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Next in my series of writing posts, I would like to highlight five great nouns (and a few of their synonyms) that can be used to identify internal things/traits people may possess.  As you read my list, I hope it will stir up some fresh thoughts for your writing, written communication, and descriptions of others.

  1. Contentment – state of having an easy mind because one is satisfied with what one has or because one has “enough”. Ease, gladness, equanimity, satisfaction. How often could you use this word to describe people you know? In our modern world, I find that people who claim to be content are often looked down upon because they aren’t driven and ambitious enough – and that having “enough” can be an extremely subjective thing depending on one’s personal philosophy.
  2. Prowess – superior ability, skill, or strength to excel in something. Aptitude, expertise, talent, command, deftness. I have seen or heard this used in a mostly negative sense. But the truth is that many people possess prowess in one area or another. Whether we are arrogant, showy, or pushy about it is up to us.
  3. Sensibility, Sensibilities – capacity to feel and quickness to respond; capacity for intellectual and aesthetic distinctions, feelings, and tastes. Insight, appreciation, discernment, sentiment, perceptiveness. Most people have common sense (though some of us pay less attention to it than we should), but some have sensibilities which are more heightened or prone to offense.
  4. Tenacity – holding fast to something, not giving up, persevering.  Determination, doggedness, perseverance, steadfastness. This is another word that can be used in either a positive way (a school principal who works hard for years through a very lean budget to help struggling students achieve high goals) or a negative way (the businessperson who demands to make a higher profit not matter what harmful production byproducts might do to the community).
  5. Gumption – Initiative or resourcefulness someone displays. Acumen, savvy, astuteness, get-up-and-go. When I hear this word, I often think of a person (like the Energizer bunny) who seems to have an endless supply of energy, hopefulness, ideas, or solutions. A person with gumption may get knocked down, but he/she won’t stay down for too long.

In the comments section, I invite you to share some of your own favorite nouns – especially positive or negative character traits that people can possess – or to give an example of how you might use the above words in a sentence.

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The news is ugly. So I watch little of it. Just enough to know the basics – and to be reminded of the fragile, broken world I inhabit.

It makes me sad to think of all the hateful things that have been said and done in both the past weeks and the past centuries. It makes me even sadder to recall all the zealots, fascists, bigots, and other radicals who have backed up their beliefs, claims, and propaganda by waving a banner of religion over their proud heads.

There have been many things done in Jesus’ name that Jesus would never condone. And any claim of ethnic superiority is one of them.

How do I know? Because Jesus was bi-racial. And so am I.

“What?” you say. “Jesus wasn’t bi-racial. He had one of the purest Jewish blood lines possible, well-recorded in ancient manuscripts. And you certainly don’t look bi-racial.”

But He was, and I am.

True, I am of European decent, with ancestors from at least six countries – a bit of the Scandinavian and a lot of the Anglo-Saxon. So by nationality I am American, and I always mark myself as Caucasian on surveys.

And after I had lived in China long enough, though I had no real shot at becoming a Chinese citizen, my students did me the honor of proclaiming that I was now an “egg” – white on the outside but yellow on the inside. I was deeply touched by their observation.

Those things are fine, but they are not what I’m talking about. Let me tell you about the races I identify with most strongly.

The first race is the human race. Human beings are my family. You are my family. It doesn’t matter where your ancestors came from, what country or state you grew up in, or what type of immediate family background you have. You are my brother or sister in humanity, and each of us was made by God’s hand, in His image. In the eighth psalm, King David writes that God made people amazingly well, just a tiny step below angels, and crowned us with glory and honor. And He created wondrous variety.

The second race is the life race. We are all running from our earliest years to the day we die. Some of us will run a longer race than others. However, the race can be grueling and the completion can get ugly. That’s because the honored, crowned products of the Creator have all fallen short of His glory, the glory we were originally endowed with. This is where we start to outdo each other in peer and self destruction. As with any race, life has a goal. And I’ve found that what or who I’m running toward at my finish line makes all the difference in how I live my life now.

Jesus was a part of the human race, but He was the only one to ever complete life’s race without falling short of that original goodness. I, on the other hand, am fully human and have fully fallen (before being lifted again by mercy). But the point is that both of us–and each of you–are bi-racial, no matter what our ethnic identification.

Now… if we could only remember those details every time we view the individuals around us.

 

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Have you ever attended a presentation, class, or meeting and watched another attendee use their phone, tablet, or camera to take pictures of PowerPoint slides, posters, or whiteboard lists instead of taking the time to write down or type out that information for later reference? (And have you ever done the same?)

