Tuesday Word Bytes; Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm!

I LOVE words!  I think language is the best part of being a human.  There's nothing as good as taking a new word and rolling it around the inside of my mouth and feeling how it tastes.

Todays word;

Xylopoly (zie lop oly)

From the Greek; xylo(wood) and poly ( sale or selling)

The selling of timber, or wood.

My husband and I are xylopolists. 

2/3 of our 16 acre farm is densely packed with hard woods; sweet gum, red and white oak, sassafras and red maple.  We also have soft woods; white pine, red cedar, American holly

As members of the NJ Forestry Stewardship Program we "maintain the forest for healthy habitat."  That means that we only cut from the "5 Ds"; dead, dying, damaged, diseased or dangerous.  What we cut we sell as fire wood.  That classifies us as a farm so that we get a break on our land taxes.

What are the benefits of the xylopolic life?

Forests make great neighbors!  They also separate us from the neighbors we'd rather not see every day.

We share our life with the kinds of neighbors that make our lives most enjoyable!  We live with deer, turkeys, foxes, herons, turtles, buzzards, hawks, beavers, chip monks and the list goes on and on!

(Photos, curtesy Google Image)

Xylopoly; it's a good word and bears repeating! Xylopoly!

What's your favorite word this week?

Faith: The Embrace of God

Ephesians 2:5b-9

…it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift from God - not by works, so that no one can boast.

Reinhard Bonnke, in his book, Faith; The Link With God’s Power, writes, “… the Greek word used for faith in Christ means moving close to him in trustful love.  It is an embrace…He is the divine Lover, and we are those he came to love.” and he is the Lord God “whom everyone could fling his or her arms around.”

♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱  ♱

Is there now, or has there ever been another god who chose/chooses to be so intimate with mankind?

“It is by grace that you have been saved.”

God’s

Riches                                  

At

Christ’s

Expense.

Both grace and faith are gifts from God.  Neither of them can be mustered up from within ourselves.  He gives us grace and he also gives us faith to believe in that grace.

And what is faith? 

Is is closing our eyes in the presence of danger and hoping it goes away?  

Is it shrinking inside of ourselves and waiting  to see if God will be faithful?

NO!  It’s an embrace!  Faith is moving into Christ’s embrace; letting him be my shield against danger, understanding the unique relationship I have with him that leads to the understanding that in every circumstance I am safe in the arms of my savior.

Outside sources cannot harm the inner me.  I am given the faith to understand this.  And it is a gift from God, so that I cannot boast.

How crazy is that??

No matter what happens to the tent I live in, I am safe in the embrace of my Savior, who gave his life for me just so that I could spend eternity wrapped in his arms!

Tuesday Word Bytes; Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm!

I LOVE words!  I think language is the best part of being a human.  There's nothing as good as taking a new word and rolling it around the inside of my mouth and feeling how it tastes.

Todays word;

Deipnosophist (dipe-nos-oh-fist)

Greek origin:  deipnon ( meal) + sophistes (wise)

A person skilled at table talk.

A master of the art of dining, particularly learned conversation.

Think of Downton Abbey, and how often everything was painstakingly thought of with the intension of providing a pleasant and interesting dining experience. (And how often it went catastrophically wrong!)

Glittering conversation was as important as the fare served.

Downton Abbey

Roman Dining

Victorian Picnic

Shouldn't it still?

What's your favorite word this week?

Who Is The Body of Christ?

1 Corinthians 12:22-26

…those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.  And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment.  But God has combined the members of the body and given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that it’s parts should have equal concern for each other.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Who are those that are lacking?  Who are those who feel less honorable?

Are there whose who suffer from low self-esteem?  How does the body treat them?  Are they honored and buoyed up?  Are they helped by being a member of the body?

Are there those who suffer from addictions?  Are they encouraged and included?  Is a brother/sister who suffers with addictions not a brother/sister?

Are there those who suffer from mental illness?  Are they understood and welcomed, given special honor?

Those who are awkward, different, maybe even embarrassing, are they honored?

Those who are the weak, the unpresentable, are they less honorable?  Are they a part of the body of Christ?  Do we show them special honor? Loving welcome?  Inclusion?

Do weaker members feel that they are honored, or do they feel tolerated?  They may place themselves on the outskirts of the body.  Are they drawn in?

