Do not judge me.  I listen to sports talk radio most mornings.  Mike and Mike, and The Dan Patrick Show are among my favorites.  But I listen to others, all national broadcasts, nothing of local flavor.  I must confess the Boomer Sooner radio provides no entertainment for me.   What is particularly odd about this habit is I know very little about sports anymore. It is just ambient noise with an occasional laugh, and an even more rare “really?” moment.  And I had a moment like that this morning.

The topic was an aging and injured basketball superstar, Kobe Bryant.  And the host of the show, Trevor Matich, said this, (or a facsimile thereof) “The Los Angeles Lakers need to husband Kobe Bryant.”  Say WHAT???

Having been what I consider to be a really crappy husband I was taken aback.  My husband context needed a reset.  And my search for the “meaning of life” began.  Or at least a reminder of the meaning second definition of a really great word.  I had forgotten that husband was also a verb.  I look around the world and I think the world may have forgotten that also.

Dictionary.com   husband

verb (used with object)

to manage, especially with prudent economy.                                                                 to use frugally; conserve: to husband one’s resources.

And I am verklempt.  I am not without words, but I can hardly speak.  This is a moment of serendipity.  It is a reminder that language matters.  That words are transforming and powerful.  And I had not only failed as a husband, but I have failed to husband my language and speech.  I can’t change the past, I can affect my present and future.

I noticed with almost no emotion during this holiday season that some clothing store chain changed the “Deck the halls” Christmas Carol from “Don we now our gay apparel” to “fun apparel.”  And of course, this was and is a far more emotional issue as the country husbands the Christmas/”holiday” season.  What have I, What have we become as we open our mouths and our Twitter accounts and push send?  I have been a fool with my words.

I remember an argument/discussion with my beloved friend and brother in arms Bryan about this very subject.  He was a self taught student of the Hebrew and Greek Bible.  He was a picky guy when it came to language and the use of words as it applied to God’s word.  And I use to say, it can’t matter THAT much.  And Bryan would just let me know that I was wrong.  He was forceful and loving, and so inflexible.  And I would depart from the discussion knowing I was right.  Well as I have aged and perhaps grown in wisdom I realize now I did not know of what I spoke with such a non-informed opionion.

And though this is not a theological discussion.  It certainly can be.  It is whatever you wish it to be.  “It depends what the meaning of ‘is’ is.”

But what this “is” to me is a plea for self assessment and evaluation.  Because words are like seeds.  And seeds grow and produce a crop.  And the crop is ALWAYS a harvest of the seed planted.

So now that Christmas (insert holiday) has passed, and I head toward the New Year, I choose to husband a new habit.  It is not a New Year’s Resolution.  It it just a seed planted

Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are flowing honey, sweet to the taste and healing to the bones.