I have hesitated and been quite ambiguous and unclear as to whether I should write about September 21st 2009’s word of the day, “Equivocate.
To equivocate is literally to call equally one thing or the other. To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or to avoid committing oneself to anything definite.
In other words to equivocate is to try and avoid making a decision. Or committing yourself to an action, you are either unsure of or are afraid will turn around and bite you irregardless of what decision you make. Hence you equivocate in responding or answering, hoping the problem will go away and you can avoid committing yourself.
Sometimes this works with no real cost to you or the others involved, but sometimes your equivocating can cost badly. Either cost you or others, but still cost greatly. So if you find yourself in a position of equivocating where further equivocating is simply putting of the inevitable. Or worse likely to be costly to someone, whether you or anyone else, climb down of the fence and make a commitment.
After all remember James 4:17. “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.”
So stop hurting others and start doing what you know is right and start doing it right now!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
God’s presence at all times.
Recently I was asked this question: “do you think we always have the same amount of God's presence with us or do you think that God draws closer to us at certain times and then "moves away".
Different people may have different opinions on this but Jesus clearly said, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28: 20b. (NRSV). So, as I accept that Jesus is part of the trinity and Godhead, I thus believe that God is present with us always.
And always means always. And even if we don’t always see or experience His presence, that doesn’t mean He is not there. After all, how many times have you been in a room and not seen somebody else also in that room, all because you had your back to them?
It is the same with God. We often don’t see Him, not because He has moved, but because we have either turned our backs to Him, or allowed other things to distract us, or even allowed other people to block our view of Him. Again, how many times have you been in a crowded place, and lost track of the person you were with, because you either stopped to look at something without telling them or you sped ahead of them and allowed other people to come between you and them?
Many people today believe God is not there or has even left them, because they, they and not He, have either turned their backs on where God is, or they have allowed other things to distract them from God, or they have allowed other people to come between them and God.
So what about you today? Are you fully aware of God’s presence in your life now, or have you too allowed yourself to be distracted from where God is at?
Over to you now for reflection.
Different people may have different opinions on this but Jesus clearly said, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28: 20b. (NRSV). So, as I accept that Jesus is part of the trinity and Godhead, I thus believe that God is present with us always.
And always means always. And even if we don’t always see or experience His presence, that doesn’t mean He is not there. After all, how many times have you been in a room and not seen somebody else also in that room, all because you had your back to them?
It is the same with God. We often don’t see Him, not because He has moved, but because we have either turned our backs to Him, or allowed other things to distract us, or even allowed other people to block our view of Him. Again, how many times have you been in a crowded place, and lost track of the person you were with, because you either stopped to look at something without telling them or you sped ahead of them and allowed other people to come between you and them?
Many people today believe God is not there or has even left them, because they, they and not He, have either turned their backs on where God is, or they have allowed other things to distract them from God, or they have allowed other people to come between them and God.
So what about you today? Are you fully aware of God’s presence in your life now, or have you too allowed yourself to be distracted from where God is at?
Over to you now for reflection.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Incarnadine.
The Word of the Day for Friday, October 2, 2009 was a real doozy. Not only had I never heard of it before, but upon reading it’s meaning quickly, figured I would probably never would use it anyway. What about you? Would you be likely to use a word with the following meanings, in any likelihood?
“Incarnadine \in-KAR-nuh-dyn\, adjective:
1. Having a fleshy pink color.
2. Red; blood-red.
transitive verb:
1. To make red or crimson.”
However, upon reading further, I found it is from the same Latin rootstock as three words in very common usage in some circles today, including mine.
One common and known to almost anyone with even just a rudimentary Knowledge of Garden plants and flowers. And the other two, although probably not used as much, are common to most religious folk and specifically Christians.
So, to you gardeners and Christians out there today, can you tell me what these three relatively common words (with totally different applications today) are?
Maybe the following will help you out?
“Incarnadine comes from the Italian ‘incarnatino’, which came from the Latin incarnato, meaning something incarnate, made flesh, from in + caro, carn-, "flesh." It is related to carnation, etymologically the flesh-colored flower; incarnate, "in the flesh; made flesh"; and carnal, "pertaining to the body or its appetites."
So, although like me you had probably no idea what ‘Incarnadine’ meant and unlikely to ever use it in its proper form, you have moist likely seen and heard, if not used, its related words. You may not use carnal and incarnate as much as I would, but I am pretty sure you have all seen a Carnation Flower before, even if not in its original incarnadine colouring!
Not sure how the above will help you today, but it has helped me to understand where some of the common words I use have come form and truly gives more feeling to Christ becoming incarnate or in the Flesh, particularly with the blood red connotations too!
“Incarnadine \in-KAR-nuh-dyn\, adjective:
1. Having a fleshy pink color.
2. Red; blood-red.
transitive verb:
1. To make red or crimson.”
However, upon reading further, I found it is from the same Latin rootstock as three words in very common usage in some circles today, including mine.
One common and known to almost anyone with even just a rudimentary Knowledge of Garden plants and flowers. And the other two, although probably not used as much, are common to most religious folk and specifically Christians.
So, to you gardeners and Christians out there today, can you tell me what these three relatively common words (with totally different applications today) are?
Maybe the following will help you out?
“Incarnadine comes from the Italian ‘incarnatino’, which came from the Latin incarnato, meaning something incarnate, made flesh, from in + caro, carn-, "flesh." It is related to carnation, etymologically the flesh-colored flower; incarnate, "in the flesh; made flesh"; and carnal, "pertaining to the body or its appetites."
So, although like me you had probably no idea what ‘Incarnadine’ meant and unlikely to ever use it in its proper form, you have moist likely seen and heard, if not used, its related words. You may not use carnal and incarnate as much as I would, but I am pretty sure you have all seen a Carnation Flower before, even if not in its original incarnadine colouring!
Not sure how the above will help you today, but it has helped me to understand where some of the common words I use have come form and truly gives more feeling to Christ becoming incarnate or in the Flesh, particularly with the blood red connotations too!
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