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Monday, December 30, 2019

Fault-(finder) Line


 How old is The Child when they cross 'the line' that takes them out of the safety-zone
I wondered yesterday as we oohed and aahed and cuddled and kissed
The Little One who has (gloriously and innocently) not yet crossed 'the line'...
then, still innocently, they do!
And suddenly the 'law of love' seems to change its tone (in some, anyway)
where we are all prone through human nature/aka Adam's curse
 to be guilty at some point in time
of this tone-change...(shame on us)






When do we start with meaner mind
To point fingers with cruel slight
When does the youngster cross the line
That opens them to verbal bite
Is it when they begin to learn
From a teacher none can ignore
Where life is full of twist-and-turn
On roads they never walked before

When are they no longer too young
To be spared from the critic’s grind
Or become fodder for the Tongue
That is untruthful and unkind
When, instead of encouragement
Do they become the scorner’s prize
Where once they gained The Compliment
Now words condemn and criticize

When does the law of love become
More like a cold betrayer’s kiss?
Is it just when they need someone
To remind them, ‘life is like this’
That it is our mistakes and such
That makes us wiser day by day
When, (when they need kindness so much)
 Do they become the gossip’s prey?

How old does someone have to be
When they are beyond two or three
Do they start to become fair game?
Tell me, oh, thou of verbal skill
(Where we are all part of God’s choir)
When is the child ‘fit for the kill’
That puts them in Talk's line of fire

© Janet Martin

No one ever grows old enough
to be fit enough for the gossiper's firing squad

 but no human being can tame the tongue.
 It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
James 3:8

 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 
as God in Christ forgave you.
Eph.4:32


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