Mid-week musing: The words that make the cut – Carry on My Heart

Our words matter and we all know words have power. But which words should make the cut in our lives? I love words and have so many ideas and not nearly enough time to put them down on paper. I have a thousand random thoughts on any given day and a notes file to prove it. Because of this, I’ve decided to start a fun little idea called the mid-week musings here at Carry on My Heart. Typically this post will come out on Wednesdays but this week with school prep in full swing I was a little late getting it out. I’m thinking right now you all get that!

The topics for mid-week musings will vary, I may share some fun things I’ve found on the internet or maybe some thoughts on the Bible, honestly it’ll depend on the day and my mood. However, my intention remains the same, to encourage and uplift you during your week.

Today’s mid-week musing is all about the words that make the cut.

Sounds exciting, am I right?!

I promise there’s a point.

Recently I was working on some devotion pieces where there was a requirement of no more than 300 words. This is difficult for anyone but especially difficult for a woman that explains everything down to the minutest detail. It felt a little like a baby-gate of word restriction was being placed around me.

When I was nine-years-old and played “house” with my neighborhood friend I drove her crazy with my over-explaning. I spent most of our allotted outdoor play-time describing what my house, horses, and outfits looked like. She’d eventually sigh deeply, place her hands on her hips and beg, “Can we just play now?” Well excuse me—I just wanted to make sure we both understood that my horse is brown with white spots and I live in a white Victorian mansion with dark purple shutters. Geez, how are we supposed to play without this very necessary knowledge?

So, you can imagine how difficult keeping my lengthy descriptions to 300 hundred words or less was. I am proud to say, it was hard but I did it. Yay for perseverance in the writer’s life!

Jesus, the words that made the cut and the lack of detail

Something occurred to me in this whole process; Jesus didn’t say a lot. When Jesus spoke in the gospels, with the exception of a few places, like the sermon on the mount, it was fairly short and to the point.

The Bible, in general, is short on descriptions of things and people. Have you noticed that?

There are places in the Bible where I read and I yearn desperately for just a few more details. And yet, there’s not a lot given. Often we don’t know what a person looked like or what they were feeling exactly except for a few small adjectives.

• In Second Corinthians we’re told that Paul pleaded with God to remove a thorn in his flesh, however, we’re not told what it is.
• We’re also not given a whole lot of details about how Jesus looked or when his Earthly father, Joseph, died.
• Remember the apostles? What was their family life like? How many kids did they have, were they even married? We know Peter had a wife because in Luke 4:38—among other places— we find Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law. But as far as I know, nothing more is mentioned on the matter.

There are many more examples but for sake of time (ahem, and word count) I think you get my point. For a book that is literally the best seller of all time and the story of human history, it’s short on detail.

The words that made the cut by God

The words that God allowed in his book were perfectly picked. He didn’t forget to leave out the color of Jesus’s hair or the shape of his face, he didn’t mistakingly forget to inform us of Paul’s thorn in the flesh. This was all very much on purpose.

He gave us exactly what we needed to know and not a word more.

It’s odd for a girl with a love for detail in writing to adore a book that lacks so much of it. I think I’ve come to find that this is precisely what makes me love him and his word so much. It’s the mystery behind it all. A God that gives every detail away and would explain how he sustains a vast universe and a tiny human heart all at once, isn’t really much of a God.

His great mystery and mighty love—the enigma that is him— keeps me wanting to learn more of him. A God that left his word but holds the parts that are too big for our tiny minds is just the God that we need.

This thought was a great reminder for me to take note of my words and use them to uplift, encourage and challenge those in my life. And also to keep them short and sweet when needed. I’ve learned that our words don’t always have to be long-winded to get our point across. Sometimes less is more.

After all, God’s omnipotent word count was kept to just what we needed; Short, sweet, and to the point.

As always, friend, thank you for stopping by,