On last night my sister was singing this song by the Chicago Mass Choir entitled “I pray we’ll all be ready,” and when I got up this morning the song was still in my head. I had to go to YouTube to listen to it because I wanted to get the real meaning. I couldn’t understand why God was leading me this way but of course I obeyed. Then I logged into Facebook to see some folk’s statuses and talked to some folk at work and then I knew exactly why God was leading me this way.
The song simply says:
I pray we’ll all be ready
I pray we’ll all be ready for his return
I pray that we’ll get our business straight
So we can all meet at the gate
I pray we’ll all be ready for his return
Hmph! Don’t you know that mouth of yours can write a check your butt can’t cash? Let me show you. You get pissed off at your boss because of an email that was sent to the entire group, not just you, so you go into his/her office ranting & raving about how tired you are of this and how you are always being picked on. You’re talking so fast that you’ve yet to realize that you’re talking yourself out of your job and by the time you see the mess you’ve stepped in, it’s too late. You’ve just fell into quick sand and no one is around to pull you out. Now, you’re packing up the few things you got at your desk to go home and explain to your husband how you actually lost your job. You need to watch your mouth!
You’re over at your girlfriend’s house complaining about your husband. He’s smothering me, he always doing everything, I can’t even pump my own gas or he’s always around. But didn’t you pray for a provider, a husband that God said was yours? You don’t understand why he doesn’t want you to hang out every weekend with your friends or why they are always hanging at your house. Then you say, “I just wish he would leave me alone.” Now, he’s fed up with your lack of concern for him and your marriage. He has done all he can do but you say you don’t need to change. He files for divorce and you don’t fight it because you got your girls and they are probably saying “Girl, he ain’t no good no way, you can do better,” so now you’re alone. A few months later you see him in the store but wait, he isn’t alone because the person pushing his basket is the same friend that was listening to all the complaining you were doing. You need to watch your mouth!
You get mad at your family because you feel like they treat you differently from everybody else. You always got something to say about this person and that person and you could care less who your words hurt because this is you. You always begging and looking for a handout but the minute they say no, you curse them out. You sit around and talk to your sisters and they tell you stuff in confident but the minute you get mad and stuff isn’t going your way, you spill everything because again, it’s all about you. You don’t care that she asked you not to tell, she shouldn’t have made you mad. Your mouth runs more than a MLGW meter but you say, this is me and it’s who I am. You find joy in cursing folk out through text message and a phone call and you find no fault in any of it because it is who you are. But then a day later, you need that same person who you called every name but their own. You need that person who business you spread on Facebook. You need that person whose husband you called and told them what you think you saw. But guess what, just like you are tired so are they so they press ignore on their phone and the help they normally give isn’t there anymore. Now, what will you do? You need to watch your mouth!
Don’t be quick to put your mouth on folk. When God said in 1st Chronicles 16:22 “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm,” he wasn’t just speaking about Pastors, Bishops and Elders, because anoint means to dedicate to the service of God and if you’re dedicated to him, then he is speaking about you. So just because I put up “Godly” statuses, speak a few scriptures here and there or sometimes pray for you, you say I’m acting Holier than thou, you are putting your mouth on me. When you defame my name by spreading lies and gossip, you’re putting your mouth on me. When you talk about Pastor So & So, you’re putting your mouth on God’s anointed. When you talk about Deacon Do Right, you’re putting your mouth on God’s anointed. When you talk about Sis Shirley’s clothes and hair, you are putting your mouth on God’s anointed. No matter how a person lives outside of worship service, it isn’t for you to judge them. Matthew 7:1 says “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” But who are you anyway? Who are you to judge how my life is lived? Just because I won’t wallow in your pit of pity, it doesn’t make me more than you. Just because I won’t be mad at Momma for the stuff she use to do, it doesn’t make me less than you. Just because I don’t look like I’m struggling, it doesn’t mean I have more than you. Just because our paths were separated and I went one way and you went another, it doesn’t mean I don’t know where I came from. What it means is I’m not letting my past define me. Baby these scars that I have, whether they are visible or not, on my skin made me who I am. Whatever you’ve been through, going through or about to go through, don’t let it take you out. But you’ve got to stop blocking your own blessings by running your mouth. When you are mad at someone, pray and let the situation cool down before you react because the words that come out your mouth can’t be taken back. When someone has let you down, pray and let them go because the words that you speak cannot be taken back and words can cut deeper than any knife. Be careful what you say and who you say it too. That person you’re talking about today could be the one saving your life tomorrow. You need to watch your mouth because you have the power of life and death in your tongue.
“You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.” Romans 2:1
Lakisha, the Author 