Some would say our dog Jack is spoiled. After all, he eats and drinks out of crystal bowls.

Well, not quite. Though that’s what it looks like, the truth is far from it. Years ago, Nate was running an errand to Ace Hardware to copy a key. When he returned, he came in all excited, calling for me.

“I bought you something!” he said, with a big smile. Handing me a heavy brown bag, he said, “You’re gonna love these.”

I couldn’t imagine what might come from Ace that I would love, but inside, wrapped in multiple plastic bags, were four giant glass bowls. It was one of those moments when I knew I should say something enthusiastic, but I was dumbfounded. Four huge identical bowls? Where would I store them? How would I use so many? What about the bowls I already had?

Nate saw my confusion. “Glass bowls! You love glass!”

Still fishing for words, I said, “Wow.”

He nodded and continued. “And you wouldn’t believe the price! Two bucks each! If they’d had any more, I’d have bought ‘em all!”

Grateful to receive 4 bowls instead of 24, I finally found something to say. “Thanks so much!”

The bowls ended up stored in a stack on the dining room floor, since the cabinets were already full. Nate loved seeing them there, because they prompted him to tell dinner guests about his fabulous find. Gradually I gained appreciation for the bowls, because of the thoughtfulness behind them.

When we moved to Michigan with the 4 bowls, we were squeezing two houses worth of stuff into one and had a bowl-crisis for sure. I asked every visitor, “Want a pressed glass bowl?” For nearly a year there were no takers, though eventually one did go to a new home. In the end, though, Jack ended up with 2 of them.

Now, whenever I fill Jack’s bowls, I’m thankful I didn’t say what I was thinking when Nate first presented them. The fact that I held back, though, had nothing to do with me and everything to do with God’s answer to a long-standing prayer.

I’ve often asked the Lord to stop me from saying wrong things. He’s done it again and again, sealing my lips in the nick of time. The day Nate gave me the bowls, it was God (not me) who kept me from blurting out something hurtful. Had I voiced my thoughts back then, today I would feel awful every time I fed the dog.

Proverbs 17:28 says, “Even a fool is thought wise if ‘she’ keeps silent.” So when I’m thinking like a fool as I was on bowl-gift-day, silence was God’s direct answer to my prayers.

And that’s crystal clear.

“Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.” (Psalm 141:3)