You’ve no doubt heard about the three birds that are sitting on a telephone wire. Two of them decide to fly south. How many are left? One? No. It’s three. This is because deciding to fly south isn’t the same as doing it.

It’s a bit like the difference between a want and a wish. I may want to lose some extra pounds and decide to do it, but don’t do anything about it. This makes my desire and decision to lose weight nothing more than a wish.

In life it’s not what I say, wish, or decide that counts. It’s what I do. Action always needs to follow one’s decision. Otherwise it is meaningless.

Have you been wanting to make amends with a friend whom you hurt or who has hurt you, or with whom you had a difference? Have you been meaning to visit a shut-in elderly person, make a phone call, send a card, or write a letter to a friend in need, buy flowers for your wife or special friend? Then don’t delay. Do it today.

As Michael Josephson said, “Good intentions are simply not enough. Our character is defined and our lives are determined not by what we want, say or think, but by what we do.

And as God’s Word says, “Do not merely listen to the word [God's Word, the Bible], and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be a doer of your word and not just a listener. Help me to be a proactive person and make good things happen and not be an uninvolved bystander. And help me to always practice what I preach. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 1:22 (NIV).