Would You Like Ketchup or Mustard?

 

Let’s talk about something a little more serious here….okay?

I generally keep my posts…like my life, light and carefree.  I know that I have the Diary of a Grieving Mom page, and that gets a little weighty.  That’s the very reason I don’t publish it to each of my followers’ mailboxes.  I realize not everyone likes a strong dose of drama.  Today…you’re getting it anyway! lol

Sometimes, we all need a little reminder of reality to ground us…do we not?  All of us are imperfect, and could use a little, well, kick in the pants.

I found myself in a situation this week.  This came from someone placed in a very high place of power, and access to many others under them.  A position that should be held as a way to show the rest of the world gratitude for the opportunity to influence them in a positive way.  A way to rise to the highest levels…not slink down and slither through the grass….or set the table for a meal of human flesh. 

I try not to be a big Gayla Gossip, but we all are guilty of this from time to time.  Here’s some food for thought the next time you’re tempted to repeat gossip.

A while back, I wrote about friendship, and what it mean to me.  In that story I talked about how gossip is literally like eating the flesh off of someone.  If you’ve ever been a victim of gossip, you know how it feels to have the proverbial flesh being ripped off of you.  Did it feel good?  Nope, it didn’t, and so should you do the same?

Most folks whom make a habit of gossip, find making someone look bad in the eyes of others, makes them look “better”.  What’s so sad is the fact that we all find ourselves guilty of this horrible activity from time to time.  What’s even sadder still, what it says about the person repeating the gossip.  (That they are insecure, and have no self-esteem.)  Generally, gossip is a tiny bit of information that some insecure punk took out of context, and elaborated the story to fit their own insecurities.  They highlight the details so that the story sounds more exciting to them…or juicy.  Fabricating the details, till they sound good to themselves…boosting their own egos.  Then they pass it on.  If the audience has insecurities, they might further elaborate the tale…adding some details that sound good to them.  And so, the story continues and develops…growing in rotting disgusting human stench, until it becomes disgusting and putrid in the eyes of God even further.  Have you ever smelled the flesh of a dead carcass rotting in the summer sun? Well, there ya go.  When you repeat the gossip…that’s what you just devoured!  Just like eating any meal, once you’ve eaten, you feel satiated.  If you ate good, nutritional food…it digests, and helps you grow.  If the food is rotten, it begins to churn and boil in your gut, until you have to expel it in some way, becoming sick and disgusted by it.   In other words:  The Gossiper…may feel satisfied with themselves when they first gossip, but as they begin to realize what they’ve done…their self esteem begins to worsen…and this will often result in more gossip to try to make themselves feel better again….sometimes never learning and growing more and more insecure!

If they will gossip with you….they’ll gossip about you, and don’t you doubt that for a minute.

Remember this when tempted to repeat a bit of gossip.

• Do you know this bit of info to be true?
• Is this your story to tell?  Is it something, if it were about you, that you’d want repeated?
• Have you walked in this person’s shoes?
• Do you know all the facts, and feelings of this person?  (In other words…Have you walked in their shoes? Do you know what they are going through, and the facts that led to this circumstance?)

Even if you have answered yes to every single one of these, keep this in mind:

Proverbs 18:8 NIV says: “The words of anyone who talks about others are like tasty bites of food.  They go down deep inside you.” 

So, I ask of you, if you should choose to gossip anyway…”Would you like Ketchup or Mustard with your pound of human flesh?”