Even more so than our last "Word for Thought", copacetic, the origins of the Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for March 26th are Hebraic.  The word was shibboleth.

1 : catchword, slogan 2 : a widely held belief or truism 3 : a custom or usage regarded as distinctive of a particular group

Whoah, dude!  The Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for March 23rd was, like, wayyy cool.  It was, uh... uh...

Oh, yeah... copacetic!  \koh-puh-SET-ik\

That means "very satisfactory", dude.  Sweeeet.

OK, yes, the word is often associated with "dudes" from the valley because of its prevalent use during various movies of the 80's and early 90's but its use in America goes back to the 1920's and the early jazz era.

I came across an article today and as I read it I was grieved in my soul.

The article, entitled "Go Ahead and Follow Your Heart. God Wants You To", was on the blog site named PersonalFinanceByTheBook.com.

Upon reading the title a handful of verses immediately came to mind.  Chief among them was this:

"The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick;Who can understand it?"  (Jeremiah 17:9)

Since this is true, why oh why would G-d want us to follow our hearts?

The author, Joe Plemon, includes this definition of heart in his article:

Pastor Rick Warren defines it thusly, “the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams and affections that you have."

Back in January of this year, Josh and  John Duggar (yes, those Duggars from "19 kids and Counting") were having what seemed to be an ordinary day at the office of Josh's used-car dealership.

The day would turn out to be far from ordinary.

The dealership is located along a main road for business travel where minor traffic accident are common.

This article from MSNBC details the events.

The Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for March 16th was archetype [AHR-kih-type].

the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies : prototype; also : a perfect example

The Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for March 9th was eclectic.

1 : selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles 2 : composed of elements drawn from various sources; also : heterogeneous

The Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for March 4th was licit.

conforming to the requirements of the law : not forbidden by law : permissible

In their "Did you know?" section they provided this:

"Licit" is far less common than its antonym "illicit," but you probably won’t be surprised to learn that the former is the older of the two. Not by much, though: the first known use of "licit" in print is from 1483, whereas "illicit" shows up in print for the first time in 1506. For some reason "illicit" took off while "licit" just plodded along. When "licit" appears these days it often modifies "drugs" or "crops." Meanwhile, "illicit" shows up before words like "thrill" and "passion" (as well as "gambling," "relationship," "activities," and, of course, "drugs" and "crops.") The Latin word "licitus," meaning "lawful," is the root of the pair; "licitus" itself is from "lic?re," meaning "to be permitted."

A dear brother in the Lord shared this with me the other day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAWgWZ9lEuI

This amusing and yet disturbing video depicts the all-too-common pattern of a Sunday morning service at a non-denominational church. It was created by the media group of North Point Community Church as a lampoon of the cookie cutter nature of contemporary Christian services in America (including their own!).

The Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for February 25th was proscribe.

1 : outlaw 2 : to condemn or forbid as harmful or unlawful

They provided this information regarding the origins of the word:

"Proscribe" and "prescribe" each have a Latin-derived prefix that means "before" attached to the verb "scribe" (from "scribere," meaning "to write"). Yet the two words have very distinct, often nearly opposite meanings. Why? In a way, you could say it's the law. In the 15th and 16th centuries both words had legal implications. To "proscribe" was to publish the name of a person who had been condemned, outlawed, or banished. To "prescribe" meant "to lay down a rule," including legal rules or orders.