to let the words of my mouth be pleasing to You, O Lord.

Good morning my friend, Today I was reading in Psalms 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”  This reminded me of a trip that we took to Manus, Brazil to visit my brother-in-law, John and his wife, Rebecca Hawkins. (They were missionaries and John was teaching in a Bible college.)  Joyce and I took three pastors with us to see the work the Hawkins were doing. John gave each pastor a day to speak and challenge the students. As Americans, we have our own creative ways to warm up a crowd. So when John introduced one of the pastors, he got up an said something in a joking manner about Pastor John’s character. The room grew silent. The pastors were immediately offended because in their culture you would never say this. It would be considered a major insult. So, John had to explain this to us and then to the pastors in Portuguese and the men laughed. We all learned that day the importance of being very careful what was said.

This has been a great lesson for me. Sometimes in what I say or write, I don’t think how it will effect the very people I’m talking to. Bernard Melzer once said “Before you speak, ask yourself if what I say true, is it kind, is it necessary, and is it helpful?” Today as we interact in social media and with people, we need to make sure we follow this.

Dear Lord Jesus, sometime I hurt the very people I love by what I say. Today may I remember to choose my words wisely as not to offend.

Smile, God loves you and so do I.