Day 46: Righteous

May our lives truly be a perpetual blessing to others.

The memory of the righteous will be a blessing.

PROVERBS 10:7 NIV

My first thought when reading this on my daily desk calendar is how very blessed I am.  When I thought about writing about this reading in my blog post I hesitated.  Was it really as good as I thought?  The problem tripping me up was the word righteous.

For me, negative connotations wrap around the word righteous.  I think of the priests sending Jesus to the cross in righteous indignation.  Images flash through my head of people yelling at those who have different political thoughts then their own.  What I forget, and my husband reminded me of, is that I get righteous mixed with self-righteous.  I cringe at the word and fear people see me as self-righteous.  I don't want to be arrogant and hard of heart.

Of course, my ideas are tainted.  Being righteous is acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous.  I am blessed to know many righteous people.  I should be happy if people see me this way.  However, I would prefer the word virtuous over righteous.  The word is just too close to self-righteous for my comfort.  Thus, I like to change the word in the verse. 

The memory of the virtuous will be a blessing.

My dad and cousin came to mind the very first time I read the verse, before my doubts of the wording derailed me for a moment or two.  These two people mean the world to me.  I miss them terribly since they died.  I would love to call my dad right now.  He would be awake though the sun hasn't risen yet.  We could talk about the game last night.  I could tell him about my day.  We would start plotting our gardens for next spring.  Or I would love to chat with Marie about my writing.  Yesterday, I really needed a bit of encouragement after the loss of my 1,000 words. 

But, I am blessed.  The memories of their words and love live within me.  I am consistently reminded of them with each thought I have of the past.  I feel the love.  I spent quality time with them that resonates with the person I am today and will be tomorrow, for the rest of my life.  And on this last day of November, I am thankful for this best of blessings.