Bonny Scotland! Where all four seasons can come in one day. Lately
we’ve had some beautiful bright, but cold weather. One moment you could be sunbathing the next dodging hailstones. As they say, “Never cast a clout till May’s out” (never discard your [warm winter] clothing till June). Then we’ll be chittering, “Chilly for June!” My favourite weathered saying is, “It’s so cold it would freeze the balls off a brass monkey!” Shortened in schooldays to, “It’s a bit ‘brass monkeys’!” Did you know that ‘shampoo’ comes from India and is a ‘head massage’, or that ‘honey moon’ was the Viking wedding celebration, which lasted a month, from full moon to full moon, imbibing masses of mead (honey brewed alcohol).

We use sayings like: “I’m dying for a drink!” “I’m Starving!” or “I can’t wait till the weekend!” overstating for effect. “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’.” said Jesus but easily we bend truth to keep people at a distance, saying “Yes” when we really mean “No”, or “I’ll get back to you!” to palm someone off.

And when it comes to curse and swear words, some, like the ‘F’ bomb, get used so often and indiscriminately that they become as meaningful as a coo’s moo. Are people really as sex-mad as the constant use of the ‘F’ word suggests?

Curiously, ‘freezing the balls off a brass monkey’ is from ancient Armada days, when brass monkeys (bronze hoop-rings) held cannon balls, piled high on a war ship’s deck. In freezing temperatures the ‘brass monkey’ shrunk and off rolled the cannon balls, hence the expression.

It’s astonishing how often Jesus Christ’s get’s misused, most people oblivious to the offence it causes Christians. Oh that our world would re-find the root meaning and power of these oft diluted and polluted names. Jesus means, ‘Saviour’ and Christ, ‘King / Messiah’. The Bible describes Jesus Christ as God come down to earth to help God get his Family back forever. I dare anyone to read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and fail to sense that this ‘Jesus Christ’ rings true. In fiction it’s impossible to create a believable and likeable ‘perfect’ character, without flaws. But remarkably this Christ character is thoroughly believable, suggesting he is who he said he was ‘God in the flesh’. As they say, “The truth is stranger than fiction!”