Abbreviations? Won't Use Them. Mostly.

 "If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles."   ... Matthew 5:41

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Long ago and far away, Tom and I attended a church which printed its bulletins in code.

Well, to newbies like us, it looked like code:

"The MGFP will meet with the WGFP in the ABC room on Th. 7/8. Bring your NLIC's along with your MFC pens for the meeting and your burgers for the BBQ out in the GGJ area afterward!"


Okay. Perhaps I'm exaggerating. But only a tad.

Tom and I would sit on the church bench, nudge each other and point to these kinds of weekly announcements and whisper, "What the heck is a MGFP or an NLIC? I've never heard of an MFC pen and where in the world is the GGJ area??"

Heh.

Except that it didn't feel funny at the time. Instead, Tom and I only felt more like outsiders, not in 'the club', and therefore clueless about what was going on. Strangers in a strange land, if you will.

That was over two decades ago and you know? I stopped using abbreviations after that. If you ever see an abbreviation in my blog it's only an extremely well-known one like 'the U.S.', and usually I'd only use that after first spelling it out in an earlier sentence (recalling my high school journalism days). I always spell-out the complete book of the Bible when I share verses, also.

Why spend that extra time, carefully taking extra steps to be clear? Because I want no one to feel left-out or confused by what I write. I know how awful it feels to be on the outside. Also, I appreciate what Joyce Meyer says, "You may not agree with everything I said, but you'll know what I said."

And may that be true here in this blog, in my emails and at Facebook. May I walk however many extra miles it takes in order to speak concisely both from my own heart and--hopefully--God's heart as well.


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"But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No' be 'No.' Whatever is more than these is of the evil one."   ... Matthew 5:37

This verse inspires a whole long message, but one simple point? Be clear in what you say. Let there be no room for doubt or duplicity.


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Oh wow. A special thanks to Clarice for sharing this amazing 12-year-old singer by way of Facebook last night: Jasmine Thompson singing, Home. I had to listen at least 4 times before I went to bed. :) I think the words reflect why Tom and I are able to move from house to house without any looking back--as long as we're moving together, that's all that matters.

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Oh! And I didn't even know until yesterday that they're mixing corgi dogs with lots of other dog breeds. Find photos here and here. Hmmm... not quite sure how I feel about that--although--it is kinda nifty that if you've always loved a certain big dog, but would find it hard to care for him in a tiny space, you can now get him in a smaller size. (I guess if the dogs are healthy in mind and body there's no real problem?)