Tim's definition of gossip: discussing true or false details about someone else that that person would not want you to discuss, and that's none of your business anyway.
Our bishop got emotional today as he recounted a recent discussion with a ward member. The ward member expressed surprise and disappointment that she had not found out about another ward member's serious illness sooner. The ill ward member had asked others to keep the details quiet, and those others had done so.
The bishop told us how proud he was of our ward--that we didn't engage in gossip.
What a great bishop.
I know I've been horrified to find out that people knew things they had no business knowing about me (no, not some dastardly sin or bad habit, but a secret nonetheless). I lost a great amount of respect for the person who spread that gossip to those who had no business knowing it.
If it's gossip, don't spread it.
On a side note, the newest member of our ward expressed delight that his first Sunday here we already had his membership records and hometeaching assignments for him. "In Utah, it took six months for us to get callings." I love living out here.
2 comments:
With regard to your last comment, I would say this is mostly a compliment to the leaders in our ward (including you) for being on the ball. Not having many move-ins right now helps that too, I'm sure. I've been in wards in other places, too (including UT), where our records were received quickly and we were quickly assigned VT/HT. I'm glad our ward is doing such a good job right now keeping track of people.
It's impossible to get lost in our ward.
I've been in a number of Utah and Idaho wards where I definitely felt lost--felt that nobody knew who I was. Granted, some of them were student wards, so turnover was high, and the bishopric had to get to know 100 new people every year--but the Idaho ward didn't have that as an excuse. They took forever to give us callings, and calling a man into the primary when he doesn't know anyone in the ward is not a good way to fellowship him, especially if you give him a crappy hometeacher. Fellowship FAIL.
In any case, I enjoy being a part of a ward that is small, friendly, and welcoming to newcomers.
And not all of my Utah wards were bad. The last student ward I was in was great, as was the first one after my mission. But I think I tend to like wards outside of Utah/Idaho better.
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