Folly

I love words. I love looking words up in the dictionary. I love learning new words. I love how definitions can make you think of old, familiar words in new light. One of the OCD things that I do when I read is keep a dictionary beside me so that I can look up unfamiliar words. Maybe this is why I teach English...maybe this is why I'm a crazy person.........

Folly means (according to Webster's New World Dictionary) a lack of understanding, sense, or rational conduct, foolishness. Now, I knew the word folly. But after reading this from Ragamuffin Gospel: "You need a touch of folly to do it; folly, do you see? You have to risk everything." well, I was intrigued. Did you catch everything that folly means? Essentially, it means doing the opposite of what we are supposed to do....or what society tells us to do. But if you look to Scripture and look at the people in God's Word, most of the Biblical heroes acted in folly. The word folly is usually used with negative connotation - which I can completely understand. But does Jesus call us to have a "touch of folly" in our lives? Apparently so because there were a lot of reckless (again another negative word that can absolutely be positive) people in the Bible. People that stood up for what they believed. Anybody ever hear of Martin Luther (I just watched the movie last night and it pumped me up!)? He did exactly the opposite of what the Church taught him to do. But when he got in the Word and let God speak to him, look what happened! He risked finding out the truth and passing that along to other folks. Hmmm...dare we believe everything we are taught??

Check these out: (also from Ragamuffin)

"Faithfulness requires the courage to risk everything on Jesus, the willingness to keep growing, and the readiness to risk failure throughout our lives."

"As we get older we do only the things we do well....we must keep on risking failure throughout our lives....men will always be making mistakes as long as they are striving after something."

And this (which came on as I was typing this up)
"When every step that you take / Can be your biggest mistake / And it could bend or it could break / Well that's just the risk that you take" ("What If" by Coldplay)