leftovers cuz - 2
Continuing.
We have quite a collection of leftover plastic bags – grocery and otherwise – around the home place. The uses we have for them are sometimes noble – like picking garden produce or even holding the results of our paper shredder. Some other uses for them are ignoble – like holding the grand babies’ poopy diapers. The supply (speaking of plastic bags not poopy diapers) ebbs and flows but at the moment it is flowing more than ebbing.
Once words are spoken, are they then considered leftovers? Somehow I don’t think so, at least not all, because some words have taken up at least semi-permanent residence in the ears and minds of most of us. It seems that the bad things spoken to and about us hang around the longest, wounding and marring the psyche for years. Could it be that the bad words are easier for us to believe, or is it that the hurtful stuff is all we listen for, to verify what we feel about ourselves anyway?
Keeping and cataloging these bad words is somewhat akin to keeping a cluster of sandspurs inside your clothing next to the skin. Both of these actions are choice related and neither is very smart. Whatever we believe needs to line up with God’s Word, like “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”.
Just in case you didn’t know what sandspurs are, they are grassy weeds that produce an upright stem with a cluster of “seeds” on the end. These “seeds” are in the form of a burr with many sharp points, especially so in the late summer and fall. Growing up, some of us guys would have sandspur wars – the stem would be 8 to 10 inches long and with the burrs on the end, was quite a painful throwing weapon. And they thought we didn’t have violence before TV. :) The results could be very uncomfortable if one of these caught you in the middle of the back in a thin shirt. There was a bit of leftover pain involved.
Here is a leftover, wandering thought – does the joy of the Lord bring praise or vice versa? Joy is a noun but don’t forget it’s also a verb, but if we want to keep joy a noun, we can use its cousin, rejoice as the action word. Is it not then praise when we rejoice? So if rejoicing is the action form of joy and rejoicing is also praise, it stands to reason that praise is not only the bringer of more joy, but also the intensifier of what God has already supplied. We do not need to ever have any leftover praise hanging around – give it all to God!! ec
We have quite a collection of leftover plastic bags – grocery and otherwise – around the home place. The uses we have for them are sometimes noble – like picking garden produce or even holding the results of our paper shredder. Some other uses for them are ignoble – like holding the grand babies’ poopy diapers. The supply (speaking of plastic bags not poopy diapers) ebbs and flows but at the moment it is flowing more than ebbing.
Once words are spoken, are they then considered leftovers? Somehow I don’t think so, at least not all, because some words have taken up at least semi-permanent residence in the ears and minds of most of us. It seems that the bad things spoken to and about us hang around the longest, wounding and marring the psyche for years. Could it be that the bad words are easier for us to believe, or is it that the hurtful stuff is all we listen for, to verify what we feel about ourselves anyway?
Keeping and cataloging these bad words is somewhat akin to keeping a cluster of sandspurs inside your clothing next to the skin. Both of these actions are choice related and neither is very smart. Whatever we believe needs to line up with God’s Word, like “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”.
Just in case you didn’t know what sandspurs are, they are grassy weeds that produce an upright stem with a cluster of “seeds” on the end. These “seeds” are in the form of a burr with many sharp points, especially so in the late summer and fall. Growing up, some of us guys would have sandspur wars – the stem would be 8 to 10 inches long and with the burrs on the end, was quite a painful throwing weapon. And they thought we didn’t have violence before TV. :) The results could be very uncomfortable if one of these caught you in the middle of the back in a thin shirt. There was a bit of leftover pain involved.
Here is a leftover, wandering thought – does the joy of the Lord bring praise or vice versa? Joy is a noun but don’t forget it’s also a verb, but if we want to keep joy a noun, we can use its cousin, rejoice as the action word. Is it not then praise when we rejoice? So if rejoicing is the action form of joy and rejoicing is also praise, it stands to reason that praise is not only the bringer of more joy, but also the intensifier of what God has already supplied. We do not need to ever have any leftover praise hanging around – give it all to God!! ec
posted by mreddie | 10:35 AM
7 Comments:
Yes, joy is a verb, and I wish it on everyone. Thank goodness for time, too, as with it we loose the memory of what was hurtful and we try again to regain our positive connections.
Some folks collect “bad words.” I collect the words not spoken and the people I miss. The funk I’m in at the moment may be partly because a friend who said she’d call me yesterday hasn’t. Not being passive, I called her this afternoon, left a message, and still haven’t heard a word from her. I feel as if even a negative word would be better than suffering from the anxiety of hearing nothing.
bonita - It could be said that I enjoy joying.
bubba - That would be interesting. I assume that these hats are woven somehow?
SSN - I've heard it said that no news is good news - though it may not apply in this case. ec
we use some bags, dump the rest back at the store to be recycled. I feel less guilty that way.
The hurtful words do seem to hang around. Good old "anonmous" flamed me in an especially horrid way a couple of months ago. At first I was crying and shaking. By then some of my friends chimed in offering support. I wrote a post about the whole thing, partly because I think writing helps, but deep down I think I needed people to say it wasn't true because that's how we are.
It took a little of the pleasure out of reading the comments for a while but I wouldn't let him/her win.
granny - Words can be very comforting and uplifting but also very hurtful. I've always tried to go by the policy that if my words do not uplift, I leave them unsaid. ec
don't have anything to mention other than that I so enjoy your blog. It's always fun and thought-provoking and worth the traveling time. Thanks for sharing.
jay are - Thanks much for stopping by. ec
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