WELTSCHMERZ

Weltschmerz...If you know what this word refers to then you too are probably looking for something to replace Survivor on a Thursday night because this week the National Spelling Bee was on. These kids are incredibly smart, and I think the winner was homeschooled. Urlsprache is currently floating around my semi-full brain...It was the winning word for the National Spelling Bee, but it isn't the one I'll remember. The losing word for Spelling Bee was Weltschmerz, pronounced "Velt-shmerts" - It comes from German origin and it means: the despair one experiences when they see the discrepency between the real world and an ideal world.

I remember biting into an apple fritter caked in a gooey sugary topping only to spit it out when the topping turned out to be lard...WELTSCHMERZ! Someone didn't lift the toilet seat? WELTSCHMERZ. Now I have a word for it. I think Rodney King was weltschmerz when he spoke those now infamous words, "Can't we all just get along?" I've had some Weltschmerz recently, and pleasssssse, don't start preaching at me. We all have some weltschmerz. Aren't you just a little Weltschmerz when you see someone you love make bad decisions or when you lose someone close to you, and you know it shouldn't have happened? Sometimes I'm weltschmerz with the Church or with Christians. Why can't we all just walk out our faith? Why the double-mindedness and the tossing to and fro? WELTSCHMERZ! Read Romans 7. If Paul could speak German he could have saved us all a lot of confusion. "I don't want to sin, but I sin. Weltschmerz." Imagine Jesus standing and looking over Capernaum. "And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day" (Mt.11:23). Imagine, "Capernaum, I'm Weltschmerz over you."

So there you are. You have a new word you can use. Stop saying, "I'm bummed out over this or ticked off about that, so and so bugs me because of this." Next time someone comes to you and says, "Dude, What's up? You look bummed", just say, "Nah, I'm just a little WELTSCHMERZ."

rZ