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    The glowing embers bounced off the already red-hot pavement. With a tumble of sparks, the cigarette butt bounced into the tinder-dry grass along the entrance ramp. Directly across the Interstate, a scorched area the size of a football field was a blackened reminder that such reckless disregard had already made its mark not too long ago, and not too far away.

    Regardless of how one feels about smoking, most anyone would acknowledge that throwing out smoldering cigarette butts into dry grass in summer conditions is reckless disregard!

    But doesn’t that kind of thing happen everyday in conversations all around us? When was the last time you heard someone passing on a juicy morsel of gossip or a tantalizing tidbit of innuendo about someone else? How did you view it? What did you do when you heard it? What happened when this glowing ember tumbled into your presence and others nearby?

Gossip is destructive.

    Deep down, we know that gossip, whether it is true or untrue, is destructive. It sets a fire ablaze that neither the gossiper nor the one being gossiped about can control. To take part in it is to willfully wound, maim, and damage. It places in Satan’s hands the fire with which he can destroy the life of someone for whom Christ died.

    Let’s recommit ourselves to using our words to bless, encourage, and heal. Let’s never be part of starting a fire that can do untold damage to someone made in the image of God. To do so is to show reckless disregard for that person, and for God who made them!