The Culture of Entertaining Angels Unaware

Mike Hosey, Elder

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As a young soldier in the Texas National Guard, I had a rather foul mouth. I had picked up this language from the other soldiers with whom I had surrounded myself.

To be honest, foul language was a building block of our normal grammar.  A complete sentence had to have at least three parts; a noun, a verb, and a vulgaritive.

Not that this language was bad because of the words we used. They were just words, after all. Their meanings were no different than the clean versions of those words. What made our communication bad was our frequent disregard for how others may interpret the way we communicated. It was our continued use of those words in any public setting.

We weren't trying to be disrespectful with the language, we just didn't take the time to consider the sensitivities of others. This disregard was reinforced by the self-centered culture of our group.

That same culture reinforced something much worse than tactless language.  It reinforced (even rewarded) complaining and murmuring about every situation the unit found itself in.

Providentially, I got schooled on this problem and it allowed me to begin breaking free from that culture. Once, while setting up a field hospital in the dead hours of a cloud-covered, lightless night, a fellow soldier, obviously older than me approached and asked about morale and how things were going. With a string of colorful adjectives, I complained about conditions, and duties, and probably a few other things.  In fact, my attitudes and words were harming the morale he was asking about! In shock, after about the third volley of very decorative conversation, I realized that I recognized my comrade.  I often heard his voice on Sunday mornings. Coming from the pulpit. In the chapel. Er, uh, ahem, good morning sergeant chaplain's assistant!

Since then I've come to learn how important it is to surround myself with positive people who make  for a positive culture that will reinforce positive behaviors in me, and by their example, discourage negative ones (Phil 3:17). 

I've also learned that the scripture which says that we may sometimes entertain angels unawares is very true (Hebrews 13:2).