How many of us had said something that we later regretted, and it hurt a friend or family member. We all have at some time in our lives. For me it happened last night. I was really angry at something and I took my anger out at my dad. The person who was there to help me, I just pushed him away. We did make up, but I was hurt by the way I treated him. Then later that night I found Psalms 141:3 which says, "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips." Pretty much the verse is asking God to help you watch what you say., and sometimes saying nothing is the best way to avoid a problem. I know that it is easier said then done, but with prayer and God's help, you can learn to watch what you say more and more.
I know that when we are angry or upset, we are much more susceptible to lash out at someone or say something you don't mean. In my Theory of Knowledge class we call that getting hooked. We read an interview in class and the main speaker said that when you do something you don't want to do, then you are getting hooked. To show you what getting hooked means, imagine a fish swimming in a lake. A fisherman walks to the lake, places bait on his hook, and cast out his line. The fish, knowing he shouldn't, but he swims to the hook and bites it. Then the fisherman reels the line up and the fish is in a lot of trouble. The fish in this story is us, and the bait on the hook is the things that we want to avoid but it is so tempting. For example, your bait could be drugs, to anger, to the words that you say. Then once you are hooked, things start to rise quickly, like being reeled up. If you say something to someone to hurt them, then they could turn around and say something back to you, and then the problem begins to escalate quickly. To take a step farther then we did in Theory of Knowledge, God in this story represents the fish that is in your way, the fish that won't let you bite the bait. Using the verse above, if you get hooked because of the words you say, then ask God to set a "guard over your mouth," and to watch over the "door to my lips." What you are asking God is for God to stand between you and the hook with the bait you so want to bite. There are still going to be times when you completely avoid God and swim around him to bite the hook, but the more you pray and the more you try, God will become a bigger and bigger barrier in front of that hook. You will stop to think about your words before you say them more, and you won't hurt many peoples feelings.
I know that when we are angry or upset, we are much more susceptible to lash out at someone or say something you don't mean. In my Theory of Knowledge class we call that getting hooked. We read an interview in class and the main speaker said that when you do something you don't want to do, then you are getting hooked. To show you what getting hooked means, imagine a fish swimming in a lake. A fisherman walks to the lake, places bait on his hook, and cast out his line. The fish, knowing he shouldn't, but he swims to the hook and bites it. Then the fisherman reels the line up and the fish is in a lot of trouble. The fish in this story is us, and the bait on the hook is the things that we want to avoid but it is so tempting. For example, your bait could be drugs, to anger, to the words that you say. Then once you are hooked, things start to rise quickly, like being reeled up. If you say something to someone to hurt them, then they could turn around and say something back to you, and then the problem begins to escalate quickly. To take a step farther then we did in Theory of Knowledge, God in this story represents the fish that is in your way, the fish that won't let you bite the bait. Using the verse above, if you get hooked because of the words you say, then ask God to set a "guard over your mouth," and to watch over the "door to my lips." What you are asking God is for God to stand between you and the hook with the bait you so want to bite. There are still going to be times when you completely avoid God and swim around him to bite the hook, but the more you pray and the more you try, God will become a bigger and bigger barrier in front of that hook. You will stop to think about your words before you say them more, and you won't hurt many peoples feelings.
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