written by Edward Jones on behalf of your Edward Jones financial adviser.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: What conservative investing means to older investors

During World War 2, a military governor met with General George Patton in Sicily. When he praised Patton highly for his courage and bravery, the general is believed to have said, "Sir, I am not a brave man – the truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn't so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands."

Years later, when Patton's autobiography was published, it contained this significant statement by the general: "I learned very early in my life never to take counsel of my fears."

4-H has been very busy for the last couple of months and one of the programs responsible for this increase in activity is Embryology.

Embryology is the study of developmental cycles. The biological development in particular that 4-H-age children study is that of chickens.

Our 4-H Embryology Program is school enrichment based, meaning it focuses on in-classroom study. Each teacher participating in the program receives a complete equipment kit, which includes curriculum and a training seminar with a 4-H professional to kick off the program.

Fertilized eggs are then placed in the incubator and the program cycle begins.

The children in each classroom spend the next two weeks candling the eggs and observing the changes each chick goes through in preparation to enter the world.

The final week, also known as hatch week, is an eventful time. The teachers prepare the incubators and brooders for the coming chicks and the children are able to take responsibility in caring for the newborns through feeding and watering cycles.

On many occasions, the students are able to hold and interact with the chicks as well.

There are so many advantages to this program. Not only do the students learn a biology lesson at a young age, they also learn responsibility and compassion. They also are able to experience a little piece of where their food they eat comes from.

Eggs from the store have very little meaning and many times are misunderstood until a child watches a chick come from the same looking egg. Everything about what that egg is truly for comes into focus.

It is an amazing experience for both the children and the teachers to witness.

If you are a teacher or a principal in an elementary school in Okaloosa County and are interested in implementing this University of Florida funded program into your school next spring, please contact Veronica Graham at the Okaloosa County Extension Office at 689-5850 or graham.v@ufl.edu. 

Veronica  Graham is an agent at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 4-H program focuses on Embryology 101