"Thank God"

I recently overheard a conversation at school in which somebody said something that bothered me. By now, I'm used to hearing a little bit of profanity at school. People use the f-word and the s-word and the phrase "oh my God" in casual conversation there, and if I was ever offended by that, I'm not anymore. No, what upset me recently wasn't when somebody used the name of God in casual conversation. It was when they didn't.

I didn't hear the details or the context of the conversation, partly because I wasn't really listening until I heard the phrase that caught my attention. And when the phrase was said, it stood out to me so strongly that I wasn't paying attention to anything else. The phrase was "thank gosh." I appreciate that the person was trying not to say "God" too casually, but I also think that a person should give credit where credit's due. If you mean to thank God for a fortunate circumstance or turn of events, I think you should go ahead and say it.

Then again, who am I to talk? Just as with many vices I decry on my blog, I'm just as guilty as anyone. I say "thank goodness" instead of "thank God." Other people say "thank heaven," which is closer to what we really mean, but still not quite there. Why is it that we readily imply that there's someone or something to thank for our blessings, but then fail to thank, or even correctly identify, the One we should be thanking?

Part of the reason we don't say "thank God" very often is the same reason we don't use the full name of the priesthood, like the Old Testament prophets did. Simply put, we don't want to get comfortable using the names of God or Jesus casually. I pretty much agree with that. It doesn't really show God the respect He deserves if we say "God" too frequently. Then again, I've used the word "God" ten times in this blog post so far, not counting the title of this blog post or the that of the blog itself, and I think (I hope!) I've been doing so with sufficient respect.

I think that the key is remembering who we're talking about. God isn't a being who should be referred to casually. He's our Heavenly Father, our Creator, and our Eternal Judge. He is the most powerful being in the universe, and He's the source of all our blessings, for which we should frequently thank Him. I believe that we should "thank God" as frequently as we have reason to, but that we should do it with respect and sincere gratitude.

Had I been in the conversant's shoes, I know I wouldn't have said "thank gosh." I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have said "thank God" either, but I think that, in the future, I will. While it's true that we shouldn't speak of God too casually, it's my opinion that it's better to thank Him casually than to not actually thank Him at all.