A Month of Love - Show Love by NEVER Gossiping

Yesterday I wrote about involving our grandchildren in a project to show love to families in need by raising money to buy bunnies for them. Since the month of February is a great time to stop and focus on love; each day this month I'll write about a way to show love to our grandchildren!

Today I want to think about showing love in a way you may not typically think of; by being a grandma who does not gossip. Gossip is insidious. Far too often we do it without even thinking. But gossip is evil and vile. It causes damage and hurts people, deeply. If we gossip around our grandchildren we lay the groundwork for them to mistrust us. We absolutely MUST have a zero tolerance for gossip and MUST be people who will NOT gossip; ever. 

How does gossip lay the groundwork for our grandchildren to mistrust us? It does so in the following ways - 

• It will destroy trust. If our grandchildren grow up listening to us gossip about others, they will become people who wonder if we will gossip about them. 
• It will damage and wound. Words hurt. And, when people we thought we could trust say things - in particular things we trusted them with - to others, the pain can last for years. We HAVE to be grandmas who NEVER gossip about others; and who especially NEVER gossip about our grandchildren. Period.
• It prevents us from showing love and modeling how to be people who obey Jesus. Jesus said, "34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34, 35) Gossip is absolutely not showing love. When we gossip it does not show others the love Jesus showed to us. When we gossip we are not obeying Jesus.

There are more ways gossip causes mistrust, but just these are enough for us to  make the commitment to be people who do not gossip, ever. If we are truly serious about being grandmas who show the love of Jesus to our grandchildren, we will NOT gossip. Period.

So, as you think about love, be a grandma who does not gossip.