OWN YOUR EARS...PRACTICE

A group of friends and I were talking recently, and the subject turned to gossip. Well. It seems not a one of them indulge in such...they simply rise above it, and as they rise they announce that gossip is bad, immoral, disgusting, not to mention unacceptable to the ears of God. 

Have I ever mentioned I exaggerate?  According to me, that's not as bad as gossiping, but apparently little is.

I'm not an advocate for gossiping, but I am a believer that calling another out in public for most any reason is unacceptable behavior. Own your ears...if the talk is offensive to us, we have options. We  can seek a way to relate without continuing the downhill talk, we can suggest a change of topic entirely, we can remove ourself. Own your ears.

Here's the hard part of owning our ears...we must own them before the juicy parts of the gossip gets out there. We get no points in heaven for righteous indignation after we've heard the dirt. 

We're not entirely stupid, we can hear when the conversational gears get downshifted...right at that moment, we have the choice...silently turn away before we find out who struck whom or excuse ourself without judgment aquiver and move on. 

Here's the toughie: It is not gossip that's the problem, it's our own crude curiosity for the gossip that needs the fix. And the fix is not in scrupulously slapping down those whom we judge to be gossiping.

Finding the sliver of gold, gossip can be just another tool to use to seek still more spiritual growth. I needed inside help to discern, trash or treasure? As my friend Dan says, "News is news." And it comes to us in the middle of the day, sitting in a Board meeting, riding on the Metro...it's at these unexpected times that we learn the art of discernment. 

Making this a conscious spiritual exercise is the key, and we find that we can get lots of practice. We hear a "tidbit," it sounds interesting, our ego leans in, our need holds back. We pray thank you and release, let go, detach...that is, concentrate on still more spiritual growth. 

It takes practice, practice that is never ending for who's kidding whom? Practice is the quiet word for still more spiritual growth.

Thank you.