words...

I am thinking of words...

I find delight in words - in a well turned phrase - a pithy statement - a descriptive passage.

I like to look up the meaning of words in the dictionary.

I like to linger over words.

I was reading a recipe this morning for whole wheat bread and I read the words "sea salt".

Now... salt is an everyday word - a partner for pepper - commonplace - ordinary.

But.... put the word "sea" in front of it and everything changes.

sea salt is evocative - I read the phrase and my mind was filled with images...

a long stretch of beach - the white-capped waves - the cry of the gulls - the sticky, salty spray on my lips - the rhythmic pounding of waves on the shore - the tangy ocean air - laughing children with sand-covered bodies and wind-tangled hair...

beautiful thoughts and memories just from reading a recipe and allowing a phrase to linger in my mind...

Sometimes my life is so filled with words and phrases and speaking and sound that they become just noise rather than a way to communicate meaning.

I'm in a hurry and I miss too much.

I hear but I do not listen.

I am just following a recipe so I measure out the salt and forget the sea...

appreciate - to grasp the nature, worth, quality, or significance

I have discovered that I need quiet to fully appreciate words... to be still and know. 1

aware - having or showing realization, perception, or knowledge

I have discovered that I need time to become aware of the meaning behind words - time for my eyes to be opened so that I may recognize Him. 2

Mary pondered things in her heart. 3

Mary, the sister of Martha, sat and listened at Jesus' feet. 4

I am learning to be quiet - to take time - to ponder - to listen.

His words are powerful agents of change but only to the degree that I allow them to permeate my thoughts - reshape my thinking - and feed my soul.

linger - to be slow in parting or in quitting something.

I am learning to linger - in His word - in His presence - finding joy in Him and in His words.

"When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight." Jer.15:16