Guest Builder: Rachel Smith - Meaning

Meaning

Mark 3:1-6
Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."

Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

I emailed my blog entry to Lon last Friday. When I sent it I had a typo of one little letter that changed the whole meaning of the last sentence. We were able to catch it before it was submitted to avoid any confusion. But this seems to happen more and more with email and instant messages. I get to typing my thoughts and the next think I know I have typed a whole different word than what I intended. OOPS- the next THING I know… see, happens all the time. With one ‘k’ thin becomes ‘think’ or switch that ‘K’ to a ‘G’ and you have ‘thing’. It’s pretty easy to do. Usually the readers can decipher the intent by filling in the gaps. Our brains try to put things in context to understand them. But sometimes confusion abounds. (At this point if you are scratching your head in confusion, re-read the whole first paragraph slowly.)

My handwriting is so bad my grocery list has read “bird and mold” instead of “bread and milk”. Boy was I glad to get what I intended rather than what I asked for on that one! Some times we get too stuck on the exact wording of things and forget the intent. We often get upset with a short sounding email or a poorly worded statement rather than slowly thinking what the other person meant.

Today try to ask “what do you mean by that?”