Frugality

“Backclipping” is the name given to the linguistic anomaly of amputating words. For instance, for “mathematics” we say “math,” for “teenager” we say “teen,” and so on. Try whiling away your time waiting at stoplights by thinking of other backclipped words, such as exam, lab, demo, intro, tech, rehab, decaf, and the like. Why do we tend to shorten such words? It’s probably more of a natural tendency toward frugality in speech than mere laziness in speech. If an abbreviated form of a word is clearly understood, after all, why use the full word? We do the same thing with the contraction. We don’t (do not) hesitate to use contractions, so what’s (what is) wrong with backclipping, which seems so natural?

The Lord does a lot of backclipping himself--not, of course in speech, but in his designs for our lives. This will be seen from eternity as part of his mysterious divine frugality. He may shorten the expected long life of a child killed by a reckless driver, for example; his permissive will may be his way of preventing the innocent child from growing up to meet death as a hardened unrepentant criminal. God may retrench one’s job duration by an unexpected firing; he may permit a marriage to fall short of its full expected duration by permitting divorce, or claim the “death do us part” promise by bringing about early widowhood; he may curtail plans for a lifelong career by a sudden illness or incapacitation; he may shorten one’s productive years by a disheartening discovery of cancer, or a forced early retirement to care for a parent with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Do not boast about tomorrow,” says Solomon, “for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Prv 27:1). James waxes more poetic on this theme: “You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a while and then vanishes” (Jas 4:14). Whenever the Lord does any backclipping, he does it, as he does everything else, for good, not for bad. “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jer 29:11).

Those who have never learned to trust the Lord to make bad situations turn out for good are those who “do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan” (Mi 4:12). Even those who do trust him are often left in the dark about his plans, but they do not rebel against them; they “go with the flow” of his perfect will. Many a trusting soul has been honed into holiness by the optimism of the twenty-third psalm: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” (Ps 23:6).

This excerpt is from the book Pathways of Trust, by John H. Hampsch,C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.