My Morning Verse

Okay, now I realize I'm not exactly hitting the ground running this morning.  I have yet to have taken even a sip of coffee.

Wait for it...

Sigh... two sips for good measure.  That's a start.  But I digress.

I do have a tiny headache starting at the top of my head, and I've got a lot on my mind that might make me a little, let's say, crabby.  But of all things, my Verse-a-Day Calendar is ticking me off.  Besides the annoying, touristy, cheesy picture of two hibiscuses for today, Wednesday, February 9, 2011 (usually the pictures are good -- I cheated and checked tomorrow's.  It's a good misty, tops of mountains through the fog number.  Very nice... again, I digress.)...

But here's the main thing:  I'm coming in here without my coffee with a lot on my mind, and basically I feel like my brain is the top of the mountain not yet able to peek over the fog.  I mean I can barely formulate these words.  As a matter of fact, stop reading right now.  These words are mush and blech.  I just have to say, though, that as I peeled back yesterday, Tuesday, February 8, 2011 and looked for a little bit of reason, meditation, and clarity, I read this:

Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.  II Timothy 1:6 KJV

I mean, seriously, Verse-a-Day people?  I'm barely able to form a cohesive thought and this is what you give me at 7:30 a.m.?  What are you thinking?  Did King James actually put this calendar together himself while he was directing the translation of God's Word into the English language?  He said, "Oh, by the way, mine faithful scholars, couldst thou whip up a Verse-a-Day calendar for 2011 while you're at it?"  To me, that would be the only acceptable excuse for hitting the general scripture-seeking population with this translation before (and that's when we generally look at our daily calendars) we get our coffee.  Honestly, I would barely be able to decipher this one at noon when I'm rather at my best.

So for those of you, like me, who cannot let this slide unaddressed (and I'm sure there are tens of you), I've saved you the trouble of looking up more morning-friendly translations of this verse:

My personal favorite.  I happen to have a soft spot for the New Century Version, which has always been clearest to me.  My New Century Version has been with me since college and is now quite literally falling apart.  That's what I get for cheaping out and buying a paperback.

This is why I remind you to keep using the gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. Now let it grow, as a small flame grows into a fire.  II Timothy 1:6 NCV 

And okay, Mom.  Since you think American Standard Version is, like, the only real way to read it (or you used to) because it's, "directly from the Greek and Hebrew," (isn't that what we all say about our favorite?  Because it's true.) this one is for you. 

For which cause I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee through the laying on of my hands.  II Timothy 1:6 ASV

And, of course, the universally loved.  Everybody loves a good New International Version.  So here y'all go.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. II Timothy 1:6 NIV

Wait, one more.  This is pretty good, too.

This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. II Timothy 1:6 NLT

The point is, there are tons of options out there.

And now that I've made my point, I would like to mention that I do see beauty in the King James Version.  It hearkens from a day when I think the educated truly appreciated their language and wanted to make something wonderful.  And without Jimmy (Sometimes I call him Jimmy or King Jimmy.  He thinks it's funny.  I really hope you've stopped reading by now.) I would be sitting here trying to decipher my morning Bible verse in LATIN. 

Great googly moogly. 

Have a wonderful and blessed day. 

Coffee's kicking in.