Gossip

Remember the game you played as a child where someone whispered a sentence into someone’s ear, and they repeated it to the next person, and they pass it on. By the time it reached the end of the line it was never the same as the original sentence. You would think we would have learned something from that game but adults still repeat gossip and by the time it’s been told several times, it often no longer resembles the truth.

A friend of mine recently went through one of the most devastating experiences of her life. Her husband left her and their children for a younger woman (who was also married). Mary (not her real name) and the children have had their lives turned upside down. I have prayed for her and cried with her. After several really rough months she is slowly putting her life back together.

Imagine my surprise when a friend asked me if I knew that Mary had left her husband and children for another man. I quickly told her that was not the way things happened. “Well, that’s what I heard,” she said.

And I’m sure it was what she “heard”, but what we hear isn’t always the truth. That’s why we shouldn’t gossip and why we should never repeat something unless we know without a doubt that it is the truth.

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