Church Signs

I am not a religious person. I know starting things off that way can lead to some disagreement but religion and choice of religion is not the purpose of this post; so let's move on. Despite not being a religious person I still enjoy reading the sayings and quips churches come up with and post on their road signs. You know the signs that are at the edge of the road out front of most churches? Those are the ones I'm referencing. Most of them tend to be Bible teachings and encouragement to get back into the church. Some times they are so clever that they make me laugh out loud. But occasionally I see one that makes me think. The most recent one  being the following: "If you throw mud at someone it is you who is losing ground." I saw this on a church sign yesterday and thought to myself, well that is quite fitting. In today's world with text messaging, instant messaging, facebook posts, and even blogs it is ridiculously easy to slander against someone and verbally bully them that I thought that this week this local church was on the right track.
I began to think about all of the times I have seen or even participated in backhanded messages or posts about another person. You know, the ones where you or another person write or says something about someone else as if he/she isn't there? It is clearly directed at that individual but for whatever reason if we don't use the person's name we feel like it's okay. We all know it's not okay and the purpose of this post is not for me to try to patronize anyone or promote the current (and very popular) anti-bullying movement. Rather, I simply felt like the saying I saw on the church brought up a good point. Just to decrease the likelihood of it coming across as a righteous attempt at teaching a lesson I will use my counseling skill of "I statements." Whenever I find myself upset with another individual and expressing this either verbally or digitally through angry and defaming words I hope to try to remember that this is only hurting me. I know, I know, words hurt others and I don't deny this; however, I suppose my point for this post is that in my own life it is I who is losing my ground and losing my ability to call myself a good, understanding, and kind person.
As I continue write this I am reminded of many instances where I have done just what I am writing about: lost my temper, spoke negatively to or about someone, flat out flipped out and spewed angry negative words (if you know me you know my capability for this). On some level I knew that this made me look bad each time it happened but until yesterday I never fully grasped the fact that whoever was within ear (or in today's world, eye) shot began to permanently view me in a different light. Despite my attempts at trying to tear down another individual through my "muddy" words I was only tearing down my own character and public image. In short, through my words it is I who was losing ground.
My only hope after learning this about myself is that I am able to retain the lesson learned and apply it in the future. At this moment though I am at the very least grateful for learning the message; and for that, I thank you church down the road! I guess we never know where we'll learn something new.