on words

Words are such interesting things.
So much of my life has revolved around their usage--being an English major with a lifelong appreciation for books will do that to you.

My friend Bob and I were discussing this last weekend. We use so few of the words that we actually know in our everyday conversations. We have a few standards that we refer back to over and over again....and they are kind of lame, if I can be honest. And I have noticed that particularly in "Christian" circles, we use 2 adjectives for almost everything--most everything is either awesome or amazing.

I find nothing wrong with either of these words. I just find them overused and unoriginal. Especially when you can look through the dictionary and find so many more interesting words that are so much more descriptive.
It seems that when trying to describe the God that we follow or express our very small understanding of how He works in our lives, we should use the best words possible. And God truly is AWE-some; not in the same way that my favorite movie is awesome or that restaurant is awesome, but in a way that inspires awe in its truest form. And sometimes so many things can be amazing that I forget what it truly means to be amazed....to have that overwhelming sense of wonder, surprise, excitement.... It gets lost behind so many other mundane and mediocre words. I guess the truth is that we have no words to truly express our reaction to a God like ours. So we stumble over words that will never be enough.

I often feel this same sense of inadequacy in conversation with people. I have known for a long time that I am much more eloquent in print than in person. That has kept me from participating in a great many conversations over the course of my life, for fear of saying something unintelligent. It has also kept me from expressing a lot of emotion, for fear of saying something I don't really mean.

During the conversation with Bob on vocabulary, I tried to come up with a list of my top ten favorite words. It was much harder than I thought it would be. My number one favorite word right now is ethereal. It is a beautiful word that I can unfortunately never manage to get into conversation....

This blog post does not do justice to the concepts running through my head. My vocabulary, at this moment, is sadly lacking to express what I truly mean. For words are such interesting things...