Meaningless Words

My 9th grade English teacher hated the word "nice". She said it was a meaningless word and there were far better words to use.

There are a lot of meaningless words in my life. But, it's not that these words have no meaning as much as the fact that I just can't connect with them. I can give you a definition, but it doesn't mean any thing to me. Unfortunately, several of those words are pretty big and important concepts at church. I could give a rather impressive lesson, quoting all the right definitions, reading the right scriptures, and helping others relate to the concept, and still feel no real connection to it.

This is the first in a series of posts about my search for personal meaning in these words.

This week's topic is grace. The part of the definition that I can connect with and understand is divine help or strength. I also love the fact that grace can also mean beauty and charm, as well as thanks. I found an article on grace that explained how all of those definitions are part of a larger whole. It also dealt with grace as related to salvation and whether or not we earn grace. My brain was about to explode, so I decided to come back to that later. (Funny thing-I've been reading 2 books on neuroscience this week and did just fine, but the Bible Dictionary and this other article on grace was more than my brain could handle.)

What I can appreciate and handle and understand today is this: Grace is divine help or strength. I've seen it, and I've felt it. I need it. Grace is beauty. There is so much of it in the world if we can look past the ugliness of bigotry and hate. Grace is thanks. I feel thankful.

My goal for this week is not to totally get it, but to see the kind of grace that I do understand in the things around me.


-- Posted from my iPhone