It amazes me each day as I watch the manner in which Jocelyn explores the world around her. Her curious mind intrigues me as I observe her attempts to taste, throw, wiggle, climb and imitate the things around her. Sometimes she is successful, other times she fails. At times, I encourage her and at other times, I must discourage her if she could possibly get hurt.

Yet she persists. Her curiosity is ever at work in her little mind.

Curiosity is “the desire to learn or know about anything; an inquisitiveness” (taken from dictionary.com). I have found myself interested in how young curiosity presents itself in our lives, for truly, it remains with us our entire lives. We are ever curious. 

Think about it. All we need to do is go through the check out line at the supermarket to see just how curious a people we have become. There is a desire to know everything about everyone around us. We even tell ourselves, “Inquiring minds need to know.” Somewhere along the line, we have bought into the lie, inquiring minds have the right to know. And as I stood in the grocery line, looking at the rag sheets all around me, it hit me just how wrong it all has become.

God created us with our minds and a curiosity so we would be driven to learn, to seek knowledge and grow. His desire is for us to apply our knowledge wisely.

Listening to gossip is a counterfeit of the God-given desire for knowledge. (Whispers of Hope by Beth Moore, page 20)

{{Ouch! Ouch}} I can hear the shuffling of feet as toes are moved out of the way. OK, I cannot really hear anything, but I bet that was eye-opening to someone.

We truly must learn we neither need, nor have the right to know it all. Sometimes we learn it is truly none of our business. We can guise or excuse it by saying we are concerned or are going to pray about it, which may be true at times. Most often, may we ask ourselves, “What is my heart motivation for knowing?”.

So here is a checklist for our curious minds (aka, gossiping minds):

“A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.” (Proverbs 11:13, NLT)

• Am I telling the secret of another person? When something is shared with me in confidence, I have made it a practice to ask, “May I share this?”. If  the answer is yes, I am free to share it. If the answer is no, I take it to my grave. And trust me, there is much which will be buried with me.
• Can I keep a confidence? See above. If you know you cannot keep a confidence, do not put yourself in the position of listening to a person pour it all out. Do both of you a favor and ask them not to tell you.

“A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends.” (Prov.16:28)

• In repeating this, will I cause offense? We have the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit, residing in us, to warn us when we are going to cross the line. Therefore, we know when we are going to crossover. May our hearts bend towards obeying when the warning bell sounds in our head.
• If I go ahead and repeat this will it cause separation or division? May we come to regard the people in our lives and protect them.

Instead may our words bring hope and life and joy and comfort and peace and laughter. May those around us hold onto our words as precious and meaningful. May we remember:

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. (Proverbs 25:11)

Today I am joining …. Playdates With God and Motivation Mon. and  Hear It, Use It and Sharing His Beauty and Mon. Musings and Inspire Me Mon. and Making Your Home Sing and Living Proverbs 31 and The Modest Mom .