dishing dirt
Recently, I read about one woman’s struggle to stop gossiping. As the mother of a preschooler, Sandy confessed to dishing the dirt about other parents, and even spreading information about her son’s playmates. She knew it was wrong, so she tried to go “cold turkey.” When that didn’t work, she attempted to put a positive spin on other people’s business. Ultimately, she admitted that gossip’s grip would probably win out over time; she just couldn’t resist sharing one more juicy tidbit about a dad on the playground . . .
attractive gossip
Hazel Namandingo says that so many people have HIV and AIDS in her homeland of Malawi that singles often rely on gossip to figure out who is safe to date or marry. Accurate information can mean the difference between life and death—but as often happens when the stakes are so high, unfounded rumors start to fly. Hazel said that Malawians…
gentleness and respect
“And what he still has left of his faith is such an anemic, mushy, and watered-down bowl of pap that he really has become a joke—a caricature of religious conviction. Any atheist or New Ager could come up with such grotesque nonsense.”
There is a place for stating things bluntly. But these words from a Christian blogger, describing a pastor…
patience
I’ve figured out that secondary school boys are part of God’s plan to increase patience in my life. In my job I go from one extreme of teaching sixth form students to the corridors of insanity in teaching year 8 English. I enjoy most of my students, but there’s something unmistakably stretching about working with young men who totter uncertainly…
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…
careful consideration
Have you ever been having a heated conversation with someone and impulsively said something mean? As soon as the words left your mouth, you knew the kind of negative impact they would have on the person. You then realized you had thrust a ‘sword’ that could never be retracted. Or have you ever done something (not necessarily a sin), only…
sweet speech
"She said, ‘I hope you won’t be in my class next year.’ ” One evening during dinner with my kids, I was surprised when my 9-year-old randomly shared an incident that had taken place at school. Being a curious child, he had been playing with a door lock while waiting in line for lunch when a teacher—in an attempt to…
upstairs downstairs
Walk into her house and a showcase living room quickly commands your attention. Ornate, expensive furniture populates rooms tastefully embellished with understated artwork. A lavish floral arrangement adorns a perfectly lit breakfast nook.
But no one ever sits on the furniture. The flower-shaped soaps in the soap dish never clean anyone’s hands; the towels in the kitchen and bathroom don’t…
new way of talking
Recently, a woman had oral surgery and awoke from the procedure with one alteration she wasn’t expecting. The work on her mouth went well, but the words that came out of her mouth sounded strange. Her Northwestern US tone had been replaced by an accent straight out of Transylvania. Her condition? Foreign accent syndrome—a neurological condition that has been documented just…
the Word of God
A person’s words are inseparable from the person speaking them. Think about your own words. They come from you and are uniquely yours. Your words communicate your heart. They come from your inner self—your soul—and express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, and character. Your words are spoken with your voice. They are sounded with your own unique mix of accent, pitch,…
gracious and salty
During a press conference in New York City for Clint Eastwood’s new movie Hereafter, the journalists were clearly smitten with him. When a Brazilian journalist apologized for his poor command of English and a “silly question,” Eastwood sat forward in his chair and told the writer, “No question is silly.”
After the event, a journalist reported, “One gets the feeling…
well-timed words
In the book Encouragement: The Key to Caring, Larry Crabb describes how nerve-wracking it was the first time he volunteered to pray out loud during a church service. Larry recalled, “I found my theology becoming confused to the point of heresy. I remember thanking the Father for hanging on the cross and praising Christ for triumphantly bringing the Spirit from the…
temper, temper!
It was the first month of the 40th year of wandering in the wilderness. Still grieving over the death of his beloved sister Miriam (Numbers 20:1), Moses had to cope with the rebellion of his people. The second generation of Israelites who had been freed from captivity was about to enter the Promised Land.
But they were committing the same…
good words
“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (Ephesians 4:29).
Whenever you think something good, say it! Give life to those thoughts. Speak life-giving words not only to others, but to yourself and to your circumstances.
This week be nothing but…
