I Promise If You Promise

One of the best quotes I have heard in a long time is the one made by a elementary school teacher to a new students parents:

"If you promise not to believe everything your child says happens here in class I promise not to believe everything he says happens at home."

I got a good laugh out that one, but there is so much reality in it that I almost felt like crying. I am not sure how this ever happened, but I have grown a bit cynical in my old age. (42)

This is actually a tough position to hold when you are in the ministry. You want to hear what people are saying to you; and console and comfort and assure them that God is in control, but at the same time there is an element in your mind that asks: what am I hearing?

I realize this is a risky confession to make on line, but I also realize too that if a person is dealing with an issue and has a need to share it, whether is is real or perceived, I still need to help them and as they work through it.

BUT, How much of what we hear (myself included) needs to make it through the filter?

One of the biggest temptations for a gossip is the insatiable need to "fill in the blanks". When they hear only but a sweet-nugget of information- without wasting- time they create the entire story complete with sordid details, "publisher-ready".

I think we are all guilty of this on some level. What do we assume when a person resigns from a job? We think, I wonder if they really fired? What goes through our mind when a person whispers in an other's ear across the room? We think they are talking about us, and we begin to worry about what they "might" know. We begin to fill in the blanks of the story.

Recently, I was sitting in a restaurant with my computer open working on worship service PowerPoint's, (a very typical practice for me). While I was siting there, I could see almost every other table in the place with the exception of the one behind me. Interestingly enough, of all the other "open" tables, one 60-ish lady came and sat right behind me.

She sat there quietly. I felt as though she was peering over my shoulder to see what I was up to on the computer. Then, after about 2 minutes her husband appeared from the restroom and sat down next to her on the same side of the table.

I know she was trying to be discreet, but it was easy for me to hear her telling her husband all her observations. And she was filling in the blanks. But one story caught my attention. She talked about the family across the way where the mom, dad, and daughter (in her 20's) were having dinner with the daughter's baby. She said to her husband: "I think the grandparents must be raising their grandchild".

She assumed that since there was no "father" present that this young girl must be a single mother and the grandparents were stepping in to do the right thing.

Hmmmm? Maybe she was right, maybe not. But what is the point? The point is that for the sake of casual conversation with her husband she was assuming the worst about the people around her. Is this the kind of entertainment we enjoy over dinner?

Lord, forgive me for the times I have assumed the worst for the joy of entertainment.

Edgar Allen Poe was quoted as saying: "BELIEVE ONLY HALF OF WHAT YOU SEE AND NOTHING YOU HEAR - Question everything, especially rumors."

Shakespeare said: "This precious stone set in the silver sea, this sceptered isle · Though this be madness, ... While you live, tell truth and shame the Devil!..."

The Word of God says in John 8:32 "Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." The Truth here is actually a person. It is Jesus. Knowing Jesus - the Truth - will set you free.

-John M