Etymology

There was a movie that came out a while back, one of Bruckhiemer's early blockbusters, staring Sean Connery, and Nicolas Cage. The Movie "The Rock" was really a great action movie where a group of highly trained men have to break into Alcatraz to save San Fransisco from annihilation from the deadly vx gas. Nicolas Cage's character is named Stanley Goodspeed (I don't remember Sean Connery's character's name). At the end of the movie, Sean Connery's character asks Stanley Goodspeed if he knows the etymology of his last name. It seems like an odd question to ask at the end of a major action flick where people are blown apart the island of Alcatraz is shot to pieces and they barely survive exposure to the deadly gas, but there they are catching their breath and the question is asked. Goodspeed comes from the saying God-speed; a way of saying, farewell. A fitting way to close the movie. Wherever you go from here... God-speed.

The fact that words have a history is fascinating to me. It's almost like they have a family tree. Some of our words have Latin roots, some have Germanic roots. As I thought about how Goodspeed comes from Godspeed and how many words in the English language come from other much older words, I was struck by the fact that words are kind of like people, they have a history. The study of their history is called Etymology. As words have a history, a story of how they became what they are today, so do our hearts.

Your heart bares the marks of your history. The hurts, the joys, the high points and the low points are all marks left on your heart. They are part of the Etymology of your heart. The condition of your heart today is the result of all the places you have been and the people who have touched you, good or bad. digging into the history of a word can bring you some interesting information. Digging into the history of your heart can be interesting albeit painful or perhaps even insightful. What is good news for all of us is that whatever our history is, God redeems every last moment. God does not waste a single second. In fact many times he uses those things that we might think are useless and of no value.

The insight that can come from looking into the etymology of your heart can have eternal value. Don't be afraid of what you find because God can use whatever you have.

And so, Godspeed...