With All Due Respect

By starting with the phrase "With all due respect," it doesn't give me the right to say whatever I want! There is nothing about this in the Geneva Convention, you can look it up! Yes, this is just silly, but I hear similar phrases just before someone "word-pukes" all over me.

Word-puke. We've all experienced it and we've all done it. It's when we speak the truth without running it through the filter of love. Or, it's when we speak about someone else in some way that casts them in bad light. Or, it could be a bold face lie about someone. No matter what kind of puke it is, we still want to clean up afterwards.

In order to feel better about our puke we use softer words to describe it: it wasn't puke, it was just spitup. It wasn't gossip, I was just venting. I didn't mean for you to be hurt, I was just sayin'. Whatever you choose to call it, it's still word-puke.

I understand and embrace the importance of processing with someone, but most of the time that processing is not filtered through the Love Filter. Healthy processing should be done with one person who is wise, mature, and godly. If we choose this person carefully, there is really no reason to process with someone else - unless we're fishing for a particular response!

Pastor Danny Garrido once said, "If we treated gossip like we do adultery, gossip wouldn't be a problem in the church." I would add that adultery is a problem, but gossip and word-puke are bigger problems.

I had the opportunity to sit down with some friends who were wondering where we stood. As we spoke I thought, this is healthy. We're clearing the air about an issue between us without including anyone else. We were able to understand each other and see the misunderstanding clearly. If we had spoken to others prior to the conversation, it could have resulted in a false or negative perception by someone outside the conversation.

Have you ever seen someone cast in bad light? They look pale, sickly, old, or even sinister. Lighting can change our perception of a person. What if we cast everyone in the Light - the Sun of Righteousness? If we viewed people through a lens or filter of grace and love, how much better would situations and people look?

Proverbs 6:16