Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.*
Awe, now there’s a word that’s suffered a devolution.
“The universe is 10 billion light years across.” “Awesome.”
“Okay, I’ll see you at 5:00.” “Awesome.”
Can they both be awesome?
Seems it takes a lot to form a new word but very little to dilute an old one.
(“Awesome thought, Hyatt.” “Thanks.”)
I checked out the etymology of the word and find that awful came first. That’s “full of awe,” meaning “knee-shaking fear.” But when that word went mostly to the dark side, awesome came along to lift us up. Used correctly, it means “dread mixed with veneration,” particularly in reference to the Supreme Being. Still pretty knee shaking.
It’s a result of colloquial weakening that’s brought it down to merely “impressive,” or “very good.”
Or even “pretty good,” like . . . “Hey, I got a B on my test.” “Awesome.”**
Okay, but then what word do we use when we consider the following?
If the distance between the earth and the sun (92 million miles) was the thickness of a sheet of paper,
then the distance between the earth and the nearest star would be a stack of paper 70 feet high.
The distance across the galaxy would be a stack of paper 310 miles high.
Or this:
Our galaxy (the Milky Way) has 500 thousand million stars.
Some galaxies are 100 times larger than ours.
There are an estimated 200 billion galaxies!
What do you say to that?
“Uhhhhhh . . . ”
(“Uhhhsome?”)
The Ecclesiastes writer, who had a clearer view of the night sky, said, “Your little thoughts and plans are just that, stand in awe of God.”
It helps to put things in perspective.
See you next time.
Awesome?
______________________
* Ecclesiastes 5:7
**Actually, for me in high school, getting a B really was pretty awesome.
Next: Imagination: Peep Holes in the Walls of our Minds. Coming Sunday
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
7:33 am
Thanks Hyatt…
I wonder if a corollary would hold true that the things we often refer to as “awesone” really aren’t all that awesone, and the things we refer to as ” disasterous” really aren’t all that disasterous…
7:34 am
Okay, I admit I use the word a bit too freely. God is awesome and I’m working on fearing/revering Him more. Thanks.
8:00 am
I put together a conference here at Fairfax Community Church called “Awesome Wonders.” We had Francis Collins (who at the time was the head of the Humane Genome Project and now the head of the NIH); a friend who is the chairman of the Astrophysics Dept at Geo Mason University; and another church member who is an oceanographer. The subtitle of the conference was “The Heavens, The Oceans and the Genome.” It was indeed awesome to reflect of the marvels of God’s creation and hear leading scientists talk about the Creator and their relationship with the living God! I wish I could have had you here to paint while this folks were speaking!
9:20 am
Might this sort of one-word out-of-context response to whatever be generational? In my youth it was “out-a-sight,” then “wicked,” then “far-out.” Now “awesome” is giving way to “sick!” It’s this blanket, all-affirming response that seems to morph every few years into, as you can see, something richer, more creative, more descriptive. I wonder what early man’s response to, say, fire, was?
9:52 am
“Your little thoughts and plans are just that, stand in awe of God.”
Love that. How often do I find myself thinking my plans are so all encompassing? Thank you for reminding me to stand in awe when feeling engulfed with my plans.
10:33 am
This was a very uplifting thought. Love it! So, if I were to reserve “awesome” for God’s work, then I’ll give you a “very good.” I think I’ll read this one to my kids when they’re struggling with studying “boring science” to help gain a perspective. Thanks for sharing your thoughts once again!
11:03 am
Epic. Operation restoration; now THAT is an awesome plan!
7:59 pm
Uhhhsome? – I love it. There does seem to be an effort by all of us to make our lives seem bigger; more significant. Perhaps the portrayal of lesser things as grand or “awesome” is just one more way we unknowingly (instinctively?) try and fool ourselves; to make us larger than life.
6:53 am
This is so funny. I was just recalling to my husband the other day how you sat me down in high school at one point when I used the word ‘awesome’ for something silly and you corrected my poor choice of words. He agreed we should fight for the true meaning of words.
7:46 am
Hyatt, very well put. Lot of Armenians use a phrase “God is Great” in many instances. I feel that it is used loosely because of the manner in which it is used.
8:15 am
I loved this one, Hyatt! Ahhhsome! Awesome! :-)
10:42 pm
The abuse and/or misuse of adjectives leads to their decay in many languages I agree. I´ve heard of “fabulous tacos” and “sexy underwear” (?) but after years of research I haven´t been able to understand the modern meaning of the word “incredible”. If you don´t expect people to believe what you are saying why bother? I recently bought a bottle of “Awesome” a cleaning agent for bath tubs. As you end up kneeling and shaking in scrubbing veneration you come close to understand the meaning of it´s brand name, but the effects are incredible.