Words...

I love words. For as long as I can remember I've been fascinated simply by words. I suppose I am even a bit sentimental about words. The same paperback Webster dictionary I purchased my Freshman year of college sits by my office desk and is referenced several times per week. Though worn nearly to the point of disrepair, I can't seem to purchase a replacement. That dictionary and I have seen both the best and the worst of times. I've used it to write at the highest heights and the lowest of lows. In a strange way, it is like a dear friend.

Synonyms alone can hold my attention for an unreasonable amount of time. How many various ways can one express effectively the same thought or phrase repeatedly and never use the same word twice? I used to play games like this with words for hours on end (for those who find that weird, I once had a friend who mentally typed every word they heard, so categorically, I don't think I'm that strange). Short of being completely obsessive about it, I do frequently look for new words or new expressions or a clever turn of a phrase.

Years ago my wife began reminding me that if people don't understand the words used, the effectiveness of communication is lost. Occasionally, she still reminds me. I will admit when I was in college, my crew of friends in the college of Communications made sport of articulated verbosity. I confess, there was a time when I derived a certain amount of ego-feed from flaunting words around. That sport was challenged in graduate school as I was introduced to a diminutive book by Helmet Thielicke entitled, "A Little Exercise for Young Theologians." This little book, of relatively few words, decisively put an end to my grammatical expressions of self aggrandizement. Clearly, I struggle evermore with other means.

Still, I love words. For me, words are like paint to canvas. The proper word paints more clearly the picture I visualize in my mind's eye. If I struggle to find the adequate word to express my mind, I tend to "freeze up" until the appropriate word is located. It seems strange to be so "visual" about something typically so "auditory," but apparently this is the way my brain functions.

A sobering reality about words is that as precisely articulate or picturesque as they may be, without significant thought or sincerity, they are merely confined to a limited existence. Without care, words are simply words. Without depth of character, wisdom and humility, even the most eloquent of human orators and writers produce nothing more than empty speech regardless of how articulate they may be. Even the "right" word irresponsibly or inappropriately spoken is a loss, not a gain.

Though a difficult discipline, I am attempting to find my way into fewer words. Some of the wisest people for whom I have the deepest respect speak relatively little. Conversely, some for whom respect comes with certain difficulty seem to grow quite passionate of their own words.

Words are wonderfully fascinating, but it is not word choice or extensive vocabulary which ultimately impress. It is character, moral fiber and love which speak volumes beyond words.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."
1 Cor. 13:1