## 141:3
%% 4
> Keep the Door of My Lips
>> Set a watch, LORD, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips.

Occasion: When I need courage for an ordinary conversation

Lord, I need to say something.

It is not a speech.
No crowd is waiting.
The world will go on afterward.

But this conversation matters to me,
and I am afraid of getting it wrong.

I have practiced sentences in my head.
Some sound too sharp.
Others hide what I really mean.

Give me words that are true
without using truth as a weapon.

Help me listen after I speak.

Keep me from trying to control
how the other person receives what I say.
That part is not mine.

What is mine
is to speak with courage and honesty,
to listen with humility and patience,
and to leave room for an answer
I may not expect.
Or like.

Let the words of my mouth
and what lies beneath them
be acceptable to You.

Help me open my mouth 
and begin.

Amen.