Gossip

i will preface this message with the fact that i am in no way perfect, and i do fall victim to gossip at times.

so, this topic is very dear to me because it can do so much harm to other individuals as well as ourselves. why do people gossip and say mean things about others? "because it needs to be said?" but why does it? the age old advice that our parents told us still holds as much weight, if not more, today than it did back when: if you can't say anything nice about somebody, then don't say anything at all.
i feel like we, as a people, need to come together and build one another up instead of breaking each other down. we are all so quick to worry about others and how they aren't living up to life's expectations. who cares?? like seriously! i was in a grocery store a few years back when i overheard a father disciplining one child after that child was saying not nice things to his sibling. the father said "are you building up your brother?" the child's reply was "no". the father responded by encouraging the child to only say things that would build up and exhort his brother. so simple, yet so true.
life is hard, and each of us have our own problems to worry about, so why worry about other people and their problems? and what position are gossipers in that they get to be the judge and critique other people? are these people so insecure that they must put others down in order to lift themselves up? well, i'll tell you right now that it's doesn't work that way. no one wins in gossip.
i invite my readers to try to do one week where they only let encouraging words utter from their lips. if you are compelled to say anything that could be construed as not nice, ask yourself "am i building up the person or putting them down?" and "what position am i in that gives me the right to bring them down?" this is just a thought, but i feel it will help us become better people.

so yeah...gossip is not cute!