Today I was confronted by the bane of custodians everywhere: glitter. At churches and preschools the only vacuums worth anything must pass what I will call “the glitter test.” All vacuums which fail this most remedial test aren't worth much.
As I pushed an Oreck vacuum over the carpet at church, it occurred to me how glitter has a way of migrating. A craft fashioned in a classroom manages to deposit glittery goodness on chairs and carpet throughout the whole building. For the first time I realised glitter and gossip share a lot in common with their ability to spread – and stick. Once that glitter is embedded in carpet it is surprisingly stubborn, and gossip once swallowed down is not easily eliminated. Proverbs 18:8 says, “The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the inmost body.”
The best way to keep a building free of glitter is to ban the use of it. A fire dies out when it is deprived of oxygen, and gossip ceases to spread when we no longer perpetuate it. We cannot always help what we hear, but we can help what we take to heart. We rarely ever talk about things in which we have no interest or knowledge. Job 34:3 holds forth a good principle: “For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.” Our tongues discern the difference between sweet, sour, and savoury, and our ears are capable of knowing gossip when we hear it.
Job made a covenant with his eyes he would not look upon a maid, and we should make a covenant to refuse to listen to or perpetuate gossip. Vacuuming glitter is easier than cleansing our minds and hearts of gossip we have laid to heart. Praise the LORD Jesus washes us clean and atones for our sins by His grace. Having been freed and delivered from bondage to gossip, we can speak wholesome words to edify - with permanent, positive results.
As I pushed an Oreck vacuum over the carpet at church, it occurred to me how glitter has a way of migrating. A craft fashioned in a classroom manages to deposit glittery goodness on chairs and carpet throughout the whole building. For the first time I realised glitter and gossip share a lot in common with their ability to spread – and stick. Once that glitter is embedded in carpet it is surprisingly stubborn, and gossip once swallowed down is not easily eliminated. Proverbs 18:8 says, “The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the inmost body.”
The best way to keep a building free of glitter is to ban the use of it. A fire dies out when it is deprived of oxygen, and gossip ceases to spread when we no longer perpetuate it. We cannot always help what we hear, but we can help what we take to heart. We rarely ever talk about things in which we have no interest or knowledge. Job 34:3 holds forth a good principle: “For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.” Our tongues discern the difference between sweet, sour, and savoury, and our ears are capable of knowing gossip when we hear it.
Job made a covenant with his eyes he would not look upon a maid, and we should make a covenant to refuse to listen to or perpetuate gossip. Vacuuming glitter is easier than cleansing our minds and hearts of gossip we have laid to heart. Praise the LORD Jesus washes us clean and atones for our sins by His grace. Having been freed and delivered from bondage to gossip, we can speak wholesome words to edify - with permanent, positive results.
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