Mother Nature and Father Time
by Kathy Brown on July 17th, 2009 | 0 comments
Do you struggle with deciding which word to use: “who” or “whom”? Or does the “lie” or “lay” choice get you running to the dictionary? Have you wanted to interrupt a conversation to insert a correction for ending a sentence with “me” or “I”? Probably not.
Being an English major may have something to do with my particular preoccupation in this area. The focus on language has presented me with a personal challenge to avoid phrases that do not befit Christian beliefs. Because worldview is caught, much like a cold, from the culture around me, I find it takes considerable effort to steer my tongue on a course that reflects the Truth.
More than once, I have stalled to re-consider these comments: “knock on wood”, “good luck”, “chance of a lifetime.” All of these, I realize, reflect a universe other than the one created by the God of the Bible. (Foundational Presupposition Chart) It has occurred to me that telling someone “I’ll be thinking of you” isn’t very helpful, either. It is a nice sentiment, but really, what good does that do unless it prompts me to pray?
Somewhere along the line I became aware of the fact that I had accepted those clichés “Mother Nature” and “Father Time.” Although I had never met either one of them, they evidently controlled the weather, seasons, aging and much more. The names promote an illusion of a personal family relationship, but their activity is ironically tethered to a concept of remoteness. The God who is faithful, who holds the patterns of life in His Hand, has been replaced by a surrogate imposter.
It is interesting that humans alone have the ability to speak, and that the Savior of the world calls Himself the Word. God proclaims He spoke the world into being. The profession of Jesus as Lord is critical to salvation. All of this leads me to think that ideas transmitted out through our mouth matters.
As the days lie (or is it lay?) before us, we have the opportunity to profess our worldview in many ways. God bless you in that undertaking.
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