Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3 (MSG)

I went to a leadership conference last week, and I walked away with a hefty list of personal action items. There was a veritable laundry list of ways I needed to step it up. It honestly felt, at times, as if God was giving me a swift kick in the rear end. One of the items on the list was for me to guard my mouth in the way I talk about others. It's so easy for me to get cynical and sarcastic when I talk about others who, for one reason or another, drive me crazy.

As I read verse three this morning, it was like God was calling a little pop quiz accountability to last week's test. "So, Tom," God says, "how are you doing on being more gracious in how you talk about others?"

Didn't you hate that feeling when teachers called a pop-quiz and you knew you were dead meat?

Like a student who walks away from class and never cracks his textbook, I sit here busted. I haven't done much of anything to consciously guard my mouth or watch what comes out of my lips. Ouch.

We will never change without consciously taking steps down a different path.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and bdunnette