Piles of Words

I have a former professor who is a word smith and speaker par excellence! Her class scared me to death as I knew every breath almost was going to be scrutinized! Yikes! She cares deeply still about her students being the best they can be and to live all of life with excellence!
For some time now, she has been posting a "Lesson for the Day" on Facebook for her former students to "enjoy."  In each she discusses some grammar concept: when to use lie and when to use lay; using to, too, two correctly; etc. It's not new information to me and almost always it's how I normally speak and write, but it's good reminders.
Today I saw she had posted another lesson. This time it is a really, really good reminder!

LESSON FOR THE DAY:
 It is important that we try to do our best with what God has given us.
 We have talked a lot about words, grammar, and pronunciation. There is, however, something much more important.
 Let us suppose that we were born unable to speak. Never had we been able to say a single word. Then, let's pretend that one day God gave us a king-sized pillow case packed with words. We could use those words until they were gone. How would we use them? Would we choose carefully, making each word count? What would we build or tear down with those words? Once the words were spoken, we could not get them back.
 Now, one more pretend. What if one day God poured all the words we had ever spoken on top of our heads? We would be swimming in millions of words. They would be all over us!

Then, what if God told us to begin separating those words into two piles. On the left side we would put all the hurtful, sarcastic, coarse, cutting, mean, spiteful, jealous, lying, critical, cynical, unfeeling, backbiting, unfair, rationalizing, self building, defensive and unkind words.
 On the right side, we would put all the kind, edifying, helpful, loving, complimentary, gentle, helpful, caring.....you get the picture. WHICH PILE WOULD BE LARGER?
 I think we have been told that we will be called to account for every one of them. So, whatever we learn from these little lessons, know that we need to make our words count for good.              -- Bewey Bowden, Adjunct Professor, Reformed Theo. Sem. (Jackson, MS) retired
So, I'm thinking about words today.....Words come from the heart!
⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Luke 6:45)
Change my heart, O God, Make it ever true; Change my heart, O God,May I be like You.

Words Matter!

A large part of my life involves words! I teach Latin, I write, I communicate. It's that communication piece of words that makes life interesting! My husband and I think very differently. Hopefully that doesn't imply better or worse, just different. Invariably when he gives me directions, he understands exactly what he means but his words don't convey that same meaning to me.
Perhaps the GPS is singularly responsible for reducing stress in marriage as directions from a spouse become no longer necessary. :o)

Last night I went to an end of school picnic. I didn't know where it was and the invitation had no address except for a vague location. There was nothing specific enough to put into my GPS. A colleague called about something else and I asked if he knew how to get there. These are his instructions pretty much word for word:
"Go to the end of Boyce Road, Turn right. Go just a little way and turn left which will take you to the end of that road and a stop sign but just continue on."
Fortunately I knew where he was talking about so I said, "O, you mean ...."
"Yes, that's right. You'll go over the hill and drop down on 50. Then 50 is 4-lane about 2 miles and turns into 2-lane. Just keep going out in the country until you come to a building that looks just like the Taj Mahal on your left. The park is right beside it on the other side of the parkiing lot."
Well, guess what? There is no Taj Mahal in or near Pittsburgh, PA. There certainly isn't one on 2-lane Rt. 50. I drove and drove, got caught up in a bad motorcycle wreck and finally turned around. As I passed a little park it seemed like the crowd of people in and around the big pavilion just might be my group from school. BUT there was NO Taj Mahal in sight!!!
Now, my friend had no malicious or even joking intent. He just used to live near there and apparently all the locals call the building next to the park "the taj mahal." HOW would I know that?!
Last night's word fiasco was "small beans" but words do matter and words spoken glibly or unkindly matter even more!
At this same event I ran into a person I have only seen casually a few times since the days when we were very close friends. I walked with her through a very difficult time in her life. In the end she walked away from our friendship. She was there with her new husband and only introduced him because I happened to be standing where it would have been embarassing to her not to. That's okay! As Aslan says to Edmund in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, "What's done is done?"
In the end, words matter and they matter a lot! That's why Paul cautions all of us: Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6, NIV
Easy to write/type, harder to do! Sometimes it's easy to wonder - When will I not have to be the one biting my tongue? Answer: probably never! Jesus set the bar high. He above all others had earned the right to set the record straight. The Gospels record what the Prophet Isaiah predicts that Jesus remained silent in the face of His accusers! Not only do words matter but sometimes the lack of words matters too - quite a lot!
Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalm 141:3 NIV

Words and the "Dog"

Words – they are tools to communicate - not the only tools, but one important tool.

When the ancient prophet Hosea calls wayward Israel back to God, he says, “Take words with you and return to the Lord.” (Hosea 14:2

Words – they are a window into our hearts. Jesus said: “It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words. … Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. Words are powerful, take them seriously.” (Matthew 12:34-37, "The Message," Eugene Peterson)

In Matthew 6 Jesus told a huge crowd of people that some people think the more words they use, the better they will be heard. (Matt. 6:7) Then Jesus concludes, “NOT – no way – not going to happen !” (my translation not His)

I have a really good friend who is a man of few words. An example that I will remember and giggle over forever is the night we were talking about dealing with anger in a group. Someone asked something like, “Well, what do you do if you don’t get the desired result and you’re angry with someone ?” He quietly and calmly said only one word, “Reload.” Think about it!

My brother is one of the commanders on the ground in Iraq. Several times I have written him detailed emails. He does respond. The response is something like: “Gotcha” or “Noted.” He’s a busy man of few words. He communicates all that is needed with a word.

Words are in the news today. Not a few words but many words – too many words and the wrong kind of words. Duane “Dog” Chapman, the bounty hunter, is in big trouble for using multiple racial slurs in a phone conversation with his son. His son taped the conversation and sold it to a “sensation rag.” Now “Dog” is in trouble, scrambling to rewind and recover and booted from his TV show.

“Dog” says he’s sorry and regrets his “inappropriate language.” He said all that and more including crying on the Shaun Hannity show last night on TV in an exclusive interview.

A very wise man once told me that people use profane words due to their limited vocabulary. They resort to the lazy way to express their thoughts because their word resources are limited.

Words expose both our hearts and our emotions.

In another time some mothers demonstrated this to their children by washing their mouths out with soap after naughty words were spoken by the child. It’s a very effective deterrent unless the pattern of bad words is already firmly established. In that case, more drastic measures may be required. In any case, the only permanent fix for a dark heart that spews forth evil words is God’s grace at work to restore hearts, minds and mouths.

War of Terror on Words

Words – that’s how we communicate but what a way we have with them! And the ways we use and abuse them are amazing!

Think of just ordinary – very good words – that have totally lost their meaning: love and gay come to mind immediately

Just today, on the news, was the item about “how to buy a coat.” Must be a REALLY, REALLY slow news day! Anyhow, the “expert” talking about how to buy a coat mentioned that buying a coat can be overwhelming. Buying a coat – overwhelming? Now that’s a new use for the word “overwhelming.”

Overwhelming can be watching fire crest over a ridge in California and suddenly consume your home and all its contents, including the memories and pictures! Now THAT’S overwhelming!

Overwhelming is watching a car run over your child or coming into your kitchen and finding your wife of over 50 years dead of a massive hemorrhage! These things and many others are truly overwhelming BUT I don’t think buying a coat falls in that category.

But, then there is the tennis shoe store – have you ever seen so many different types and kinds of tennis shoes? One needs a special degree just to know what KIND of tennis shoe one needs to select. Perhaps THAT is overwhelming!