We empathize  with our body parts that are injured.  “Oh!  My poor thumb!” we say when we hit it with a hammer.  “Oh!  My poor toe!”  We say when we stub it.  We feel bad because we have injured one part, but our whole body knows the pain. Our whole body waits eagerly for the healing to be complete.

This needs to be the understanding of each individual within the body of Christ.  When one suffers, we all suffer, and he who is weakest has special honor.

Tuesday Word Bytes: Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm!

I LOVE words!  I think language is the best part of being a human.  There's nothing as good as taking a new word and rolling it around the inside of my mouth and feeling how it tastes.

Todays word;

Colloquialist (Ko-lo-kwee-ah-list)

Some one who is skilled at the art of conversation.

What's so interesting to me about this word is its root.

Colloquial is defined as unskilled speech!

So, does that mean that a colloquial colloquialist is someone skilled at common, low speech?

An uncolloquial colloquialist would be the same thing as a colloquialist.

I guess that means that a colloquial colloquialist would be an oxymoron.

Can a person be an oxymoron?

This is fun!

Dr. Martin Luther King

Ghandhi

Billy Graham 

Larry, the Cable Guy
(My definition of an Oxymoron!)

The Most Powerful Weapon

Proverbs 18:10

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.

2 Corinthians 10:4 

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

Defense and Offense.

Old Testament and New Testament 

The Lord protects me.  The Lord gives me the tools to take the offensive.

My sword is the Spirit of the Lord, which is the Word of God.  John saw Jesus, in His glory, with a sword coming out of His mouth.

My spiritual goal is to be more like Jesus.  Therefore I need a sword coming out of my mouth.

I have been given authority to wield that sword. I can take down strongholds.  I am  expected to take down strongholds. 

Those who run into the strong tower are non combatants.  If I have armor and I have a sword then I stand outside the strong tower and defend the weaker ones who gather inside.  Or, I may be at the front of the battle lines, tearing down the very gates of Hell.

My sword is the Word of God, that which was written long ago, (which is just as fresh and pertinent today) but it is also the inspired Word of God spoken today, to me, through others or directly.

The most powerful weapon I have to tear down strongholds is praying the Word of God in strength and confidence.

Tuesday Word Bytes; Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm!

I LOVE words!  I think language is the best part of being a human.  There's nothing as good as taking a new word and rolling it around the inside of my mouth and feeling how it tastes.

Todays word;

Chrestomathic: (Krest-Oh-Math-ick)

From the Greek; chrēstomatheia +ic (khrestos [useful} and (mathein [to learn}

Devoted to useful knowledge or learning.

One who actively pursues useful knowledge and learning.

Chrestomathy; 
A compilation of literary passages, usually by one author.
An anthology used in the study of language.
A collection of choice literary passages, used especially as an aid in learning a subject.

So, one could say that the Fanny Farmer Cookbook is chrestomathic.

So too would be The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton, published in 1653.

And let's not forget

Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Workshop!

Nowadays, with everything you could possibly want to know about anything available on the internet,  We can all be chrestomathics!

What's your favorite word this week?

And what's your favorite subject?

Good Friday

Good Friday.

The darkest day in the history of the world.

And yet, the very goodest day in the history of the world!

Light and dark.

Day and night

Peace and Chaos

Joy and pain

The world is full of contradictions.  

It’s all about the choices we make.

That’s what life is, the choices we make.

Do I choose to eat or not to eat?

Do I choose to stay awake or go to sleep?

Do I choose to hate?

Do I choose to forgive?

It’s about the choices Jesus made.

And on Good Friday he made the hardest decision any man ever had to make.

That choice tilted the world on its side and forever changed the way men and God interact.

He chooses to love me.

I choose to love him

He will never leave me.

Why would I want to leave him?

He makes me complete.

He answers all my questions

He fills me with himself, with pure joy!

He tells me things and offers me chances to share what he tells me with others.

THE LORD OF THE DANCE

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black

It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back

They buried my body and they thought I’d gone

But I am the dance and I still go on!

They cut me down and I lept up high

I am the light that will never, never die

I’ll live in you if you'll live in me

I am the Lord of the dance said he!

Dance, then, wherever you may be

I am the Lord of dance said he

And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be

And I’ll lead you all in the dance said he.

Please have the most blessed and joy filled Resurrection Sunday Ever!