Keep your words soft and sweet!

I had an experience the other day that reminded me of something that happened when I was a young mother to four busy children.  I had found a really fabulous teenage girl who would come and baby sit for me every Friday night.  I lived for those nights away. I was a stay at home mom and was also tending 5 other children to make ends meet. So I really needed that out. I loved this little teen and she was so good to the kids. They loved her too.  She came for a long time and then one day I got a call from a neighbor (just thought you should know.) She informed me that this young girl had been having some family trouble and wasn't allowed to tend  kids anymore.  She continued to give me the scoop and all the details of the family problems.  I said okay and hung up.  This little teens mother was a quiet person and did not know a lot of people in my neighborhood. I had talked to her a few times and felt like we were friends.  I called her and told her I had heard that her daughter could not tend anymore and wanted to let her know I would follow her wishes.  There was silence and then she became very upset with me. She wanted to know who I had talked to and why would I spread stories about her daughter.  She felt like the other woman and I had been spreading stories about her daughter all over the neighborhood. I assured her that I had not shared with anyone but obviously the other women had because she had heard from others. I was just heart sick.  A few words from someone else "just wanting to help" had really hurt this mother and I am sure the sweet teenager. I know that she did not believe I had not been passing it along. That young teen never did tend for me again. It truly was a sad loss to my family.  I think of that young girl once in a while. I wonder how she grew up. I am sure she is a wonderful mother because she was so great with my kids. I still am so sorry that I listened to my neighbor. I try very hard not to "share" things that are told to me. I try to take care of my own business and let other's take care of theirs even if I think I have the solution to their problem  I constantly remind my own family that everyone has a right to their own choices and that we need to let them follow their own paths.  I cringe with pain when I think of the damage that was done by that one phone call. I keep thinking of something that I heard as a child and I know that it probably doesn't go quite like this but here goes....
Be careful with the words YOU SPEAK
try to keep them SOFT and SWEET
because  you don't know when they're YOURS TO EAT!