{"id":1358,"date":"2022-02-03T08:17:21","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T13:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1358"},"modified":"2022-02-03T08:17:21","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T13:17:21","slug":"bedlam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/03\/bedlam\/","title":{"rendered":"Bedlam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Word origins are often fascinating.  And revealing.

In 1247 a hospital was founded at Bishopsgate, just outside the walls of London.  It was known as the Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem.

Bethlehem is a word that carries powerful, positive associations.  

It is the name of the small Palestinian village where Ruth and David lived during Old Testament times, and where Jesus was born.  For many of us, the mention of Bethlehem triggers memories of Christmas cards and candlelit services on cold December nights.

\u201cBethlehem\u201d means \u201cHouse of bread.\u201d  No one knows precisely why. 

But followers of Jesus have always taken note that the Bread of Life came into the world in the House of Bread.

Over the centuries the name of the hospital was slurred by Londoners to \u201cBethlem.\u201d  It became Europe\u2019s first facility dedicated to treating the mentally ill. 

But Bethlem Royal Hospital, as it came to be known, ultimately became infamous for the horrors inflicted on those who were admitted there.  The \u201cscience\u201d of caring for mental illness during the Middle Ages was literally medieval, and Londoners routinely shivered at the sound of screams and wails from the hospital\u2019s open windows. 

As recently as the 1700s people could, for a fee, walk through its dark corridors and gaze at the patients, much as Americans pay to visit contrived haunted houses every year just before Halloween.

With time the name Bethlem morphed again.  People began calling the hospital Bedlam<\/em> \u2013 a word that still describes madness, chaos, and hopelessness. 

Bethlehem became Bedlam<\/em>.  One of the world\u2019s most positive words devolved into one of the world\u2019s most chilling.

Can semantic evolution be reversed? 

Or to put it another way:  Can our own experiences of confusion and disorder give way to something that inspires hope?

Try this:  Every morning, as you prepare to face the tasks of the day, choose to stop.  Call a halt to everything.  Be still for several minutes. 

Then make this request of God: \u201cLord, would you please turn whatever feels like bedlam in my life \u2013 my relationships, my bank account, my studies, my health \u2013 into something that carries the hopefulness of Bethlehem?  And please begin with the noise and confusion of my own heart.\u201d

The One who entered the world so silently at Bethlehem has made this promise: 

We can quietly receive the gift of peace from the Prince of Peace himself.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Word origins are often fascinating.  And revealing. In 1247 a hospital was founded at Bishopsgate, just outside the walls of London.  It was known as the Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a word that carries powerful, positive associations.   It is the name of the small Palestinian village where Ruth and David lived during Old Testament times, and… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[395,394],"class_list":["post-1358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chaos","tag-peace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1360,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions\/1360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}