I’m not saying this is a wholly bad thing. I’ve done it myself when a teacher’s diagram on the board was incredibly complex and replicating it on the spot seemed impossible. Technology has its advantages and, correctly used, can help make our learning lives easier.

But I am fearful that if students (and language learners more specifically) start to increasingly take notes simply by taking photos of things instead of recording information in some more engaging and personal fashion, such lazy note taking will result in numerous negative outcomes. Here I will share three of them.

  • Students will be less likely to really recall information later. For many learners, there is something that connects in our brains when we both listen and write or see and write at the same time. This opportunity to more actively process the information even as we are introduced to it makes a way for us to remember things longer and in a more meaningful way.
  • Student listening abilities will continue to decrease. At this point, I’m not necessarily speaking of a student’s language listening level. Rather, when students are busy taking a picture, they are often not listening closely to what the presenter or instructor is saying. As with many aspects of our technologically-driven world, the art of listening seems to be lost while we stare at devices and develop consistently shorter attention spans.
  • Students will not develop the ability to effectively organize and summarize information. The student who tries to transcribe a fast-speaking lecturer’s speech in her notebook will often become very frustrated, since the point of taking notes is to listen closely and write down things that are key, useful, or thought-provoking. In order to listen well and take good notes, a student must practice. By doing so, she can gain valuable experience in organizing information, prioritizing what she hears, and summarizing a speakers main points. All of these skills are useful in both professional settings and effective daily communication with relatives and friends.

When I start teaching a new set of classes later this month, I’m going to offer my students notebooks and pens, because I have a feeling some of them will come to class without these inexpensive but important tools. Whether or not they accept my offer, I will stress that they are to either write things down or type them instead of simply capturing screenshots. In this way, I hope that they will learn more in terms of both language and content throughout the term.

Feel free to comment below. What are your thoughts about “lazy note-taking”?

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A dear friend named Nyla came to visit my family this past week. While shopping together one delightful afternoon, we came across a unique floor rug from India, a long one in which the weaver connected many pieces of brightly died and tightly woven silken rope.

Later, Nyla presented me with the rug. She had purchased it when I stepped out of the store temporarily, and it was her housewarming gift for me and a home I will be purchasing in the months ahead.

I took the rug home and studied it. Many thoughts flew through my mind, about how this rug represents my life. Here are a few of them…

  • It is brightly colored and beautiful, despite (and perhaps because of) the irregular pattern.
  • Someone certainly worked for hours to make it, probably sweating and perhaps bleeding in the process. The only way my life has become what it is now and the only way I’ve been renewed is because of the blood and sweat of the One who loved me most.
  • One color runs into the next in a clear-cut way. Recalling plans, dreams, and intentions, my life is so different now that I imagined it would be as a child, teen, and young adult – often because of 90 degree turns in the road of life that I had little or no control over.
  • What looks like old rags and scraps of cloth has been made into something that the product tag says was used in the palaces of past Indian leaders and kings. In the right hands, with the true value known, what was before called worthless, ordinary, or disposable now becomes treasured, extraordinary, and glorious.

These thoughts inspired me to write a short poem.

from rags to glory

my eyes absorb

for one spun moment

the whole of life

in love’s outpouring

my days restored

through threads close-woven

a plan packed tight

a life: rich, colorful, useful, reclaimed

a plan: unforeseen, hope outshining shame

Today I invite you to ponder the tapestry of your own life, consider all the wonderful and hard things you’ve lived through, and think about how beautiful you must appear to the One who made you – the same one who can and does remake us, when we allow Him to.

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Why are we often taught or encouraged not to cry by other members of society? Men may feel they’ll be seen as lacking masculinity, women may fear being branded as unprofessional, weak, or overly-emotional – depending on the setting they are in, and children may receive cruel taunts from their peers.

But tears are a wonderful thing, given to us by God. He designed us fearfully well, and that includes every last detail: not a mistake among them. Pause to think for a moment about what tears do for us.

They keep our eyes moist. A doctor recently put me on a prescription drug I’d never been on before. I woke up early this morning to discover one of the drug’s side effects in me – some of the driest eyes I’d ever had. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to grab some eye drops (something I almost never need to do).

They keep our hearts tender. Life circumstances over the past six weeks have driven me to cry far more than I have in a long time. While I am still careful about who I cry in front of (a trait I cannot seem to avoid), I know that releasing emotion through a good  cry – sometimes more than once a day – has helped me to keep a healthy perspective and a heart that flies above fear to continue loving.

They keep our souls open. No matter if they are tears of sadness, happiness, frustration, or some other emotion, they open a temporary chasm where, sometimes only for a moment, the deepest core of you and I can be touched by the fingers of eternity. In our rawness, with nothing to hide us, we are simply self before God and any other(s) who might witness our tears.

