Some like it hot, some like it cold.

Us girls - Katie, Mom, and I - went out to Burger King tonight for dessert. Katie got hershey pie. Mom got hot apple pie. I got a shake. I just have to say, Icecream pwns pie. Cold pwns hot. In my opinion. ;) I very much dislike coffee. Iced coffee? It's not so bad, and rather addictive. But I digress. Icecream is dessert perfected.

Dave blogged yesterday about gossip and staying out of other people's business. He has a point that gossip is wrong and such, but I have to wonder. What exactly is gossip? Because it can't just be talking about other people. If it were, all prayer requests given during a Prayer Meeting would be sin. That's gossip! Telling other people I especially need prayer at this time.

Wait, no, it isn't gossip. That's thoughtful and kind. It's part of watching out for each other and loving each other. There's a difference between: A) taking care of other people, B) talking about other people, and C) sharing with other people. A: Taking care of them is taking them on as your responsibility. As Dave pointed out, I'm enough of a responsibiliy for me without having to worry about you or anyone else. (However, this doesn't discount the fact that sometimes we need someone to come along and lovingly point out some problems in our lives. It's a necessary thing because we don't see ourselves clearly.) B: Talking about other people would be gossip in my opinion. It's talking for the sake of talking, which I'm against pretty much completely. There's a verse in the Bible, unfortunately I can't remember it at the moment about counting your words or making sure they all mean something. It's people who need to talk just to talk who end up talking about other people. They don't care what they're saying or who they're saying it to. They're just talking. And that, I believe, is gossip.

C: Sharing, on the other hand, is a good thing and a necessary thing if there is to be any trust, any friendship, any love. You can't love someone you don't know. You may think you love them, but because you don't know them, you don't really love them. You love the idea of them that you have in your head. You can't get to know someone without talking to them and hearing about them. Sharing is telling facts about yourself or others in a loving way, not for the sake of speaking, but because someone is genuinely interested. Sharing would be me telling Kaylynn a funny/cute story about Dave when we were little. Sharing would be mentioning to your roommates at college that someone from your home church needs prayer. Sharing would be me telling Mom that my friend is having a rough time working three jobs and is feeling depressed and needs prayer. These are good things. These are things that help us get to know each other, that develop trust and the ability to fellowship and to love.

And specifically, as to talking about people. . . . There is no reason why many things should be kept secret or wished to be kept secret. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to tell my cousins what's going on with my brothers or the other way around. We're all Christians. We love each other. We've grown up together. We're adults now. We should be able to trust each other enough to tell each other our greatest goals and failures, pure enough of heart to share the depths of our souls, and loving enough that if someone does, we don't mock, scorn, or hurt them. We should be able to question each other's motives without being condemning or someone getting defensive. We should be able to test each other's knowledge without making the lesser feel inferior. We should be able to be mature, wise as serpents and harmless as doves. We were raised in godly homes by godly parents. We grew up in God's Church, lead by godly men. We were taught how to read from the Bible. We have had so many advantages. We've been taught well. We've been so blessed of God. It really shouldn't be hard for us to do these things.