Morning Chapel

When my kids were young, they attended a school where the staff and Administration were all Christian Scientists. Each school day started with a gathering for Chapel and parents were invited to share in it. The classes took turns participating in Chapel, with readings from the Bible or a good thought for the day. A side benefit was giving the children poise and confidence as they spoke before their peers in a safe and supporting environment.

I remember staying for Chapel one day and hearing a verse from the Bible that is in this week's Bible Lesson. The verse is from Psalms 19: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."

The words of my mouth. May everything I say be acceptable to God. That can be a tall order as we go about our day. But, not a bad exercise to stop and think what God would think about what you just said. Keep a closer eye on how positive or negative your reactions are and what it says about you. If what you say is acceptable in God's eyes, then it can't be offensive or hurtful to others, nor can it be misunderstood.

That goes for your inner thoughts as well. We can often stop ourselves before we say something we might later regret, but do we take the time to change what we are thinking, if it a thought that would not be acceptable to God. The things we think about our family members, our fellow workers, the person at the check out line, the other drivers on your commute. Do we allow unpleasant or unkind things to stay in our thinking? If we do, they might just slip out when we speak. Better to keep those things we mediatate on, think about, brood over, reminate upon, be acceptable to God as well.

The simple exercise of this lovely prayer is to keep what you say and think pure and good. It certainly makes for a calmer and happier attitude. But this needs to be based on spiritual law, the Principle that comes from the account of creation in Genesis where God saw everything that He had made and it was very good. Nothing unpleasant, evil, unkind, painful mentioned in that account. Nothing that could cause us to think badly of others or be thought badly of in return. Taking it back to God eliminates those things that would cause us to see any one in the wrong light. Much better to see by the light of Truth.

If you are new to Bible study, you might start with the book of Psalms and read through looking for verses like this one that you can copy out and carry around with you. That verse concludes by recognizing God as our strength and redeemer. What we can rely upon and be supported by. Thw Word of God never fails.