Every English teacher has pet peeves.  One of mine (just one–there are many!) is “things.”  It’s fine when you’re drafting because your job then is just to get it all down in a place where you can set to work on it.  But there’s no excuse for it in a final draft.  “Things” is lazy; it’s a sign of carelessness.  What “things” are you talking about–ideas, pencils, values, flowers?

I recently shared a video I found on Facebook (thanks, Ned Berube!) of an interview with Bono and Eugene Peterson.  At one point, Peterson observed that we need to find a way to cuss without cussing.  Hmm…

Just this morning (the best ideas are the ones that not only stay with you but that you find yourself processing over the coming days), I discovered a parallel between cussing and my fretting over “things.”  It’s just this:

Cussing is lazy.  One of Bono’s and Peterson’s other observations was that they wish Christians were more honest in work, art, music … life in general.  Cussing is just surrendering to the frustration or anger of the moment.  Granted, it’s often emotionally charged, which precludes thinking very consciously, but it’s also most often automatic and thoughtless.

Again, I know that, as Clyde Kilby noted, “You can’t kiss your girl and think about it at the same time” without ruining the experience of both!  Go ahead–live the heat of the moment, but don’t let it be a substitute for a vomit-fest that engulfs everyone around you.

What if, the next time you get frustrated with your spouse, friend, government or boss, you really thought about not just venting but forming your reaction into a response that invites others in rather than elbows them out of the way?  What if you thought deeply enough about how to best express the intensity of your experience that you wound up both reconciled to the other closer to them?

What if, the next time you find yourself angry with God or disillusioned with your state in life or spirituality, you framed a prayer that sincerely and honestly named what you were feeling and offered it to God?

If the psalmists can do it, so can we.