Prautes or Epieikes?

I'm ready to get down to business with my new project. Let's get it on, let's rock this studying, journaling, meditating and devotionaling. Yeah, I just made that word up. Expect it to be among the new words in the OED in a couple of years. Just remember, you saw it here first.

With a renewed sense of determination and conviction, I sit at the computer with pen, paper, and Bible in hand. Flipping to a short list of verses pertaining to the One Word, James 3:13 for some reason stands out. "Perfect," I think to myself. "Let me see what James has to say. I love James. He is so blunt and there's so much meat to his short little book." Turning in my trusty Bible, the one I got early in my walk with Jesus, I find the verse:

"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom."

Huh. Where's the gentleness? It's not there. Or is it?

So I do something which is totally out of character for me. I look to find what the original word in its original language was. [I have never really done this before, which is ironic given my love of languages, but I am nothing if not a paradoxical creature.] First, I mistakenly assume that James wrote his epistle in Hebrew, and find the Hebrew word for gentleness. Suddenly, it dawns on me that he may not have written in Hebrew, but perhaps Greek. So a quick search confirms that I need to find the Greek word in this verse.

Prautes

What is that? A little more digging, and I discover that the word I have chose to work on, to use to draw nearer to God, the upon which to meditate and center my life over the next year, this word I have spent such time praying to appear, agonizing over its rightness in my life and in God's vision, this word of words.  All I can say is that I had a Princess Bride moment.

That's right folks, the word prautes doesn't actually have a direct English equivalent. So it doesn't actually mean gentleness. It's nearest approximation is gentleness. Apparently, it is some sort of untranslatable metaphysical state, much like umami of Japanese, ennui of French, saudade of Portuguese. William Barclay writes that it is "the quality of the person whose feelings and emotions are under perfect control." An ancient Greek philosopher, Andronicus Rhodius says it may be defined as " serenity and the power, not to be led away by emotion, but to control emotion as right reason dictates." Cue the Marty McFly moment.

What do I do? I go to my key verse for the project to find out what its original Greek says. 

Epieikes

So what does it mean anyway? According to Strong's Concordance, it is equitable, yielding, gentle, mild, forbearing, reasonable or moderate. I'm not entirely sure that I like the sound of this any better. I do the next most logical thing. I look up what exactly all the dictionaries around the interwebs say that gentleness  actually means.

Amiable. Not severe, rough, or violent. Moderate. Gradual. Respectable. Mildness of disposition.

So I guess epieikes does fit after all. I think that's the kind of gentleness I was after when I selected this word and began this quest. Perhaps I'll file away prautes for another year when I'm feeling a little more ambitious. Although I must say, I really do love the term and the idea of achieving that perfect balance. That precise mental state of being where you can unleash some righteous indignation on the wicked, to be so in control of one's own emotions that the right reasons dictate the appropriate emotional response in lieu of being controlled by one's emotions. To flip the tables in the Temple, or remain calm and silent in face of false accusations and ridicule.

Perhaps I do want that kind of gentleness after all. 

And the Winner Is...

Gentleness. The quality or state of being gentle, well-born, mild, benevolent, docile, etc; gentility; softness of manners, disposition, etc.; mildness.

So, why did I pick this word?

Well, to make a long story short, I have a horrendously awful temper. There's weeping and gnashing of teeth, hell-fire and brimstone, the works. To go along with such an awesomely desirable character trait </sarcasm font/> I spent my formative years in the northeast, where obscenities are an art-form.

I've worked very hard over the years to try to clean up my mouth, reign in the temper, and put away the boxing gloves. I fought the good fight, and thought I had really grown and conquered my demons. Little did I know, it was just like the enemy himself. He was laying in wait, making sure to pounce at my weakest moment and coming back worse than before.

Once my oldest child hit the magical age of 3, all metaphorical hell broke loose. With a threenaged drama queen and a newly mobile mischief-filled little fella, life got crazy, sleep got short, and patience was in short supply. So instead of falling back onto my faith or the tips and tricks that helped in the past, the past reared its giant, ugly, nasty, harsh, hateful head. And directed it at pretty much everyone nearby, particularly my kids.

My little Chickadee has been struggling lately at school. She's a brilliant child, and doing exceptional work in her class, but her behavior has been abysmal. The biggest problem is that she is expressing herself, well, just like I do. She's lashing out, pushing, hitting, kicking, the works. Recently, she horse-collared a classmate on the playground and it was not a pretty sight. Circulation was cut off, faces were turning blue, screams were curdling blood--not just typical kid stuff, but major issues here.

I realized that I speak so harshly, particularly to her, and that she probably doesn't hear me speak gently, lovingly, softly, or kindly very often. She is mimicking my behavior patterns, my speech patterns, and my impulsiveness. These are not things that I want for her. I want her to be a loving, gentle, sweet spirited child, not a harsh, bitter, grouchy and mean kid like I was. Like the adult I have become.

So I felt the need to focus on God's gentleness and humble spirit during this year. To focus on being gentle, and responding with gentleness, humility, meekness and love instead of rage and wrath. Gentle and Gentleness are all over the Bible. I've found a number of great versus to meditate on and infuse into my daily routine to try to keep me centered on God's truth.

Philippians 4:5 "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."

1 Corinthians 4:21 "Shall I come at you with a rod, or in love with a spirit of gentleness?"

Proverbs 15:4 "A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit."

Colossians 3:12 "Therefore, as God's chosen people, hold and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."

1 Timothy 6:11 "But you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness."

1 Peter 3:15 "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."

James 3:13 "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom."