Word of the Week – Macaroni

Word of the Week – Macaroni

by | Oct 14, 2019 | Word of the Week

This is actually a revisit of one of my very first word features, from way back in 2011. Figured we could use a refresher on some of those fun ones!
So today…macaroni!
Yes, you read that right. ?
Now, in my house “macaroni” is synonymous with “the most common food to
be found, because it’s the only thing my kids are 100% guaranteed to
eat.” But as with all things we take for granted, there was once a day when it was new. Rare. Fashionable, even.
Back in the 18th century, Italian foods were just beginning to make
their way into British society, and they were all the rage. One of the
most loved was macaroni–and it was so stylish a dish that an entire
club was formed around the it. The Macaroni Club was quickly known for
their dedication to fashion and style . . . a dedication which soon went
into dandy-ism (which is to say, over the top).
At that point, “macaroni” became an adjective meaning something like “a style befitting a dandy.”
And so Yankee Doodle finally, FINALLY makes sense! Ever wonder
why the dude in the song “stuck a feather in his cap and called it
macaroni”? Well, there you go. He wasn’t calling the feather pasta,
which was what I thought at age 6 when I learned the song (yes, I
thought we were singing about some delusional guy, LOL), he was calling
the hat stylish. Even dandy.
So enjoy your macaroni, folks. And know that back in the day, it was not just kids’ food.
Thoughftul About . . . New but Eternal

Thoughftul About . . . New but Eternal

by | Oct 10, 2019 | Thoughtful Thursdays



22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)

One of the most amazing things about our God is that He’s eternal. He exists somehow outside of our understanding of time, beyond the line of it that we perceive. We can understand the “unchanging” aspect of His nature best when we realize that change requires time, and He is not subject to it. Now, our perception of Him can change. Our understanding. That can evolve and grow over time, as we experience more and contemplate more. But God Himself remains unhindered by time. Eternal.
Perhaps this is also how His love can be unceasing. How His mercies can be new every morning. They are new…and yet older than anyone. As is everything else about our Lord.
Several months ago I came across a discussion about a current movement among women in the church, women whose message seems bound up in the idea that they’ve discovered something their mothers and grandmothers didn’t know about God. Okay…understanding can certainly evolve over time, so maybe. Until you ask those mothers and grandmothers, who look at these young women like they’re crazy and say, “Well of course. We’ve always known that. Weren’t you listening?”
On the one hand, this sort of example makes me shake my head in dismay–why can’t we just learn from those who come before without thinking we’ve grown beyond them, that we’re better, more faithful, closer to Him than they could have been? It’s really kind of strange–we look to the first century church for so much wisdom and so many examples…but many people also just dismiss those early church fathers out of hand, unless their words were canonized in the Bible. Not named Paul, James, John, or Peter? Sorry, dude. Not interested.
And there’s still something relevant to this idea of “new knowledge.” It is new. New every morning, like His mercies. It’s new to us. We get to discover it every day, every year, every generation. More, we must discover it anew, for ourselves. We have to find that thing that makes us go “Aha!” and internalize it. That thing that makes the faith ours, not just theirs.
There’s truth there. But there’s opportunity for deception too. Because we need to understand what that possessive pronoun means. It’s ours, not just theirs…but NOT “ours, so not theirs.”
See the distinction?
Faith, Christianity, Truth itself is not like a shoe. One person owning it doesn’t mean another can’t. It’s more like…a planet. We can all live here. There’s room. We can occupy different parts, we can travel around, seeking to understand. One person can study one aspect, another a different one. It’s big enough, mysterious enough to accommodate all our curiosity.
But let’s not fall into the trap of saying, “Oh, no, you’re so wrong to describe it as mountains. Clearly it’s plains. God wouldn’t have done that.” Or, to go back to my original example, “Look at this waterfall I’ve discovered, that’s been completely unknown until now!” (And it turns out to be Niagara Falls.)
The faith is new every morning. Every generation. But it is also–MUST also be eternal. Otherwise, why would it have survived this long? The Truth we discover today is the same Truth Jesus preached. The same Truth that founded the Church. The same Truth that led Christians onward before there was even a Bible compiled. The same Truth people have been contemplating and writing about and preaching about all these centuries.
We need to learn anew each day what those before us have already learned. We can follow their examples, we can build on their work. We can discover new facets…but chances are, if you pick up a few ancient works, you’ll find those same facets already explored. Because He is new every morning–always relevant, always discoverable, so vast we’ll never comprehend all of Him–but He is also eternal. Unchanging. The same today as at the dawn of time.
He is new every day for us. But let’s remember He was new every day, in the same way, for them. For all who have come before, and for all who come after. Our faith is ours, but we don’t own it. If anything, it ought to own us.
Word of the Week – Handsome

Word of the Week – Handsome

by | Oct 7, 2019 | Word of the Week

Those of you who have been reading these posts for the entire eight years I’ve been writing them weekly may (or may not) remember the third word I featured: handsome. I thought it would be fun to revisit some of those early entries and remind myself of their etymologies!

