Skubalon

I’m not sure why so deeply I relish the fact that there seems to be a swear word in the Bible. I only heard this taught and the word used in church about 8 yrs ago.  The polite side of my Christianity would probably not have entertained or appreciated this word from the Bible 10-20 years ago or as a new Christ follower in the 70’s; my theology was rather small-minded, and altho sincere and eager, I did not have the perspective I have now, after many decades of living life, embracing sucky situations in my life, and realizing this is a big category ……skubalon ……that has lots of subsections; (I am certain as you read this that you could add many of your own items to the list I have touched upon)……..having other people’s stuff land on me & bring pain & sorrow that I did not ask for, enduring the rain that falls on all of us in this life, injustice, being misunderstood, decades in organized religion and expected, falsely-respectful behavior toward some leadership no matter what (that is unwarranted and misplaced at times), loss, heart break, disappointment, accidents, health crises, and hard times, along with some really, really tough seasons of life that might more healthily be processed if we were willing to bring the hard topics to the table and be supported to talk about it, put it out in the open, and not shy away from it. I am thankful I have gained some perspective and wisdom. I have so much more to learn. Let’s be honest, a lot of times life is like hugging a cactus!!….I love how the Bible includes what I consider a cuss word……”refuse, dung, skubalon, @#$%”……. unmentionable in some churches and/or with some people, but not in the Bible. God is raw, real, and honest. I wish more of the church would bravely embrace this concept.  Let’s stop sugar-coating the hard stuff, let’s meet it more head on, shall we?? I believe we would find more strength, more relateability, more commonality with other humans, and dare I say healing to our bodies & minds if we were willing to be a titch more approachable when someone gets vulnerable with us (or we get more vulnerable with another trusted & approachable human) and realizes they are not alone, along with us living more raw & real in life so that people see we all struggle with similar things, and can draw strength from each other as we “do life” together.

It’s okay to not be okay all the time. It’s okay to not be “fine” all the time & to be honest enough to admit it. Life can be very hard at times & there will be skubalon in our day to day sometimes but let’s do ourselves and others a favor & be a bit more raw & real about that instead of being fake and proclaiming how fine we are because we think we’re less than or don’t have enough faith or that we’ve done something wrong to have the negatives in our life.

[In Philippians 3:8, Paul uses the word σκύβαλον (skubalon), which is usually translated as “dung” , “garbage”, “!@#$”, or “rubbish”. Thanks, Paul for being raw & real in your writings!! ]