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Out To Pastor
I was sitting in the shopping mall, drinking coffee and taking a break. I don’t like going to the mall, but sometimes I have to go for The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Sometimes, I think she does it intentionally, knowing how much I dislike it. I try to make the most of it.
While drinking coffee, I watched people pass by. I can’t understand why so many people like coming to the mall.
Suddenly, I saw someone I recognized—or at least, I thought I recognized. It was my great-aunt. That would be my grandmother’s sister, who passed away about 25 years ago. How could she be in the mall here today? Or, is it her ghost?
Staring at her as she walked by, I couldn’t help but believe she was either my great-aunt or an identical substitute. Everything about her reminded me of my great-aunt.
Her job was delivering mail, and she would stop at my grandmother’s mailbox daily. They would catch up on a lot of things. Together, they knew everything that ever happened or would happen in that little town.
It was always a wonderful time to sit down with my great-aunt and listen to the stories she told. I never knew if those stories were true, but she presented them to me, and at the time, I believed them to be true.
The more I got to know my great-aunt, the more I learned how to control her. I’m not a control freak, but sometimes I like to pull pranks on people. Ms. Gossips-A-Lot was a prime subject for some of my pranks.
Sometimes, as we sat and talked, I would calmly say, “Auntie, did you hear what Mr. Smith down the road did the other night?”
Looking at me seriously, she would lean toward me and whisper, “No, what did Mr. Smith do the other night? I haven’t heard anything.”
I would say, “Auntie, what I’m about to tell you please do not let anybody else know.”
That was the clue I needed to stir her up and spread this gossip for weeks.
Looking back on some of the pranks I pulled on her, I am a little regretful. She was an easy target, and I played her more than I should have.
The problem was that nobody believed what my dear old Auntie said. The only one who really believed her was her sister, my grandmother.
After she passed away, the town gossip quieted as never before. People couldn’t get the daily gossip they once did, and didn’t realize how much they depended upon Auntie’s gossip.
Sitting in the mall thinking about Ms. Gossips-A-Lot, I was reminded of what Solomon said in Proverbs 20:19. “He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.”
I did not know my greataunt very well. I only saw her occasionally. I did know some of the people around her, and they did not have anything too good to say about her. If my great-aunt had known what the people thought about her, she might have toned down her gossiping a little.
It is so easy to gossip. However, gossip only causes harm and is never good when considering the subject. I want to build people up, not tear them down.