So today, handsome.

This is one that has meant its current meaning long enough that I never have to wonder if I can use it in a manuscript. Still, it got its start elsewhere–just a looooong time ago. Let’s break down the word. “Hand” and
“some.” Now how in the world did that come to mean “good looking”??
Well, first it meant “ready at
hand or easy to handle” in the 1400s. Literally hand + some. By the
mid/late 1500s the meaning had been extended to mean “considerable, of
fair size.” And then within ten years, that became “of fine form,” which
easily becomes “good-looking.” Then it extended further to mean
“generous” (i.e. a handsome reward) a hundred years after that, in 1680.
A fairly significant change in 280 years, especially when you consider that it hasn’t changed any more since!

Thoughtful About . . . Elevators

Thoughtful About . . . Elevators

by | Oct 3, 2019 | Thoughtful Thursdays

How do we approach conversation? Is it just a means of exchanging information? Letting our opinions be made known? Are we trying to help others? Broaden our understanding? Do we go at it with no purpose–or with a self-serving one? If you’re anything like me, the answer is simply “yes”–we use conversation for all those things.
But how SHOULD we use and approach it?
After having some truly amazing conversations over the weekend with friends we don’t see nearly enough, I realized anew that conversation can be so much more than we usually allow it to be. Think for a moment about the power of our spoken words–the very things God used to create the universe. The very thing John calls Jesus. The very means Jesus himself used to express Truth to the world.
How often do we use it for that purpose? Sometimes (I hope, ha ha). But enough? I know I don’t.
But as I contemplated WHY I find myself falling into the comfortable, routine, surface conversations more often than not, I realized that this isn’t what I want to do.
I want to actually know what you think, believe, feel about things.
I want to know where our thoughts merge and where they digress.
I want to know why they digress.
I want to let my understanding grow based on what you teach me.
I want you to know that you have taught me.
I want to be able to share with you anything I’ve learned that might help you.
I want you to leave a conversation with me knowing that I heard you and value your words.
I want us both to walk (or tab, if it’s online) away with that certainty that the Lord was in our words.
I want, most of all, for our conversation to lift us both closer to Him.
I want our conversations to change me.
We need to be elevators. Not the metal box that transports our bodies upward in a building–but the spiritual equivalent. We need to use our words to lift others–and ourselves–closer to the Most High.
How do we do that?
I’ve been pondering that question all week. In part, it’s by teaching, when that’s appropriate. But it isn’t always, is it? What about when we’re talking to someone older, wise, and more educated? Is there just no way to elevate them?
I don’t think that’s the case. Because I think the true way to lift ourselves and others toward God in conversation is this: to ask good questions. To actually listen to the answers. And to adjust our thoughts accordingly.
That last part is key–the greatest conversation means absolutely nothing if both parties walk away and dismiss it. We have to let it change us. Change our opinions, our approach to a subject, our actions. We have to be willing to be the clay if we want the Potter to continue shaping us daily–and conversations with others is a way He’s done this throughout the ages.
Now, we can’t control whether other people will change–but we can control ourselves. And if we model it, if we demonstrate that they had a real effect on us, if we make it clear to them that we took their words into account and adjusted accordingly, they’re going to be more likely to do the same. Because it will allow us all to lower our defenses. And that’s where real change can occur.
This works whether we’re the teacher or the pupil. The shepherd or the flock. It works whether we’re talking about how to convince the world to entertain ideas about God or about our kids’ interests. It works if we’re talking about fashion, and it works if we’re talking about salvation. Why? Because it shows the other person that we value them, it gives us both the opportunity to entertain new ideas, and it lets the love of Christ Shine through us. It builds relationship.
This is a challenge I’m making to myself. I want to start THINKING about the conversations I engage in, and I want to be deliberate about how I participate in them. I want to always be looking for what I can learn from them, and also for places where I can share the truths of God’s love that He’s shown me. I want my conversations to reach for something higher than myself.
Words are some of the most powerful things the Lord has given us–and some of the most ill-used. Let’s change that.

How do you lift others toward Him in YOUR conversations?
Word of the Week – Pale

Word of the Week – Pale

by | Sep 30, 2019 | Word of the Week

At church last week I was joking with my son about something and declared it “Beyond the pale.” At which point he, of course, asked what in the world that meant.
Hmm. Good question. This being me, I immediately pulled up etymonline.com (so not cool, Mom) and looked up what archaic meaning of pale had led to that saying–because obviously, it doesn’t mean “beyond fair-skinned.” Though my husband jokingly insisted it did.
Turns out that back in ye olden days, in the 13th century, a pale was a stake or pole used to create boundaries between things. By the 14th century, it had taken on the figurative meaning of “any boundary or restriction.” I love that the website says this meaning is “barely surviving” in phrases like “beyond the pale.” So true! Something we still say, but without really knowing why we say it! So “beyond the pale” would literally mean that something pushed beyond the limits.
Are there any other phrases you use whose actual meaning you’re uncertain of? I’d love to look into them!
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