TO SHARE OR NOT TO SHARE

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” (Proverbs 18: 21)

Ouch! Yes, my words can spread “life,” or my words can spread “death.” Not only by way “of the tongue,” as it was when Proverbs were written. Today my sharing of words happens increasingly online, in what I choose to “forward” or “share” via text-message, tweet, email, or otherwise. I’m thinking about this today, because yesterday I received a nasty email, and then forwarded it to a close friend, saying something to the effect of, Look, she’s at it again, this one. I shouldn’t have done that. I could have “stopped the madness,” so to say, by just keeping it to myself. Simple abstinence in forwarding, and wise use of “DELETE” would have been a beneficial exercise in compassion and withholding of judgment.

So today let me be a bit more abstinent with “the power of the tongue,” which nowadays is magnified through the abundance of words I can choose to share, or not to share, online. If I happen to come across damaging or death-bringing information, let it stop with me, rather than be spread by me, so that others are not subjected to “eating its fruits.” And let me be grateful today for lessons learned yesterday, in light of God’s always life-giving Word.