Gossip | Like Feathers in the Wind

Have you ever been in conversation with someone where suddenly you’re on the receiving end of gossip? I have been on both ends of that scenario 😳 & both can be hard. 

When someone hurts you, it’s sometimes easier to talk ABOUT them than to talk TO them.

And when someone is hurt, it’s sometimes easier to listen with sympathy rather than asking the speaker when they’re going to talk directly to the person of whom they’re talking.

Gossip is simply sharing something that’s not yours to share with the wrong audience.

Noah Webster says it is one who tells idle tales. Idle means unfruitful, so it is one who tells tales that bear no good fruit.

We might have something to share that IS ours to share, but I’m stepping into the land of gossip if I don’t address it with the person who hurt me.

OR

We might know something about someone & when we share that tidbit with anyone other than them, we’ve opened the wide door of gossip.

Paul warns about caring for young widows in his letter to Timothy, because they may, “learn to be lazy & spend their time gossiping.” He writes that many had “already gone astray & now follow Satan.”😬

St. Phillip Neri gave correction to a woman who was known for gossiping. He told her to take a bag of feathers to the top of the bell tower & let them fly into the air. She thought it odd, but did as she was told & then returned to him, letting him know that she did as he instructed.

To her surprise, he gave her one more bit of instruction. He told her to now walk throughout the town & collect all of the feathers she released into the air.

Aghast, she said something like, “That’s impossible! There’s no way I could find them all!”

This was exactly the point. As it is with the feathers, so it is with gossiping words. Once you release gossip into the minds of others, there is no way you can pull them back.

Y’all I once heard that gossip dies when it hits the ears of the wise. If we remember that whoever gossips TO us will probably gossip ABOUT us, then we might become a bit quicker to end the conversation.

A  lot of problems in our lives would end if we simply talked TO each other instead of ABOUT each other. Let’s start today!😉

#OneYearBible

October 19th One Year Bible Readings

💡JEREMIAH 33:1-34:22

💡1 TIMOTHY 4:1-16

💡PSALM 89:1-13

💡PROVERBS 25:23-24

Letting the Past Be A Lesson, Not a Life Sentence

My husband & I were in Athens, GA yesterday hanging with our son & his friends before the big football game. I met a sweet girl who recently graduated & she said something that caught my attention.

Unlike most, high school was a time when she followed the Lord wholeheartedly, but college, she said, kinda gave her permission to do whatever. She shared that her heart longs to return to how it was before, but she doesn’t feel like it’d be right considering all of the water that’s passed under her college season bridge,

I said the only thing that came to mind: “His blood is enough...past, present & future sins are covered by the Blood of our Sacrificial Lamb!

We need not “do” anything, in fact there isn’t anything we CAN do to “clean up” to return to our Savior. We need only return. He’ll take it from there if we allow Him Lordship positioning in our hearts.”💝

In Jeremiah 31, the rebellious Israelites cry out, “Turn me again to you & restore me, for you alone are the Lord my God. I turned away from God, but then I was sorry. I kicked myself for my stupidity & was thoroughly ashamed...”

The Lord tenderly replies with this,” Is not Israel still... my darling child?” He proclaims His love & longing for their return.

What I find fascinating is that God calls Israel, “My virgin Israel” even after all their waywardness!

Time & again God calls Israel His wayward daughter because she continually gives her heart away to other lovers over her Lord God. And yet, in their return, He calls them “virgin”.

It’s so easy to become wayward. There is so much vying for our time, attention & talents today, & we, much like Israel, can wander from The Way.

But God in His deep love for us, calls us His VIRGIN daughter! 

Because when Christ enters the scene, His blood makes all things new, every nook of our lives is washed white as snow!

I have a wayward past & sometimes it creeps up from my memory banks. At this point, I know it’s just history...I cannot go back & change it, but it IS forgiven completely by my Savior Who bought me with the price of His life! 

The enemy wants us to become a prisoner of our past but Jesus set us free! We are His darlings! Let’s live like it!

#OneYearBible

October 17th One Year Bible Readings

💡JEREMIAH 30:1-31:26

💡1 TIMOTHY 2:1-15

💡PSALM 87:1-7

💡PROVERBS 25:18-19

To Whom Do I Listen?

To the degree that I can be disciplined & diligent with caring for my body as a residing temple of the Holy Spirit, I can also step into the land of gluttony now & again.😳 I like me some sweets & sometimes I throw off restraint & like them a little too much.

Proverbs 25:16 gives us a warning by 1st asking a question: 

“Do you like honey? 

Don’t eat too much or it’ll make you sick.”

👉🏽It made me ask, “What’s my ‘honey’?”

There are many things vying for our time, attention, finances & appetites right now & it’s easy to get sucked into the land of too much - too much news, too much sweets, too much “digging into rabbit holes of research”, too much sleep, too much wine, too much fun...too much_____

Whatever your honey is, too much will always leaving us feeling yuck with a physical, relational, emotional or spiritual belly ache🤢

In the same way that we fill our bellies with food, we also fill our hearts & minds with Truth (or lack thereof.)

The writer of Psalm 85:8 says,

“I listen carefully to what the Lord is saying for He speaks peace to His faithful people...”

Another question surfaced when I read that:

👉🏽To whom do I listen & what lands in my heart as a result?

There is much that we can feast on in the way of information today, but does any of it speak peace?

The word as it is used in the verse means completeness, soundness & welfare. The ONLY Source of information that provides resounding welfare to my very core is The Word of God! It is why I love my One Year Bible. It only takes 15 minutes a day to read & I always walk away with a nugget of Truth that steadies my soul.

Peace is a Person & if we are willing to listen carefully, He will speak it to us, over us, beneath us & around us.

Jesus, thank you that You are our Source of Peace. You alone make us complete. Holy Spirit, help us feast in the Word more than the world.  Praise You, Jesus, that You are the only One Whose words we can eat all day long & never leave with a belly ache!

#OneYearBible

October 15th One Year Bible Readings

💡JEREMIAH 26:1-27:22

💡2 THESSALONIANS 3:1-18

💡PSALM 85:1-13

💡PROVERBS 25:16