Cleave

I get a "Word of the Day" delivered to my email inbox each weekday so I can learn a new word. A few, I already know. The word, cleave, came to me the other day. The word "cleave" means, in most people's minds, to cut off or separate. In the King James Bible, it typically meant the opposite. That is, it meant to "hold fast to." Cleaving, it seems, is an ambiguous exercise.

When I relocated in the early 1970's, I learned about "little white lies." These were acceptable fibs proclaimed in support of being "polite." I had a problem with them. I never knew where I really stood with people. Relationships do not fair very well when the speech is couched in syrupy weasel-words that mask the truth. Relationships fail to thrive in the midst of ambiguity.

  

Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple "Yes" or "No." Otherwise you will be condemned. James 5:12 (NIV)

Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both "Yes, yes" and "No, no"? 2 Corinthians 1:17 (NIV)

  

All you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Matthew 5:37 (NIV)

Are you giving your relationships the fuel they deserve? Are you masking the truth or proclaiming it in love?