A is for...

I count it a joy and honor to be able to assist in the nurturing, teaching, and training of the next Thelander generation by babysitting 3 of my grandchildren on a regular basis. I owe part of the inspiration of my iBlog challenge to Afton and Anthony. Laid up after surgery, most of our teachable moments have happened cuddled on the couch. They love to have me draw or write on a wipe off board and have their "turn" at erasing it. Lately we've been working on A is for Afton, Anthony, and Apple. Hence the A-Z light bulb. (If you've watched Despicable Me, go back and say light bulb like Gru does.)

Let's cuddle on up on the couch and enjoy the first of twenty-six installments of Christianese A-Z.

Have you ever been at odds with a friend or relative and were absolutely miserable? Perhaps they cut in front of you in the potluck line and took the last piece of the yummiest chocolate dessert that remained.

You wanted to scream, "Hey! I'm PMSing get back here with that right now!" And worse than that... she KNEW you were, as I called it when my kids were young, on the chocolate time of month. (Hey...there has to be SOME perk to the dreadful monthly visit from the Aunt no one loves). You look over at her and she even licks the fork in the most taunting way. She really thinks she is being funny. Hmph.

The next time you see your friend, you literally turn and walk the other direction. After a day or so, you have some really good stuff  you want to talk to her about (not gossip of course), but you remind yourself; she stole the chocolate right out from under your nose. Things aren't right in the world until this is fixed.

Eventually you come off your NEED time and begin to see the silliness of it all. Who wronged who? Who over reacted? It no longer matters. You just want things to be right between you. You send her a simple text: Luv u. Miss u. I'm sorry. 


Before long you hear a knock on your door. There your bff stands with an exact replica of the coveted dessert, ready to make amends. She wants to reconcile the difference...atone for her part in the great PMS standoff.

You are now at one...atone.

Now let's spiritualize it.

If you've done much reading in the Old Testament (OT), you've no doubt seen the word atonement a bunch of times. In the New Testament (NT), not so much. The word is used mostly when referring to sin offering (sacrifices) for atonement. In the OT they referred to sacrificing animals for atonement. In the NT, Christ was the final sacrifice for all time.

Here is a verse in Romans 5:10-11

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.


Christ died on the cross so that we can be reconciled to God. Through accepting Christ as our Savior, asking for forgiveness of our sin, choosing to live a life in a Christ-like manner, we have become at one with God.

Atonement = at one (ment)












I hope this has helped you better understand an often used perhaps not fully understood word in the Christianese language. If you have any words you'd like to toss my direction for consideration, shoot me an email at mari.lavell@gmail.com

Until next time you'll find me....