Dirty Ears

(Proverbs 16:28 KJV)  A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.

Slander requires soil to take root.  A seed is not enough.  I never repeat the trash I see in the headlines at the checkout line.  It isn’t always that obvious.  Recently I had a student share a little bit of information about the principal.  It was believable, not necessarily evil and something he would not know.  I laughed and told him to stop trying to start rumors.  I think it stopped there.  I have not repeated it, even in this medium.  It did not take root.

How many times have I been credulous?  How many times have I been fertile soil to the gossip?  It is so easy to do.  It is so much fun to pass things along. 

So?  I need to be alert in my listening as well as my speaking.  I have friends.  I have acquaintances.  I have colleagues.  If I am walking with Jesus I cannot be the kind of soil that accepts the seeds of gossip.