Psst: I just heard that I posted something on gossip at Gifted For Leadership. Here’s a sampling, then check it out:
Gossips Anonymous
A little while back, I learned a very juicy (and heartbreaking) tidbit of info. While I was dying to follow up with a “Why? What happened?” I didn’t. I simply said I’d pray for the people involved but wouldn’t talk about it anymore. And although immediately five friends sprang to mind who would LOVE to hear this tidbit, I didn’t call or email any of them. Not because I’m so righteous or so above gossip. Instead it’s because I’m so broken and am a gossip—albeit, one in “recovery.”
You see, a few years ago after working through a “fearless moral inventory” of myself, of all the bad things I am (jealous, materialistic, judgmental…) gossip really rose to the top (the cream of my sins, you might say) as something that eats at my soul and hinders my Christian life. While I was never the type of gossip who’d start rumors or betray a confidence, I certainly listened to rumors and to others betray confidences (thinking this was okay since the buck would stop with me. Which it did.) And I did my fair share of passing on “news” or sharing someone else’s unfortunate experience simply so I could dissect it with friends—thinking we did this only out of concern and love, of course. But all the while I got quite the rush out of all that “concern” and “love.”
For the rest of the article, click here.
It is very difficult for me to resist asking about this juicy tidbit. But I am doing all I can to support your gossip-free lifestyle, even at great sacrifice to my own need to know.