When I spread gossip
I twist my own arm,
Get backed in a corner
Cause myself harm

When I start to whisper
About someone, friends,
Or speak of a brother
With words Satan sends

He grins with delight
And then says, “Poor fool!
Now you have broken
The Golden Rule!”

He taunts and accuses
Then comforts me some
Assuring me my sin
Was just a small one

“It’s not all that bad,
People laughed, gave applause!
What you said was funny,
Even for a good cause!”

But I have no right ever
To speak of my friends
With words that, surely,
My Enemy sends

Many words has God given
For me to use
To honor Him–and others!
And not to abuse

The next time I’m tempted
To whisper or joke
Lord, help me remember
That with kindness You spoke

You said to cast off
Sin-causing things
But my tongue I must keep
For praising the King

No one can tame it,
Shame or disturb it,
I can’t cut it off,
But, Lord, help me to curb it!

By Keeley Rollert
Keeley Rollert and her husband, David, are currently students at the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver.  They were married December 2008, and they look forward to working in whatever ministry God has planned for them when they finish school in May, 2011.