Corrections Along the Way - October 24, 2009

Good Saturday morning! I almost typed 'Monday' in there; where's my head this morning? :-) The morning begins with clouds and rain once more; perhaps the mood of the sky is what put Monday in my mind. Goodness! We do use some words out of their original meaning a lot. Tolkien pointed out in The Hobbit how Bilbo Baggins used "good morning" in ways that were not what we generally associate the greeting with. One of which was along the lines of "get lost, or my morning won't be good!" What is goodness, is it something we can have or be? Webster's defines the word like this: 1 the state or quality of being good: specif., a) virtue; excellence b) kindness; generosity; benevolence 2 the best part, essence, or valuable element of a thing - interj. an exclamation of surprise or wonder; a euphemism for God [for goodness sake!]. The last part concerns me. A little knowledge sometimes brings sorrow as is mentioned in Proverbs, I think. I cannot use a euphemism in place of the name of God the Father, and I don't want to use God's name in vain. One more thing to watch in my speech and writing.

While Jesus tells us that only the Father in Heaven is good, that does not mean that goodness isn't something we should strive for. We are called to all the words listed in the first part of the definition: virtue, excellence, kindness, generosity, benevolence. All these qualities are something we strive to build in our lives through the strength and guidance of God's Holy Spirit. The second definition is good too: we strive to become the goodness of the world. That is the best part or valuable element of: the salt of the earth as Jesus commanded us to become.

I didn't correct that first use of the interjection, at the time of the writing of it, I didn't know the world considered goodness to be a euphemism for God in some cases. However, now that I do know, I don't want to cause others to sin in a legalistic world. Time to stop using 'goodness' as an interjection! In our walk with Jesus, He will at times lead us to a little sign or marker on the trail and tell us that it is time for us to learn something new. Maybe I can yell "cat!" instead, like when the cat parks in front of my computer screen while I'm trying to type out the devotional. Somehow that doesn't seem to work in the same way; "for cat's sake!" just doesn't ring. I'll have to find a different substitute exclamation. :-)

Have a great Saturday!

Bucky