Simply Words?

This will be brief, I hope! Recently, I was concerned when I heard someone saying they 'should' have done a certain optional thing... It was said in a manner which sounded as if they were condemning themself. I would propose the use of 'could' have done instead of 'should' since  'should' implies as sense of guilt but the use of 'could' simply acknowledges possibly a missed opportunity.. (This was being said in the context of my friend's mentioning of how her quiet times with our Lord had not been what they 'should' have been recently..) See what I mean? 

One more pair of words I think about often is  'Successful/Significant,' for, once again, words do make a difference.. It was the coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Tony Dungee (sp?) who verified my thinking about these words in our Christian lives... We are not meant to be 'successful' as such since all we do is to be solely to the LORD's GLORY, but, we ARE meant to lead 'significant' lives which flourish as we become more yielded to His presence within us so that others can be impacted by the prospect of true PEACE, HOPE, JOY, MERCY, GRACE, and SO MUCH MORE becoming possible for their lives also!

Now for an intriguing thought about the power of a word.. This morning during my quiet time, I noticed the use of the word, "if" 4 times in II Peter 2:4-9.. I know the LORD has a reason for its presence there, but take time to look up why I am maybe a little bit puzzled about why THAT word is there instead of "since."  Blessings to all who read this...