Lora Parsons
The Ashland Beacon
I love words! Writing them, sharing them, trying to write them pretty on packages and notebook covers. I love thinking about them, using them, and experiencing them with students through shared book experiences and writing exercises. I also like to really think about the underneath meanings of them that we sometimes just gloss over in using words everyday. Because I love the way words can build pictures and emotions and worlds in one’s mind, I ALWAYS put too many of them in anything I write. Articles for The Beacon are always too long. I have to pare them down, shave off unnecessary words even if I love the way they sound. Cards to people are always scrawled on from every angle. Even when I think I’m not going to have enough to say and start on the “right” card face, I end up filling up all the empty spaces and have to add in arrows and numbers so the recipient knows what order to read things in. My favorite professor at Georgetown, Dr. Gwen, whose Creative Writing class I loved the most, frequently advised in my margins: “Boil it down.” It was her sweet way of encouraging me to “get to the point, already!” I intended this introduction to be maybe two sentences that I could use at the beginning of every “Just One Word” column, but turns out--surprise--it’s too long for that! My other thought for this running column is that it would be a good opportunity to share Jesus with you by looking at the words we use in a church setting that might feel strange or foreign outside of the church building. Carefully selecting meaningful words might give me lots of different opportunities to tell you that God loves you. So, my purpose is really two-fold: to focus on one word and to connect that word to Jesus in a way that helps bridge the gap between us and Him as we try to navigate life on this side of Heaven. Let’s see if I can do that with “Just One Word.”
Since I’ve already started down the rabbit hole of my own word usage, maybe focusing on the word “word” is a good place to begin. I looked up “word” in an online dictionary and found that it means “a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing.” The definition went on to say that it’s often followed on each side by a space. The first part of that definition didn’t stand out to me as particularly insightful. Of course, a word is an element of meaning used when communicating. The word “single” stood out to me, though, in that it evoked a sense of loneliness, of striving to do something alone, of tackling a feat by oneself. A single dollar bill won’t buy you much in this world. A single drink of water doesn’t do much to quench one’s thirst. One just isn’t much by our standards. Even with our language, we pack a lot of different meanings into one single word. “Word” can be used to refer to the things I’m typing on this page, the things you’re reading now--nouns. But, it can also mean the way we put a phrase or string of words together--to word something a certain way, making it a verb. It also can be used to express agreement when used alone in response to something someone has said. Dad says, “That sweet potato casserole was great,” and his adult son replies, “Word.” Few words in our English language have one single meaning. They’re full of potential ways to express ideas. While a word may be a single unit of communication, it’s in reality anything but single in what it can possibly express.
Another part of the definition stood out to me besides the single-ness of “word.” To figure out the meaning intended in any word, it’s necessary to look beyond it…to examine the word beyond the spaces on each side of it. The emptiness that surrounds the physical space a word takes up on a page leads you to its meaning. We can’t dig into the meaning of the word itself without first navigating the empty spaces on each side. The Bible tells us that when Jesus came into the world, He was the very Word of God. John 1:14 says: “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” When Jesus was born of Mary, we had God’s actual living, breathing Word for the first time, walking the Earth with mankind. We could speak to God, hear Him audibly speak to us. His words, through Jesus’ mouth, came to earth. Those single elements of speech could be shared with human lips, rest on human ears, be interpreted by human minds, and be stored in human hearts. The space that existed between God and man was navigated by Jesus being born into a physical body. We had access to the heart of God in a new way because His word became flesh; He lived, breathed, and used words in the same ways we do here on earth. The empty spaces in our lives are what He came to fill. Jesus is the living, breathing Word of God, and His coming to earth navigates for us the space between God and man. He is the single source of meaning for all of mankind. Sometimes our words fail us; they fall short of offering what we intend for them to offer. They can provide a semblance of peace or comfort or the magnitude of our love for others, but they can’t give actual peace or comfort or love. But, Jesus can. This Christmas season, celebrate the word became flesh: Jesus. He came to close the space between each of us and our loving Heavenly Father, to give us meaning and purpose, to love us when we are the least lovable. Jesus is the Word we all need. And, He is Just One Word.