A children's story may have changed my life!

A children’s story may have changed my life! It addressed an issue that has been on my mind for a while now and really confirmed in my mind the reality of the situation. It addressed the issue of gossiping; it may seem like a trivial girly matter or a thing of the past but I believe it is still an issue that plagues and breaks down many relationships and generally something we all may struggle with. By gossiping, I don’t just mean maliciously spreading rumours about people; I believe gossiping covers the following areas;

• Discussing someone else’s private life or information
• Discussing someone else’s character
• Revealing something that has been told to you in confidence
• Passing on information about someone else that wasn’t originally told to you (true or untrue)
• Actively listening to all of the above
• Going through someone else to get information about someone’s private life which you know is none of your business

This issue is so deep that Sophie (remember her from my first post?) and I spent a whole day discussing this issue over e-mail. Our discussion was centred on trust, confidentiality, loyalty, insecurity and healthy friendships/relationships. All of this was sparked by a simple and yet deeply profound children’s story I heard at church three  months ago.

The story begins with a young girl kneeling in prayer at her bedside asking God for forgiveness for her gossiping. She was deeply sorry and recognised that this is something she needs help with but did she understand the full implications of her actions? She goes to bed and in the night God gives her a dream. In the dream God wakes her up and asks her to take her pillow and a knife from the kitchen and to meet Him at the top of her house. When she reaches the top of her house, He tells her to cut her pillow and let the wind scatter all the feathers into the night - what a beautiful sight! The wind carried the feathers everywhere: out on to the roof tops, into the trees and fields, over the river and some were carried away into the distance. Once all the feathers were scattered He says to her “now, I want you to gather up all the scattered features and put them back into your pillow and return to bed”. Puzzled the young girl replies “but that is impossible, I wont be able to find all those feathers for they have scattered so far!” “Yes” God replied “just like gossip my dear, once the words leave your mouth you no longer have control of where they ends up or of its effects, and like the feathers our words can never be fully retrieved.”

This story really spoke to me as I have been both a victim and a villain in this gossiping game. It made me realise that often we speak about other people or situations without knowing the far reaching effects that it may have. Whether done in malice or with the best intentions once a word is spoken we no longer have control of its impact.  I still have lots to share with you so meet me here soon for part two.

Love, your girl forever,

♥ Miss Daisy ♥