I recently received an email from a lady I work with at the church that had me stunned. Here is what it said:
“Hey B, How are you doing? Are we back to the rotating schedule for CC? I am planning for this week. So are you pregnant?”
I had to read it twice. Why on earth would she ask out from nowhere if I was pregnant? First off, I’m most definitely not pregnant. And second, where did this idea come from that I was? Apparently somehow a rumor has started spreading amongst some of the young women in the church. How it got started, I have no idea. I have never fallen victim to a rumor before, and the thought that it is circling through church ladies that I call friends is a little bit infuriating. But at the same time, I have to laugh about it because it is so absurd.
So what did I do? I emailed her right back and instead of telling her I’m not pregnant, I decided to keep this little rumor-starting group guessing. Whether that was the right thing to do or not, I’m not sure, but if the personal business of my life is that important to them, I’ll let them have it. Some people just don’t have anything better to do.
The thing that bothers me the most about this rumor is that it is from church family. The last thing Christians should be doing is taking part in a gossip chain. There have been several occasions where I have heard rumors about people in the church. Most recently, I heard that a couple in the church were losing their business. The person telling me about it asked me if I knew whether it was true or not. My reply: I won’t believe it until the couple decides to tell me directly. By saying that, the rumor is stopped directly in its tracks. I let the person know that I don’t believe what they are spreading, and that I won’t be apart of spreading it any further.
So I guess in a way my friend did right by confronting me directly about whether I was pregnant or not instead of taking it as truth and spreading it on to the rest. At least that is what I hope is the case. Just be careful what you say and who you say it to, and even more so, what you choose to believe.
And most of all, remember Psalm 34:13.
“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.”