Waiting for the Right Word

By Cynthia Ruchti –

“Oh, that was unfortunate,” my husband said when a television reporter inadvertently chose a word that was so close to the right one, but not quite. It went something like this:

“Harmony Corners police officers were called to a rural home Saturday night to investigate an alleged claim of invasion of privy.”

We’ve heard and read others over the years. Comedian Norm Crosby made his living messing up words just enough to entertain his audiences.

My father-in-law’s battle with hearing issues created some laughable moments. We took a family trip to Lion Country Safari in Florida one year. He persisted in calling it Lion Country Sapphire. It wasn’t a one-time slip-up. Grandpa was convinced the right word was “sapphire.” So he said it…a lot.

Whenever we think about that trip, we remember elephants, water buffalo, lions, tigers, gazelles- and the color blue.

Was it all a hearing problem? He hadn’t gone far in school before his father needed him on the farm. But he seemed unconcerned that some words didn’t make sense. Like Pepsicola, Florida. Or calling his Oldsmobile Sierra a “Sahara,” his apparent desert-mobile.

My husband observed, “Maybe Dad felt self-conscious about his lack of education. Maybe he’d been bullied as a child. His poor self-esteem might have exasperated the problem.”

“You mean, exacerbated?” We broke into hysterics.

I’m grateful God was careful about the way He expressed himself to us through His Word.

“Cast your careers upon the Lord, and He will sustain you.” You mean, cares, Lord?

I can almost hear God saying, “Yeah. Those too.”

PRAYER: Lord, You, the unerring One, speak eloquently to my heart. Help me catch every nuance, the significance behind Your word choices. Help me keep my sense of humor about my verbal slip-ups, but walk so close to You and pay such careful attention to Your world and Your people that they are few.

“For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things. And if anyone does not offend in speech [never says the wrong things], he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature” (James 3:2 Amplified Bible).