People talkin’ ’bout you? Feeling besmirched? Feeling befuddled? Stumbling like a drunk through your day? Getting to the next thing all you can seem to handle? What’s next? Demands and to-do’s piled-up? …no contentment? Is “happy” gone?
besmirched: 1) damage the reputation of (someone or something) in the opinion of others. 2) make (something) dirty or discolored. Synonym: sully, tarnish, blacken, drag through the mud/mire, stain, taint, smear, disgrace, dishonor, bring discredit to, damage, debase, ruin; slander, malign, defame. Literary: besmear, smirch; -Google Dictionary
befuddled: make (someone) unable to think clearly. “he has an air of befuddled unworldliness”. Synonym: confused, muddled, addled, bewildered, disoriented, fazed, perplexed, dazed, dizzy, stupefied, groggy, muzzy, foggy, fuddled, fuzzy, dopey, woozy, befogged, mixed up; informal, discombobulated. -Google Dictionary
GOSSIPING
That is what gossiping can do to someone. The blurted words. “Sharing”. Telling a private thing. That “Well, I think…” moment. The piccadilly attitude that you can say whatever comes to mind – and let the chips fly where they may. Not a thought as to the impact around you because of your spoken thought.
I was at a church ceremony in Riverside (fictional data, but real life story) where a woman graphically shared her life story and ultimate repentance and coming to a saving knowledge of Christ. Genuine! Intimate, fresh, real, transparent. And then my ear was smacked by the quite audible comment from a lady sitting two rows ahead of me, “What a piece of work she is!”
Maybe it was an unguarded moment. Maybe she herself is struggling as the speaker had. But, that ‘piece of work’ comment was heard by maybe 10 people around her. And her words cut deep into the life of that speaker, tarnishing what others would think of her. Those careless words: smeared, disgraced, dishonored, damaged, debased, maligned, defamed… besmirched.
Ever been there, on either end of that?
The Apostle Paul really, really did not like gossip:
FOR MORE:
Bible references to “gossip“
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