Well, Shut My Mouth

     I am an admirer of the slogan, "Lord, put your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth."  You would think shutting my mouth would be something I could accomplish without divine intervention, but this has not been the case so far in my life.  There have been several notable instances though, when God has prevented me from saying what was on my mind, for which I am very grateful.  One of these was a driving incident.  I was stopped at an intersection where I had the stop sign, but the car in the cross street stopped also, and refused to move, leaving me in that auto limbo of not knowing whether to stay or go.  I was tempted to yell at the other driver, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO STOP!".  But I'm so glad I didn't because I met that exact same car a few minutes later pulling into the parking lot of our church.  Actually, that couple had attended our church for a long time.  Thank you Lord for shutting my mouth.
     Another miracle occurred when we had our house reappraised for a loan application.  A husband and wife team did the appraisal, he measured outside, she checked the inside of the house.  When the appraisal came back it was for less than we had paid for the house, and we had added an extra bedroom.  I was furious and wanted to tell them so but wanted to have my facts straight beforehand, so called the realtor who had sold us the house.  The appraisers had used comparables on less desirable streets and one that we knew was undergoing major, structural repair.  They hadn't bothered to look inside the houses or check their history for the $400 fee.  But instead of mouthing off, I submitted an appeal and prayed a lot.  There was no reason for them to accept our appeal, they had already been paid and it would only make their first effort look incompetent, but they sent the bank a new appraisal that more than covered what we needed.  Later, that woman and I were coleaders at Bible study. We had lunch together most Mondays.  I am so glad I didn't have eat my words.
     A third miracle happened at the bank drive through.  I was cashing a check and told the teller how many of which specific denominations I needed.  When the cash came back it wasn't as I requested, so I repeated it through the intercom.  She replied irritably, "You should have told me that before!"  I wanted to say, "I DID!", but my children were in the back seat.  Then the most unexpected words came out of my mouth, "We should pray for her, she's having a bad day."  I prayed while waiting for the correct cash.  I'm sure it was a nice change for my children to see mommy doing the right thing.
     I tend to say, and write, a lot of thoughtless things, but it is my goal not to say or do anything that would ruin my testimony if I had an opportunity to talk to that person about Christ.  I still write letters of complaint, but  find it much easier to be careful with my words when I am writing them down.  It is not difficult to communicate what (or who) the problem was without being rude or personal.  The best approach is to let the facts speak for themselves.  With the exception of some cable television watchers, nobody likes to be told what to think.  (See, rude again.)
     In the Bible, an angel shut the lion's mouths to protect Daniel, I'm sure my family would appreciate having this Lamb's mouth shut more often, but that angel would have to be really fast.  Zingers fly into my head at out my mouth in an instant.  My heart's desire though, is to practice a verbal version of the Hippocratic Oath, "First, do no harm."  Though it may seem like I write the first thing that pops into my head and post it instantly, I actually screen this blog for hurtful humor.  If the Lord's hand isn't over my mouth, it can at least be guiding my fingers.