He Said, She Said

"Hey, did you hear about so-and-so? I can't believe they would say that! Did you see them at the party...what is she wearing? What did he say about her? Do you think they are friends still? I heard..." On and on the talk swirls...gossip is everywhere. It's often a habit that many don't even realize they have, except when it comes back to haunt them. We talk about others--what they say, how they look, and what they do--but do we ever think about the power that words have? James 3:6 says that life and death can be found in the power of the tongue; this is serious! Gossip is deadly to relationships, success, happiness and to others. If we want to live a fulfilling, abundant kind of life then we need to get a handle on what comes out of our mouths.

It is one thing to watch our words, in the sense that we speak positively about situations, but another to decide to disengage from gossip, and to leave conversations that take a negative perspective on someone else. What would the world be like if we decided to only encourage one another, to use our words to build each other up? Here's the deal: there's a lot of competitive comparison among human beings. For some reason we fear that there's not enough beauty, brains and talent to go around, and so one person's gifts are coveted by another. So many people miss the incredible reservoir of unique talent, incredible potential and ability within themselves because they are so focused on talking about and wanting what others have.

The challenge for you and I is to begin to look at ourselves as individuals, not a product of cultural norms or people who need to meet standards of "beauty" or "talent", but people of purpose. Each person has a reason for being on this planet, and they have been given the perfect mix of abilities and capability to accomplish those tasks, with the help of grace and faith. Instead of limiting our abilities to talking about what other people are doing, let's encourage one another to accomplish great things, become the best versions of ourselves, and speak life into others. Choose to be positive, watch your self-talk, and talk only about things that will benefit you and other people. You'll find that the drama, negativity and poor self-esteem seem to quickly fade when the attention is taken off them. Pursue excellence. You have been given an incredible opportunity: live it!