Duct Tape My Mouth, Please!

We all have areas of our lives and personality that need improving, areas that we would be ashamed if they were exposed to those around us. I am doing a Women of Faith Bible Study on embracing your strengths and it surprised me that there is a chapter on Strengths in Weakness. That just seems confusing.

The strength comes from allowing God to work with us in our area of strength. To do that, we need to be honest and expose to ourselves at least how we need to change and grow. Anything in darkness or denial cannot be dealt with and improved. So here comes the high beams on one of my own weaknesses. By the way, as I began honestly praying about this, God put me in a position to make it even more necessary to change.

It is my mouth. Yes, my mouth. I seem to share too much with too many especially things that hurt or annoy me about others. Of course we all need a couple of close friends to talk things out with. It is even good to get feedback from those few people you can trust to be honest about your roll in a disagreement. But when I use the idea that everyone needs to pray for someone who has wronged me as an excuse to blab it all over, I am really just gossiping and spreading my one side of the story. Shamefully, this causes others to unfairly judge the other, defenseless person.

Then I wonder why people close to me are not friends with each other or why my kids don't spend more time together. Excuse me, why would they want to form a closer bond when I have made them out to be awful with my whining and complaining? This has got to stop and I definitely need God's intervention.

Enter God and a new situation. Try to follow my web of lives in this picture. I have a girl working in my classroom whose father is my daughter's boss. On top of that, one of my new students mom is working in my granddaughter's kindergarten class this year. Add to that, my principal's wife is my daughter's bosses assistant.  Now this will be an explosive situation if I go about my normal mouth flapping. This crossing of lives will surely get anything said making the rounds until everyone is aware of my words. God has placed me humorously in a no win situation unless I change my evil ways!

In comes my favorite verse.  1 Corinthians 16:14 Do everything in love.
This is not a suggestion it is a command.  So I need to assess at the end of each day how I have measured up to these seemingly simple 4 words. Maybe duct tape will be required!

In Him,
Joyful