"Use Your Words, Honey"

I feel like the English language is slipping from my mind--like I'm losing my words.

I hear people like my mom and one of our VP's at work talk, and they use such descriptive well-placed words. Words that I know the meaning of, but that I forgot even existed. Words that I would never remember to use in a sentence.

I love the use of a well-placed word. Which is perhaps why I love witty humor more than anything--the art of using words creatively. (Just listen to the dialogue from my favorite movie, "An Ideal Husband." Every time I watch it, I'm hanging on almost every phrase in pure joy. Props to Oscar Wilde)

A similar thing happens with my emotions. I only have a few words to describe the typical emotions I experience--fine, frustrated, annoyed, hurt, uncertain, thoughtful, tired, quite, goofy, witty, and giddy. That's it really, the only words I ever really use to describe how I'm feeling. (Well, and often I don't actually now how I'm feeling, but that's another blog post...)

But there are so many other really cool, descriptive words out there, ones that don't get used very much.

persnickity
agregate
distain
entitled
capricious
nafarious
clandestine
juxtapose
sentinel
mileu
postulate
aberrant
abscond
egregious

I spend my days trying to write as simply as possible and to not use "big" words. Society as a whole doesn't use "big" words much either. And I realize that they are all slipping from my memory.

I don't want to lose my words and just use a generic term instead of something more specific. Why say "anger" when "distain" "contempt" or "rage" is much more accurate? It's like I'm only painting with a few colors on my pallet. I'm missing all the shades and nuances of color. It's not about trying to sound pretencious or snobby by using "big" words, it's more about an appreciation for language and using it well.

"A word fittly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver"

So anyway, how do I retain the English language and not lose so many delightful words? Perhaps I can find a way to do a "word of the day" or some sort of vocab memory. Not sure.

But those are my thoughts for the day, unstructured as they may be...

Instilling a Heart for Giving

“What’s the name of this country?” eight-year-old Alyssa asked as she pointed to a picture of girls her own age in a charitable gift catalog.

“Afghanistan,” her grandmother answered.

“Is it really cold there?”

“Well, in some places it’s really cold.”

“What do they need scarves for? Is it because of the cold?”

Alyssa loves scarves and has a lot of them herself. Her questions gave her grandmother, Pat Penrose, the opportunity to explain the predicament of girls in Afghanistan and their need for scarves.

Having grown up frugally herself, Pat is thankful that her three grandchildren are well taken care of, but wants to make sure they appreciate their blessings. “I did not feel that they really understood the way the majority of the world lives,” she explains.

Pat’s sister and brother in law, Susan and Dennis Malone, have been a major influence in Pat’s life. When the Malones began serving as literacy workers with Wycliffe over thirty years ago, Pat and her husband began supporting them financially. When her husband died in 2008, Pat found herself able to expand her support of Wycliffe and other Christian ministries. It was then that she decided to leave her entire IRA to charity—with Wycliffe receiving a major portion.

Wanting to get her grandchildren involved in giving, Pat set up a donor-advised fund with the Wycliffe Foundation. She calls it the Penrose Intergenerational Charity Fund, and it’s been a great way to teach them how to care for others who don’t have even their basic needs met.

“I asked them if they would like to be on the board of directors, and of course that was pretty intriguing for them. I told them we were going to use the fund to help other people and I wanted them to help me decide where the money should go.”

Pat started with a charitable gift catalog, asking her grandchildren to look through it and select the projects that interested them most. Her twenty-one-year-old grandson (a business major) thought that micro-lending was the best solution, while her fifteen-year-old granddaughter considered local projects a priority. The process has started many conversations about poverty and its effects on children throughout the world. And between all three grandchildren, it seems they want to support almost every project.

“My job, as I see it, is to raise their awareness, to talk honestly, to share with them my deep convictions, and then to let the Holy Spirit do the rest,” she explains.

 - By Angela Nelson