Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Gossip Mill (05/08/14)
-
TITLE: Of Crows and Cows | Previous Challenge Entry
By Shanta Richard
05/14/14 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Later she met her friend Sandy.
“Did you hear about Sandy?” Sandy asked.
“No. Is she not on vacation?”
“Yes, Ella says she has left her family and gone away with stranger.”
“Oh no, it can’t be. Sarah is a good girl and she loves her family,” Kathy replied.
“You are so naïve, Kathy. Ella saw her in a gas station. She was coming out of the rest room and when she saw Ella she turned white and looked very frightened. She just hurried out where a man met her and putting his arm around her escorted her to his car and drove away. You know that Ella and Sarah go to the same church. On Sunday, Ella said she saw Mike, Sarah’s husband and the kids but no Sarah. She said that Mike looked worried and upset. What else could it mean?”
Kathy could not believe it. As far as she knew Sarah was a good Christian. She knew that there must be another reason for Sarah’s behavior. She prayed for Sarah and her family.
Days passed. Sarah did not return to work. The gossip slowly died down. One day Sarah’s church had a revival Service. As one of Kathy’s favorite pastors was the guest speaker, she decided to attend. There she met Sarah’s neighbor, Mrs.Philipps.
“How are Kathy and her family doing?” Kathy asked.
“Didn’t you know?” she replied, “She had cancer of the lungs and it wasn’t diagnosed till the last stage. She coughed up a lot of blood and was very scared. Her brother, who works in that big cancer hospital in Philadelphia, came over and took her there. Mike had to stay here and take care of the kids. They went through a very tough time. We prayed for them and helped as much as we could.
Last week she came over for a few days. She is still on chemo and is in a rehab. She is very weak and has lost all her hair. But she is her old cheerful self. We are praying that she will regain her health soon.”
I was thunderstruck. All the while that she was fighting for her life, we were busy gossiping about her. What a great mistake! Gossip in itself is just news. It is how we handle it that makes all the difference. It reminds me of the eating habits of crows and cows.
When a crow finds a juicy morsel of food, it gets so excited that it flaps its wings and caws out loudly. All the crows in the vicinity gather around and they eat together. On the other the cows graze on pasture calmly until they are full. Then they lie down in the shade and chew the cud for a long time before they swallow the food. To me, this is a lesson on how to handle gossip.
Don’t be hasty in passing on any news, good or bad.
Ponder it, meditate upon it, research it, digest it and then
proclaim it. (By the way the cow has four stomachs and chews
the cud four times! )
This is a good maxim to follow when proclaiming the Gospel. There are times when we have to wait. In Mark 1:40 we read that Jesus told the leper He had cured not to say anything about it. But the leper was so excited that he did not heed Him, with the result that Jesus could not enter the city.
On the other hand, when the shepherds came and announced that her baby was Christ, the Lord, she kept all these things in her heart and pondered about them.(Luke 2:19). When Daniel had visions of the end times it is said that he kept it in his heart. (Daniel 7:28).
I pray that God will grant me wisdom to deal with gossip in the proper way.
(Scripture references are from the King James Version of the Bible)
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
God bless~