Word(s)

I love words. I love roots of words (Hello Greek! French! Latin!) I love dictionaries (our friends!). I am a word geek.

[It is important that I pause to offer you this reminder: Do not confuse 'word geek' with 'someone who knows how to spell' or 'someone who can play Scrabble well (Sorry Uncle B/Aunt J, Dad, My ESL students in S. Korea who whupped up on me..., etc.)' For reasons that don't make a lick of sense to me, these things are simply not synonymous. Moving on...]

So when I discovered that I could have Dictionary.com deliver a new word to my inbox each day...well, I didn't pause to get myself there!

Sometimes the words are ones I already know. Often I discover that I have misconstrued a term, or forgotten some of its definitions. Good reminders!

Sometimes the words are ones I've heard used, but not been 100% sure of the definition and never got around to looking up. Good clarifications!

Sometimes they are already favorites. Like Wednesday's word:
ululate \UL-yuh-layt; YOOL-\, intransitive verb: To howl, as a dog or a wolf; to wail; as, ululating jackals.

Oooooo, I love this word. And I can do it really well, too. This is also the term used to describe the sound middle eastern (among other) women make when mourning or celebrating. It's that undulating, high-pitched wailing sound you'll sometimes hear on news reports, etc. That's the part I can do really well. I can't scream, but I can ululate! (Hidden talents, all around us...)

Today's word was an entirely new word to me, but I think I'll be slipping this one in from time to time:
inanition \in-uh-NISH-uhn\, noun: 1. The condition or quality of being empty.2. Exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment.3. Lack of vitality or spirit.

And being the kind of gal you've come to know me as, you know what my first thought was? That INANITION is exactly what we are spiritually before we know Jesus. My life before Jesus was full of inanition. (Notice the pun? Full of emptiness? See, words ARE fun!)

You know, I've been a believer for so long and from so young, that sometimes I do wonder what I have to offer the world around me. I mean, how do I explain to you all that Jesus is? To me, He IS everything. I've basically known nothing else. How do I distill His truths to make them articulable to someone who doesn't know Him? This might sound silly to some of you--those saved later in life who remember life before Jesus, or those of you gifted in evangelism who can naturally speak clearly of Him--but it has been and is a real dilemma for me.

So today, as I contemplated this problem, I found myself thinking that these are the kinds of things that I should share:
--What if the greatest problem in your life wasn't what you thought it was? What if it wasn't relationships or money or happiness or a good, stable job?
--What if the greatest need in your life, if filled, would answer all the other questions? It won't make your problems go away, but suddenly, things make sense and have purpose.
--What if the greatest need in your life was to replace the (and here's when the word arrived in my inbox) inanition that is so overwhelmingly present in your life?
--And what if all you had to do to remove the inanition was to accept the fullness provided by another?

Isn't this the gospel? We: empty, dead, lifeless. He: seeking, paying, saving. We: receiving. He: filling (literally filling with His Spirit!). God--now, also man--dying, substituting, rising. Isn't that the truth that makes all the difference? Isn't that the truth that fills our inanition with la vie? With life?

Jesus--the author, initiator, pursuer, finisher of our faith. It's all about Him. May I never cease to find ways to articulate this truth.

For this truth is everything.

Inanition-less,
-J

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it...

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
--John 1:1-5, 10-14, NIV

(c) 2009