Summary: Dad reached for his Bible after dinner. "What song would you like to sing before I read?" he asked, looking up from the passage he had selected. Aaron spoke up quickly. "Let's sing 'What a Mighty God We Serve,'" he suggested. "We've been singing that in Sunday school." He looked at his little brother, who was eating chocolate pudding. "Better put your spoon down, Tory," added Aaron. "You can't sing while you eat." Tory put his spoon on the table, but when the others began to sing, he did not join in. At the end of the song, Dad looked over at his younger son. "You usually like to sing, Tory, but you weren't singing tonight," said Dad. Tory shook his head. "I can't sing with a dirty mouth," he said solemnly. Dad smiled as he reached for a napkin and began to wipe pudding from Tory's face. "I think you just taught us a lesson," Dad said. "Your mouth was dirty from the pudding, Tory, and you wanted it to be clean before you sang. Our mouths can sometimes be dirty from something much worse. Who knows what that might be?" "Well . . . one of the guys on the baseball team said a bunch of bad words when he struck out," Aaron said. "I heard some of the girls say he had a dirty mouth. Is that what you mean?" "Yes, that type of thing," replied Dad. Mom nodded. "It's often our mouths that get us into trouble," she said quietly. "It seems to be easy to say things that hurt someone, and we all tend to brag now and then, too. That's not good, either. We should all be sure our mouths and hearts are clean when we pray and praise God." "So . . ." Aaron began thoughtfully. He paused, then summed up the lesson they had just discussed. "I guess," he said, grinning at Tory, "it would be okay for you to sing with pudding on your mouth as long as your heart is clean!" "That's the important thing," Dad agreed. "Before we offer prayers or praises to a God who is holy, let's ask Him to cleanse us from any sin we have committed." "Okay. My mouth is clean now, so can we sing our song again?" Tory asked. "Sure," said Dad. "Let's pray first and then sing with clean mouths and hearts." How About You? Do you always pray and sing with a clean mouth? Be sure to seek forgiveness each time your heart becomes smudged by wrong speech. Don't allow the sins of anger, criticism, gossip, or boasting stain your lips. Confess your sin to the Lord and with His help, don't repeat it. Then you can pray and sing His praises with a clean mouth. Today's Key Verse: Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips. (Psalm 141:3) Today's Key Thought: Guard your speech
