Word of the Week -Popsicle

Word of the Week -Popsicle

by | Jul 25, 2022 | Word of the Week

Revisiting this delicious word today. Originally published August 27, 2018.

The heat of summer is fully upon us, and we all know nothing tastes as good on those hot summer days as cool treats. Ice cream, Popsicles, frozen coffees and yogurts and you-name-it.

My assistant’s little boy asked where the word Popsicle comes from, so this Word of the Week is for Judah!
And it’s a pretty simple one. =) Despite becoming the only word really used for icy pops these days, Popsicle is, in fact, a trademarked name (so should always be written with a capital P). It was registered in 1923 by a fellow in California, and while he didn’t explain the name, it was assumed that it was a simple mash-up:
(lolly)pop + (ice)cicle = Popsicle
Interestingly, that was the same time period in which lollypop came to mean “candy on a stick.” Before the 1920s, the word was definitely in use for sweets, but it was “a soft candy made of treacle and sugar” when it was created in 1784. By the 1840s, it came to means “something sweet but insubstantial.” And then in the 1920s, we get that “on a stick” meaning that we all identify with today.
My family has become obsessed this summer with Outshine fruit pops. We love that they’re real fruit and SO GOOD. What’s your favorite frozen treat for a hot summer day?
Throwback Thursday – The Revealer of Secrets

Throwback Thursday – The Revealer of Secrets

by | Jul 21, 2022 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Throwback Thursdays

Original post published 9/12/2019

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
21 And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding.
22 He reveals deep and secret things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And light dwells with Him.

~Daniel 2:20-22

 

Daniel–one of the wisest men we ever read about in the Bible. Daniel, who rose from captive slave to ruler of provinces. Daniel, who remained ever faithful to God. Daniel, who served king after king with his knowledge and wisdom and always remembered to point to the Giver of said knowledge and wisdom.

I’ve always loved this second chapter of Daniel, where Nebuchadnezzar calls all the wise men in to tell him what his dream was and then the interpretation. No one else could do it (duh), but Daniel, upon hearing that the king had ordered all his wise men killed in a fit of rage over their failure, begs for just a little time. He closes himself in his room with his friends and fellow God-followers. And he prays. He prays, and God reveals the secrets. God brings light to the darkness.

It was a literal life-or-death situation–one that affected not only Daniel and company, but hundreds if not thousands of other learned men who had been asked to do the humanly-impossible. It’s no surprise, then, that God provided. God saved not only Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael–God saved all the wise men of Babylon through them. God made His might and power known to the king. God proved Himself not only faithful but omniscient and omnipotent in a land known for its value of things of learning.

We’re never surprised when God shows up on the grand scale. But if you’re like me, sometimes you forget that He shows up just as spectacularly when the secrets that need revealed are small.

Daniel needed God to move in a big, noticeable way that day–just as his friends needed Him to do when they were tossed into the fiery furnace. As Daniel needs later when he’s thrown into a den of hungry lions. But let’s not forget chapter one, shall we? From the moment they were brought to the palace, these four young men were determined to remain faithful to their God–and from that first moment, God answered by revealing His small secrets to them…which is to say, by filling them with wisdom and knowledge. They could out-think the Babylonian sages. They could out-perform the wise men in their own realm.

Because God gave this to them. God filled them. Their lives weren’t yet in danger…and if He hadn’t filled them with all knowledge and learning and wisdom, one could argue that they wouldn’t have been in positions to need His later intervention. But our God is one who sees far ahead…and into all the crevices.

We don’t know yet what Big Deals will be coming later in our lives, do we? We don’t know what moments of life-or-death will await us. We don’t know if or when we’ll be in a position where we need to cry out to Him for our very survival. But we do know this:
Our God doesn’t just move on the grand scale–He moves on the small.
Our God doesn’t just reveal the big secrets–He reveals the tiny.
Our God doesn’t just direct the movement of kings and prophets–He directs the faithful widow.

Our God doesn’t just heal the generals–He heals the servants.

My family’s in one of those places where our feet are pointing toward new, unknown paths. That’s stressful. Not life-or-death. But stressful. And as I contemplate Daniel this week, I’m reminded anew that we all find ourselves in those places, right? We all have been and will be there. But the God who foretold the rise and fall of the greatest kingdoms of the ancient world is the God of this too. If nothing’s too great for Him, then nothing’s too small either. He’s the God of the infinite…in both directions.

More, the God who holds us all in His hand will fill us when we ask. He’ll give us what we need to know to take the step He wants us to take. Now, He doesn’t usually reveal EVERYTHING, right? When Daniel prayed for revelation about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, God didn’t show him that if he revealed this to the king, he’d be given a promotion, but that it would make him enemies so numerous that they’d start plotting ways to kill him and his friends so that, for the rest of his life, he’d be miraculously avoiding other death sentences. That may have been too much even for Daniel!

No, God told him what he needed right then. To save his life. To take the next step. And because he was faithful in that, more followed.

My friends, we don’t always have to know what our grand calling is. We just need to be willing to take one step with our hand in His. We just need to trust Him in this mystery, knowing that the rest will follow.

