words disperse
In the movie Doubt, a preacher told of a woman who confessed her sin of gossip to her priest. The man told her to first go home, take a pillow up onto her roof, cut it open, and then return. She did as instructed. Then the priest asked her what she saw. “Feathers everywhere, Father.” He said, “Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out onto the wind.” She protested, “It can’t be done. I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over.” “And that,” replied the priest, “is gossip!”
language of the heart
I’m more impressed by works than by words, which I often gloss over as nothing more than hot air. I’ve said, “Talk is cheap!” and “Don’t talk the talk if you won’t walk the walk.” According to the apostle James we’re right to value works over mere words. He reminds us that it does no good to tell a poor…