Thou Fool!

Well, dear friends, today is a sad day for me.

When I went to log in to the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary, source of most of the words on my Word of the Day page and singular  joy of my life, I was rejected.

My password that I’ve been using for eight years is now invalid.

I access the site through through my alma mater’s website using my school login info.  Access is supposed to expire a certain amount of time after graduation, which I have far exceeded, but I figured I’d slipped through the cracks.

But Nemesis has finally caught up with me.

And so, until I have $300 a year to spend on a dictionary subscription, I’ll have to be content with Merriam-Webster Online (www.m-w.com) and my hard copy of the OED.  Woe is me.

—

It really is funny how bereaved I am at my ‘loss,’ even when I was allowed more time than I was supposed to, I can use another online dictionary, and, since I can still look through the hard copy, I’ve lost nothing more than convenience.

How silly it is when we get so attached to things of such very little consequence.

But what in this world is not of little consequence, forfeit to the will of God?  Who are we to decide what we get to keep and what we’re willing to part with?  Everything that has being is the rightful, permanent property of the One who created it.  He just lends things out to us because he loves us.

When we begrudge God the things we hold dear–jobs, relationships, money, the company of loved ones–we’re like the dog in the manger, attempting to hinder his will in the name of our own shortsighted plans.  We don’t realize that he’s got bigger, better plans, and has our best interests in mind.

Do we really believe that his plans will work to our good?  That they are to prosper us, and not to harm us?

And [the rich man] said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, [and] be merry. But God said unto him, [Thou] fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?  So [is] he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. -Luke 12:17-21

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
	Luk 12:17		And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
	Luk 12:18		And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
	Luk 12:19		And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, [and] be merry.
	Luk 12:20		But God said unto him, [Thou] fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
	Luk 12:21		So [is] he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

An ‘Istoric Evening

I just spent the better part of two hours arguing with people on an online forum about whether the phrase should be pronounced “a historic” or “an historic.” (The answer, of course, is that you say “a” if you pronounce the H, as a typical American would, and “an” if you don’t, e.g., if you’re from the East End of London.) I poured my linguistic heart out in an attempt to show people the error of their ways and convince the undecideds to come to my side.

I wish I always had this much mental stamina for working on things that really matter. The Kingdom of Heaven, for example. The Word of God, to name another. I wish the same passion that filled my soul discussing phonetic shifts (geek alert) would overcome me when I apply myself to study the Bible.

Not that I don’t think God has a place for academic pursuits, and I’m committed to developing the gifts and passions he’s placed in me.  And not that I don’t love reading his words.  I just hope (and know) that he continues to teach me to fall in love with the scriptures, and that I can be as familiar with the Bible as I am with my Indo-European Dictionary.*

Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness. Psalm 119:159

*If you’re also interested in linguistics, please check out the Etymonline and Omniglot links in the sidebar.

Word of the Day

I’ve added a new page to my blog!  Click on the Word of the Day tab for a growing list of interesting and/or unusual words.  I’ll try to update the list at least as often as I do the main blog.