Whatever unknowns keep you up at night, know this: they’re not unknown to Him. He is the Revealer of Secrets. And, more importantly, He loves you.
Word of the Week – Cappuccino

Word of the Week – Cappuccino

by | Jul 18, 2022 | Word of the Week

Cappuccino. The mere word conjures up images of beautiful coffee, and the mere thought gets my tastebuds dancing. I am a coffee lover, so all kinds of coffee earn this reaction. Latte, mocha…mmm. Yep.

I’ve always loved cappuccinos too, since I was a kid, even before I drank coffee daily. Now, granted, the kind I acquired the taste of were sugar-laden, creamy things, heavy on the vanilla. That may not be the kind made famous in Italy, per se…but the roots are still there!

Cappuccino is in fact espresso served with steamed-milk foam. So very dark coffee lightened a bit with milk. Where, though, did it get its name? That’s the fascinating part! Cappuccino actually comes directly from a religious order! There’s an order of Fransiscan friars called Capuchins who have always worn a brown hooded habit; a brown not quite as dark as undiluted espresso, but just the color you get when you add a bit of frothed milk foam. 😉 Yep, that’s right. The creators of the coffee drink looked at it, were reminded of the Friars, and named the beverage after them!

Now I want to inspire a coffee drink to be named after me…wonder if I can make one purple. 😉

Throwback Thursday – The Difference We Can Make

Throwback Thursday – The Difference We Can Make

by | Jul 14, 2022 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Throwback Thursdays

Original post published January 24, 2019

When God created the earth, what did He say? That it was good. What do we yearn for at the end of our lives? That He’ll say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Not only in the Bible, but in pretty much every piece of literature, ancient and modern, we can find this familiar theme. This yearning. This basic condition of humanity.

We yearn for approval. For praise. For confirmation.

This is not a matter of wanting to think we’re better. Just a matter of needing–yes, NEEDING–that basic encouragement. That we are good. That we’ve done well. That our efforts are noticed and appreciated.

Given how basic this is, I’m sometimes surprised by how easily we seem to forget that others have this need as surely as we do. But all too often, this is something we neglect to give those around us–our spouses, our kids, our coworkers, our underlings, our superiors, our pastors, our teachers, our students, our…fill in the blank. And yet, it’s been proven, time and again, that people respond better to encouragement than to chastisement. Sometimes we have to correct, yes. But if we don’t also add those positive words, people aren’t inspired to actually improve.

This baffles me. Kind words, encouraging words, edifying words are no more difficult than harsh ones. They don’t cost us anything. So why are we stingy with them?

When I was in college, I worked in the admissions office of my school, and I would make it a point to give my coworkers compliments. It didn’t start as pointedly. It just started as an honest exclamation. Something like, “Oh, I love those shoes!” But this coworker seemed a bit startled at the compliment. And very much pleased. So I started looking for things to compliment her on as the weeks and months and years rolled by. At one point, she mentioned how she appreciated my attitude, and I replied with a laugh, “Hey, compliments are free! Why not spread them around?”

This holds true with all encouragement. It costs us nothing to praise our family when they do something well…even if they’ve also done something else not well. And you know what? When we receive praise for the thing we’ve done right, we want more of it. So we’re going to do a better job on that other part too. We’re going to try harder. Over and again this has been proven as a better tool for motivating than just correction.

And I think that, as believers, this is even more important. We’re called upon to speak nothing that will tear each other down, but rather only that which will build each other up (Ephesians 4:29). Are we doing that in our churches? In our Bible studies? In our classes? In our committees?

As a writer, I’m keenly aware of the power of words. And as a reader, I will steer clear of authors whose stories don’t offer me hope, edification, and encouragement through their characters’ lives. But this is something I need to remember in all aspects of my life.

Our words make a difference to those around us. So are they making a difference for good…or for ill?

I’ll leave you with this wonderful quote from a Quaker missionary. Something to keep in mind–that we need to seize each moment’s opportunity to share those good words, because now is the only time we know we’ll be able to.

“I shall pass this way but once; any good that I
can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now.
Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
~ ETIENNE DE GRELLET, Quaker Missionary
Word of the Week – Trivia

Word of the Week – Trivia

by | Jul 11, 2022 | Word of the Week

Do you know where the word trivia comes from? If not, it’s definitely a fun bit of trivia that you’ll want to know! (LOL–couldn’t resist!)

The official meaning of trivia is “bits of information of little consequence.” It became a common word in 1932 but has been around at least since 1902, when a book was published by that name, featuring essays on little-known facts and commonplace moments.

Where, though, did author Logan Pearsall Smith come up with that title? Directly from Latin! Trivia is literally just tri + via. Three … roads. Um … why, you may ask? Well, because at crossroads in the Roman empire–especially where more than 2 roads met up–there would spring up inns and roadhouses and other public, common areas. It was a place where anyone could be and where information was shared. Because in Latin trivialis (the adjective form) meant “public,” it also came to mean “common, commonplace.”

Trivia became a game made popular among college students in the US in the 1960s, and Trivial Pursuit, the board game, became wildly popular after its release in 1982.

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