Supposably

     I keep trying to come up with a hook, but then I realized that I probably sound really condescending in these posts. Am I condescending. I'm sorry. I really don't mean to be. All I seek to accomplish in blogging about language and life is to teach—to teach about communication, which I think is one of the keys to a functional society. I apologize if you take any of these posts to be offensive. Please let me know what I can do to make them better, whether it be a change in tone or content or whatever. Thanks.
     Anyway, I think it's great when people say the word "supposedly," because I only know a handful of people who say it properly. The "ed" seems to be the root of the problem, often taking the form of "ab" instead. I don't have a clue where that comes from, but it's there. Oh well. Nothing to do about it. In my desire to be unoffensive, I want to clarify that it's not a big deal, nor does it change the conversation at all, but I heard my fiancée say it this way last night, and I had a thought. So will you indulge me for a bit? I think there's just enough difference to teach us something.
     To say that something is "supposed" means that you are in fact supposing it. To say that something is "supposable" (which is actually a word, just not the word you're looking for), means that it has the potential—is able—to be supposed. It's the same loophole in the Scout Law of the Boy Scouts of America, where is says, "A scout is trustworthy." Sometimes people say, "A scout is honest." Trustworthy and honest are similar, but they're not the same. You can be worthy of trust without being trusted, you can be trusted without being worthy of it, and you can speak the truth without anyone finding you worthy of their trust, whether or not you deserve it. In short, there is a difference between being able and actually being.
     In my major, I can't tell you how many times teachers have told me that yes, I can have great ideas and great writing skill, but I'm not a writer unless I actually write. Just because you register to vote doesn't make you a voter; going to the polls and casting a ballot does that. I could go on, but I think you understand. Being qualified is not the same as taking action.

     As a child, I was always puzzled by Christ's Parable of the Talents, found in Matthew 25:14-30. If you're not familiar with it and you don't want to read it, a man about to embark on a journey gives three servants each a different amount a money with absolutely no instruction, based on their ability. Ability in what, we don't know. Nor do they know why they have the money. He just gives it to them. One gets five coins, and he goes and trades, eventually ending up with ten total. Another receives two coins and trades them for two more, making four. The last servant receives one coin, and he buries it out of fear that he will lose it before his master returns. Upon the arrival of their lord, the three men give account of their dealings. The men with ten is blessed for his faithfulness, as is the man with four. But the man who hid his talent was rebuked for his wickedness and slothfulness.
     It took me a long time before I could make any sense of this punishment. It always seemed so harsh to me! The servant didn't break any commandment that we know of; his master never told him what to do with the coin—he just gave it to him, left, and asked for it again when he returned. The servant protected the coin and returned it to his master. That's everything that was asked of him, right? It seems that way.
     But God sees more in us than we see in ourselves. Just as Christ taught not to hide our light under a bushel (Matthew 5:15), He doesn't give us things with the expectation that we won't use them. He doesn't give us gifts for no purpose other than for us to put them on a shelf and say, "God gave me that." God didn't put us on earth so that we could come back into His presence unchanged. Inherent in His giving of a gift is the instruction to be fruitful and multiply. This ancient commandment doesn't just refer to married couple having children; it's applicable (and essential) to everything that we do. God gave all of us gifts, and we are to develop them. And even in areas where we are not gifted, He still expects us to work on what we can.
     For instance, faith is listed in the scriptures as a gift of the Spirit to some, but to all, God commands us to have faith. This may seem unfair, but all of us have our individual struggles. We're all fighting against a different head of the hydra, and we shouldn't feel down on ourselves when we see other people as having what we want, when the opposite is almost always true. One of the great lessons I learned from Joe Pesci while watching Lethal Weapon 4 on T.V. one time (I specify that it was on T.V. because I don't watch R-rated movies) is that people aren't necessarily better than one another; they're just different.

(Yes, this is the guy from Home Alone)

     So with those differences, God wants us to work together, and He wants us to be open about both our strengths and our weaknesses. If nobody ever admitted that they were sick, how many more people would die of disease? Contrariwise, if no doctors ever admitted that they could practice medicine, then how many of those desperately seeking treatment would go unhealed? We need to help each other, but first we need to know what we're working with.
     We were put on this earth to be better. We can help each other in some ways, and in other things, we need to do it ourselves. Either way, growth come only after seeds have been richly nourished. Progress stems from sincere and earnest effort.
     On the subject of divine grace, Brad Wilcox says, "No unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God, but no unchanged thing would even want to." We would be ashamed before our Maker if we had done little to nothing in our lives to expand upon the ground He had already allotted us. He wants to see us succeed, and He wants to help us return to His presence and see Him as He is, and in that moment, He wants us to be like Him. That's why burying a coin is such a great offense. We might think it's just a coin, but our act is a symbol of how we treasure (or not) the gifts that God has given us.
     I'm not good at everything I try. I'm not even passable at some things. But the key is that I try. Giving up is the leading cause of failure. Any additional excuse is just noise. God made us mortals and put us in a mortal world to do mortal things, but He wants to see us put on immortality, and that won't happen because of our potential. It will happen because we've put that potential into action. We can't get to Heaven without Christ's help, but, in matters of this seriousness, He only helps those who help themselves. He can save us, so supposably, He will. But we have to follow Him first and match His terms. Only then will our salvation be supposed.

Here's a video about Tyler Haws, an LDS basketball player who shows the importance of 

actively developing his gifts in an effort to better himself. Super inspirational:

For a full dramatized version of Christ's telling of the Parable of the Talents, watch the clip below: