WORD

Who has the last word in this corona confinement?  We do.  We do this by paying attention to the recommended health regulations and staying home, etc.  It's just a word. COVID-19, or whatever you want to call it. Many names have been suggested.  Words all have meanings and the way they are said, if used verbally, can adjust the meaning too. 

I love old fashioned cartoons that used the balloons to indicate who was speaking and what they were saying, or what they were thinking with the bubbles under the balloon.  The part you could really understand was when the balloon was full of @#$%^&*  which stood for words that would get a bleep on radio or TV today!  If someone was shouting, daggers were coming out of their mouths, or the words in the balloon were in big capital letters with lots of exclamations marks. 

Texting is a whole new language and our digital devices using AI (artificial intelligence) try to second guess what we mean before we even have the word out which makes for some confusing or funny sentences. The speed to which people want to communicate these days have invented acronyms such as BTW for "by the way" and B2B for "business to business" etc. Emojis are supposed to be universal symbols in place of actual words to express feelings. 

Lyrics are words in songs and some of us old fashioned folks like music where we can actually hear and understand the lyrics. I recently did up the graphics and duplication of CDs for a young rapper.  His rap is edgy, modern, and addresses social issues, but I love it.  I can understand it and the beat he's chosen with the music is melodious and catchy.  It's really just poetry delivered in a way that is reinforced by strong rhythm.  

People like me used to do the multiple choice word definitions in Reader's Digest and try to get at least 8 out of 10 to improve our vocabulary.  Then when I began to write and present seminars and workshops, I was often asked to 'dummy down' my vocabulary to the grade five average level of magazines and newspapers. 

I was giving a seminar to a French speaking audience who had the notes in French, but I was told to deliver it in English because my power point slides has also been translated into French.  They said most of the audience understood English from watching TV even though they didn't speak it. We decided that if I came to a word they didn't understand they would put up their hands, and we would stop to have it explained. 

I was teaching on mixing and matching colors, patterns, and styles in visual merchandising.  I used the example of mixing a floral, with a stripe, a solid, and a plaid, as long as they were the same color combinations.  I was asked to stop.  There was a discussion in the room that I didn't understand at all and then they all sat back and told me to carry on.  The unknown word was "plaid".    

The most important words are in the book that still outsells all other books of all time: The Bible.  The acronym for Bible is "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth".  And they are called words of Life. Jesus referred to our hearts as 'soil' into which the 'word' is sown and the different conditions of the soil affect the germination and growth of what's planted there.  Matthew 13. Mark 4. Luke 8.  

What I try to keep in mind, though... and it's hard to remember, is the warning, "...That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."Mat_12:36 Ooh... I've often said, "If God can shut the lion's mouth, He can shut mine."Daniel 6  Our words are important and so are the words we hear.  My test is that if what I hear doesn't fit the narrative of Biblical principles or what God has said, I"m going to doubt it's true and question the source. 

So while the report of the corona virus lingers on, I choose to believe the report of the Lord.  Someone has made an acronym for COVID to mean, "Christ Over Viruses, Infections, and Death." Sounds good to me. So be it. 

---