Plain English

Remember the days when people were sane?
Customs were kept and English was plain?
Polite conversation focused on rain,
and couples held hands along Lovers Lane.
Rock was a boulder or seaside sweet,
men opened doors and gave up their seat,
the trains and the buses arrived when they should,
kids were young goats and faggots meant wood.

Couples were wed, then babies were born,
grass was thin green stuff, en mass called a lawn,
Big Mac was a raincoat, too large to fit tight,
old ladies felt safe in the street late at night.

Joy-riding was something you did on a sledge,
pot was a vessel for boiling the veg.,
joint was the meat, the great Sunday roast,
junk went in bins not sent in the post.

Gay people were happy, bad didn't mean good,
wellies weren't wanged but worn in the mud,
wicked meant evil and cool meant cold,
balls were round objects cricketers bowled.

Songs had a melody, books had a plot,
a man in a skirt was always a Scot,
a tart and a crumpet were things that you ate,
and coke was a substance burnt in the grate.

Remember the days when people were sane?
Customs were kept and English was plain?

- Nikki Barker

I like this.

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:
I talk of love—a scholar's parrot may talk Greek—
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.
I see the chasm. And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains
You give me are more precious than all other gains.
-C.S. Lewis

Depth Perception

My depth perception must be wrong
Cause you’re all around me when I’ve gone so far
My peripheral vision must be off
Cause you still surround me when I’ve run so far
If my senses aren’t impaired
Why can I taste your goodness still?
When I was once blinded by a world
I’ve been reblinded by Truth
My mouth seems to have stopped working
Because all my words are worthless
My eyes must be deceiving still
For I look ahead, and there you are
And I look back, you fill the path
My hands must be feeling something different
Cause you still hold it when I told you to stay away
You continue to point the way
Protecting, watching, waiting from above
Now I know why they call it amazing love

Learning Jesus through Osmosis

In gaining access to this splendidly composed piece of literature, you have made a meritorious and commendable move. You see, you will not comprehend every word published on this page, but assimilating the information will prove quite facile, thanks to that invaluable assistant called context.

You will understand much of the obscure language of this post without any difficulty not because you tediously excogitated how to expand your already vast repertoire of words; it’s simply because you are already adept in the English language.

Our brains are wonderfully diligent things that analyze and compile colossal amounts of information in relatively nugatory amounts of time, and ever since we were puerile moppets listening to the babblings of senior orators, our brains have been amassing hoards of words with which we are now proficient.

Now, before my jejune and vapid locution causes you to absquatulate away from this piece, let me just point out a few key benefits of this brain that assiduously apprises you of what in the world I’m talking about. The context in which you abide has taught you the meaning of “common words”. You understand what “understand” is, and you have total comprehension when it’s uttered. A word like “assiduously”, on the other hand, you might have a bit more trouble with, but your brain remembers that it does, in fact, mean, “showing careful and constant attention.” You might not have fully apprehended the meaning of the word, and you may not have seen it for weeks, months, or perhaps even years, but you know what it means because your marvelous brain nutates on top of your soma, sending messages throughout your whole body at speeds in excess of two hundred miles per hour.

But why can you recall “excogitated”? Excogitated is almost certainly (except for the conglomeration of logophiles out there) a word you have never encountered in common use. Instead of being filled with trepidation when you spotted it, however, you easily perceived the meaning because you know that “cogitare” (Latin) gives birth to a host of words all having to do with thinking.

Then you come to absquatulate. It may seem a smidge verbose to use such a heinously cyclopean word, but such a sesquipedalian reference was almost certain to prove my point. You don’t know words you can’t connect to your quondam self. You have no history with “squatul”, a pseudo-Latin root, therefore you cannot determine its meaning.

Or can you? Looking closely, you see that “squatul” contains “squat”, and you know “ab” from words like abscess and abscond, therefore you could theorize (correctly) that “absquatulate” means, literally “to squat elsewhere” or, in “common” usage, “to depart in a hurry.”

Lest I drag this out too far, the point is pretty clear. You can determine the meaning of practically any word simply by tracing its roots in the context of your life. Teachers tend to tell us to figure out words from context, but if there is none (i.e. dreaded SATs), you can find word meanings from your own experiences.

This, then, is the way we learn language. We aren’t hard-wired with a meaning of the word “hot” in our brains, but the first time we encounter a “hot” stove, we have it instantly and clearly defined forever. Likewise, an obscure medical condition like “gingivitis” is familiar because of countless toothpaste commercials we see. Whether the word is polysyllabic or a jot, we have an idea of the meaning simply by referring to what we already know.

English has more than a million words. It would be impossible to know them all, so trying to study for a test that could have any of the million words on it could be a daunting task. Trying to memorize from a list would be fruitless at worst, insipid at best. Besides, lists are dead. As one spokesperson for the aforementioned SAT said, “Word lists are out; reading is in.”

That is precisely how we absorb language, and it is how we are to absorb Jesus Christ as well. Granted, we should study the Bible and rightly divide it, but all things are for Christ – He is preeminent in all things. Thus, when walking down the street, every moment is speaking on behalf of our Savior. Every person you contact, every memory you make, and every place you visit should give you a deeper understanding of who this Son of God truly is. If you are missing God’s message as plastered through His creation, I would say that you have missed the point of life so far.

The vast number of words in English shows parallels the thirty one thousand one hundred one verses in the Bible. In the nearly eight hundred thousand words making up those verses, we find roughly six thousand four hundred sixty eight commands. Even if we were able to remember all of them, there’s absolutely no way we would be able to obey all of them or in any way make them practical to our lives; there are simply too many.

So don’t squander your time soaking up tedious testing strategies, theoretical concepts, and Bible babble. Engage yourself in your world. We live in a world where Jesus Christ is broadcasting His message, and that makes it a great place to learn about His character. Living in the light of His grace and doing your best to obey His Word is a great way to make sure you’re right where you need to be. Sure, you need the Bible to help you understand exactly what context is saying. We would not want to get Jesus Christ wrong because we did not study His Word, and, after all, the Bible is our best source of information about God. Raise your awareness context to a higher level, though, and soon your theology will rank with the best heroes of the faith. See what God has waiting for you in every moment.