A Homonym Synonym

In our daughter’s Sunday school class, the teacher encourages students to memorize one verse weekly from Proverbs. The kids get to choose what they will learn, though I confess our daughter got some coaching the week she selected one about kids honoring dad and mom. Subtle, eh?

A couple of nights ago, we watched a family movie about two boxers. One was a decent, hardworking, honorable man; the other, a womanizing, big-talking jerk. As we watched, we noticed how the humble underdog worked hard, but the arrogant champ was so sure he’d win again that he failed to take his opponent seriously. And el jerk-o lost. Hurrah!

Afterward, as we considered the film’s message, we talked about how Proverbs describes just such a person in chapter 16, verse 18: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” And the verse ended up as our daughter's choice of verse for the week.

So this morning as we were getting ready for church, I asked her to recite it for me. She had learned it pretty well but had left out or added a word here and there. So we worked to perfect it. And I noticed every time she got to the word “haughty” she would snicker or have trouble keeping a straight face.

I asked her why and eventually we figured out the source of a little misunderstanding. She was apparently hearing it like this: Pride goes before destruction, and a “hottie” spirit before a fall.

Not too far off, eh? As her teacher told me with a wink, there is a time and a place for a hottie spirit. Just not during the middle school years!