2012-12-21 00:38:18
Have you ever shared a weighty matter of your heart with another person in hopes that they would say “just the right thing” to soothe your pain? I have from time to time and I have walked away not necessarily with an antidote to my pain but, rather, with the assurance that the listener “said all the right things” without really saying the right thing. So I began to ponder, “What does ‘they said all the right things’ really mean?”
As is often the case, at the time I began my pondering, I read an article written by a non-American native English speaker who was frequently baffled by the things that Americans often say. The article was an attempt to decode those phrases that may have been the right thing to say, but bore little heartfelt genuineness.
For example:
1. A sales clerk says, “Have a nice day!” That’s the right thing to say to a customer, however, they are not saying that they will lose any sleep if they later learn that your day was less than “nice”. What they truly mean is, “I don’t care what kind of day you have, but please tell my manager I was friendly so I get an extra commission.”
2. “Let’s have lunch sometime.” That’s the right thing for long lost friends to say when they run into each other. However, neither is speed dialing a restaurant to make a reservation for lunch because what they really mean is, “Let’s never eat a meal together.”
3. Someone in tune with the spirit of this season says, “Happy holidays!” is saying the right thing. However, the true translation or meaning of that greeting is, “I wish you a politically correct, happy, and nonspecific celebration in December and early January!”
Christmas is too serious an event to say all the right things without the truest of intentions. What would it have been like if the angel gave Mary, the mother of Jesus, the right message without the deep and true meaning of what that message truly meant for the entire world? We would be of all men most miserable and hopeless because we would not have received the good news of great joy that a Savior, who bore all the weight and sin of the world upon His shoulders, was given to us.
As Christmas, 2012 approaches, it is the right thing to say to you, “Merry Christmas!” And I say that with the truest, most honest meaning of wishing you all the joy, hope, and peace that the our Heavenly Father promises to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. (sv)
“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:10-12