.:.Did you hear?.:.

Have you seen the show Friends? I've recently been watching some re-runs. About halfway through season 5, the character Jennifer Aniston plays, Rachel Green, makes a new years resolution not to gossip. There's a line in this particular episode where she wants to share that a co-worker became pregnant, but realizes that it would also fall under the gossip category and so decides to keep it to herself. It struck me as odd, because I don't think I've ever given a second thought to sharing if my friends are engaged or pregnant. Baby's are blessings and gifts from God, and weddings are joyful occassions, and I love to talk about happy things like these. But it dawned on me as a result of watching this character wrestle with gossip, that it really isn't my news to tell.

Gossip needn't be false to be evil -

there's a lot of truth that shouldn't be passed around.

~Frank A. Clark

I'm often tempted to justify my gossip or slander with these two false qualifications:

1. If I just tell one person...
2. I'm speaking truth, so it's not gossip...

Can you relate?

 There are many warnings in scripture about slander and gossip.

 James 4:11
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.


Proverbs 20:19
A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much.


Proverbs 16:28
A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.

The warnings and consequences are obvious. I need to strive to do better in this area. Will you join me?


Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.:.


This post is linked to WLW's Wednesday Link Up Party. Link up too!

We are all shipwrecks

There is a difference between things being hard and things being out of control.

Sometimes in the moment we believe that the latter must be stabilized before God can work in and through us. We grasp to get things under control before we turn to God. Why? I've done it because I think I'm unworthy to come to the cross as a broken person.

How incorrect I am when I think this folly. For it is the broken-hearted who find rest{oration} at the cross; those trying to be perfect before approaching the cross continue to busy themselves with just that when they get there- trying to hold it all together.

The cross held the broken body of our perfect Saviour,

why do we think we need to come looking any better?

It's when we are in the center of out-of-control that we most realize our need for God and should call out to Him. But fear keeps us at bay sometimes, doesn't it? Maybe it's the fear that God won't rescue us, won't accept us, or will see how broken we really are.Or perhaps it's really the fear of accepting that we can't rescue ourselves, accepting our own brokenness, and we project that onto God. But He sees our brokenness... every tiny crack in our masks. And He loves and accept us.

There is no storm that God is overwhelmed by and no face of hardship He cowers away from.

We are all broken. And we are all welcome at the cross, in our brokenness.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.:.