It's all well and good.

It took me a long time to learn the correct usage of - and difference between - “good” vs “well.”  Answering the question, “How are you?” with “good” means something completely different than “well.”  If I reply with “I am good,” (and if I’m using the word correctly), I am stating that I have some kind of skill or level of accomplishment.  I am good at napping.  I am good at eating.  

On the other hand, if I respond with, “I am well,” I am stating that I have a positive perspective on my current state of being.  Typically, this would include how I’m feeling, my general state of health, and my perspective on what is happening in my part of the world.

I know starting a Monday morning with a quick grammar review is not the most exciting thing in a day (look at the positive side:  it can only get better from here!).  Hang with me for just one more grammatical thought . . . 

As much as we may confuse “good” and “well,” we also tend to confuse “good” and “bad.”  The word “good” is generally a synonym for “pleasant, pleasurable.”  Getting a raise at work, finding that special thing at a 50%-off sale, and watching your favourite team win the World Series are all “good.”

The word “bad” obviously means the opposite.  A bad day is when the plumbing explodes, the wheels fall off the car, and the dentist clears his throat and says, “Well, I see something . . .”  None of these events are pleasant.  No one looks forward to having a root canal.

Our challenge with “good” and “bad” is that these words also describe categories of moral and ethical standards.  What is “good” is right and just.  What is “bad” is evil and wicked.  But just as an artist will combine distinct colours to create new colours or shades, so also our frequent usage of “good” and “bad” can cause the meanings to smear together.  In a very subtle way we begin to assign a moral or ethical value to that which is pleasant.  Equally, the hard things of life are tainted as not only undesirable, but we begin to assume some level of “wrong” underlying them.  As a result, our minds are tricked into valuing “pleasant” as morally good and “unpleasant” as morally bad.

Let’s go back to the beginning . . . are we “good” or are we doing “well?”

The difference between “good” and “well” isn’t just a grammatical distinction, it is a theological one.  When our circumstances begin to overwhelm, it is easy to label them as “bad.”  In the “unpleasant” sense of the word, this is true.  In the “evil” sense, not necessarily.  As difficult as these times are, we can still be “well.”

The word “well” is often connected with “being” to form the word “well-being.”  I really like that phrase.  It acknowledges the range of emotional conditions, the reality of the pain and struggle, without automatically labelling the circumstances as “bad.”  Our “being” can be “well” even though the circumstances are completely unpleasant.  

A “being well” perspective helps us tweak our understanding of life in God’s created order.  It IS God’s but it is also (currently) broken and dysfunctional because of sin.  Pain, loss, grief, and sorrow are going to be (for now) a part of it.  However, they do not limit God.  In fact, like everything in His created order, they are assigned purpose and meaning (usually beyond our ability to fully understand).  Even in the darkest and hardest times of life, our well-being can reflect our conviction and confidence in the goodness and greatness of God.

Whatever and wherever we may be in God’s created order, we can still be well.  We can still look up;  He is still on His throne.  We can look and move forward because it is GOD’s created order.  Our being is well . . . and that’s a good thing.