Don’t Be A Chicken

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

“Ugh! You guys are just like chickens. You peck one another to death!” My middle school classmates and I stared wide-eyed as our teacher fumed her way from the doorway to her desk a moment before the bell rang.

Chickens? Death? Middle school me scoffed at her words. My parents had recently bought some bantam chicks, and they were the cutest little balls of downy fluff. I loved our chickens, and they were most decidedly not deadly. Until they grew up and pecked my brother’s hen to death.

Chickens in a flock can be exceptionally cruel. If one of them has a wound, others will peck and peck and peck at it—sometimes until death—unless the farmer intervenes. Chickens are many wonderful things, but toward those they perceive as weak or vulnerable, they are vicious.

Sadly, it is often the same with human communities (including faith communities). If we are not vigilant, they can include a terrible tendency to peck at the weaknesses of less powerful members. Instead of beaks, we wield tongues. We gossip and backstab, undermine and insult, ostracize and exclude others in an attempt to secure a spot for ourselves in the “in” group. Today’s verse reminds us that our tongues are a wicked fire that will corrupt and engulf our entire life in flames.

I still hear Ms. Russell’s indignant voice when I encounter someone (including me) acting like a human chicken, and I’ve become grateful for this simple but visceral reminder of the damage we can do with an untamed tongue.

Are you being a chicken? is my shortcut gut check when I find my tongue veering toward gossipy territory.

Watch out for chickens is my internal reminder to be appropriately vulnerable rather than spilling everything everywhere in a particularly angsty moment, if I’m not in a circle of trust.

And the general Don’t be a chicken is my overarching guardrail mantra reminding me to watch my wayward tongue, to be intentional about being inclusive, and to look for those on the outskirts of community, finding ways to draw them in.

Julie

Today’s Act of Gratitude

Pick a guardrail mantra for watching your tongue and protecting your heart. You are welcome to share mine.