From My Nature Journal: Thoughts on Communication and the Handling of a Knife…

A certain safety precaution was practiced years ago by many who spent time together in the woods, either hunting or traveling, and making camp in the dark. When a hunting knife was being shared, as was often the case, it is obvious that its use needed careful attention, but especially so when light was low.

Oh, I remember the part I learned in Cub Scouts, that the person offering the knife held it carefully in his fingertips by the blade, so the person receiving it could take it by the handle. But there was more, as there usually is from what one learns in Cub Scouts.

If a knife was to be exchanged in low light, here is how the safeguard worked. The person with the knife, holding the blade, said, “Get it.” The person fumbling for the handle took hold but didn’t yet pull, for obvious reasons, and then said, “Got it.” Finally, the person holding the blade would say, “Good,” and, only then, let go. In this way, as can be imagined, all digits on the fingers and toes of each person could be better accounted for when the transfer was complete!

If two people can learn to handle and exchange a knife so responsibly, what I wonder is…

            …why God’s good truth is not routinely handled as conscientiously...

            …why so many have become so careless with words…

            …why we Christ followers can be so dispassionate in communicating the beauty

                        and attractiveness of our good God…

            …why our present culture has become so rude in both its private and public

                        discourse…

Proverbs says, ”The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” (Prov. 12:18) In other words, words are like a knife: they can cut, bad for bad and virtuous for virtuous.

Got it? Get it! Good.

~~ RGM, July 1, 2016