Yes… That is why we are afraid to cry. Because when we are that real, we are that fragile. And the one(s) listening to us cry have a choice. They can either mock, despise, or punish us for our tears. OR they can respect our need to open up and drive out what should not remain – the flushing of the impure or the painful from the eyes, the heart, the soul.

If you need to cry today, find a space in which to do it, whether alone or with others. And if you find yourself near a crying person today, recognize the power you hold in how you choose to respond: the power to crush and harm or the power to nurture health and healing.

In the comments, I invite you to share your thoughts about tears.

 

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Writers – and language speakers in general – have a tendency to fall back on go-to words that are comfortable for us. In the case of adjectives, this may mean that we describe too many things as big or small, nice or good, interesting or all right. These can become “weasel words” – words that sneak into our communication to make it commonplace and far less powerful than it could be. Why not use over-sized for big, enjoyable for nice, captivating for interesting, and passable for all right? Variety is the zest and spice of grand writing.

On that note, my next several posts under the label of the written stuff in coming months will highlight sets of rich words that you can build into your own writing (and speaking, when appropriate), to more specifically, meaningfully, or delightfully communicate to your audience.

Let’s start with five potent adjectives…

  1. Lavish: sumptuously rich, elaborate, or luxurious. (Wow, in that definition, there are a string of other great words!) When was the last time you experienced or imagined something lavish? And what elements of your current lifestyle might seem lavish to a family in a developing country?
  2. Chivalrous: having such qualities as courage, courtesy, and loyalty, especially used for men who are gracious towards women and honorable towards their enemies. Some would call this word archaic because it smacks of gender inequality and a bygone, sexist society. But it’s still a great word to use in writing historical pieces. And I, for one, find chivalrous men to be the best sort. 🙂
  3. Objectionable: offensive or causing disapproval and protest. This is another one that doesn’t sit well with some folks presently because it may accompany an intolerant attitude or judgmental set of ideals. But the truth is we all have opinions and we all find certain things to be uncomfortable to the point of being NOT OK. We must learn to screen such feelings and instincts for truth, but such feelings and instincts are there for a purpose and can be used to do a great deal of good when rightly acted upon.
  4. Ambivalent: having mixed feelings or being unable to choose between two or more things or courses of action. It’s ironic – how ambivalent I can feel about picking the right word in a given sentence while revising a draft. 🙂
  5. Leery: wary, suspicious, or distrustful of someone or something. Adding a variety of feeling words such as these can enrich the description of a character’s emotions, one the draws the reader further in to the character’s personal experience.

Happy vocabulary building! If you have other useful or enriching adjectives you have discovered or successfully used, please share them with us in the comments section below!

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One of the joint challenges and joys of being an English as a Second Language teacher lies in describing the meanings of words. English is a complex language, and trying to explain the different meanings of and ways to use various lexical items can be daunting. Why do we say that we put on our clothes and we put up with an annoying person but we put away our things and we put aside our differences? What’s the difference between “I’m sorry for what I did” and “He was a sorry excuse for a coach”?

A critical aspect of this teaching responsibility comes when I have to explain the true meaning of words that native speakers often overuse or use incorrectly. I dealt with this in a recent book club meeting, when the main character realized he hated someone and the author used the character’s thoughts to give a very clear definition of hate. I paused to tell the international student club members about how this was an accurate usage of the word hate, and therefore cautioned them about using it with other people, even in a joking sense.

I was thinking today about a couple more words we use a lot in a very casual manner. One is amazing and the other is awesome. I hear these words used in advertisements, announcements, meetings, and casual conversations. They can now be used to describe everything from movies to hot wings and haircuts to car engines. These things may be entertaining, delicious, intriguing, or impressive. But are they really amazing and awesome?

According to Webster’s Dictionary, amazing means “causing astonishment, great wonder, or surprise.” Awesome means “inspiring awe” and awe means “an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.” In other words, things that are truly amazing will leave us speechless, feeling small in the face of the noble, the heavenly, the beautiful, or the powerful. (Hot wings are nice, but this is not the feeling I have when I eat them!)

So if everything is awesome or amazing, we should be falling over in shock and wonder, speechless at every turn. Yet, here we are: talking, texting, and face-timing with more repetitive words than ever before about things that are good and nice but not truly extraordinary.  I would like to suggest that we have so watered down what makes us feel amazed and awestruck that we don’t know how to stop and really notice the truly amazing, awesome, wonderful, and exceptional blessings God puts in our lives each day.

That’s what I want to model for my students, even as I answer their questions about English. I want them to hear me use amazing and awesome correctly because I am quietly, wonderingly observing every good gift and powerful deed that comes from the Giver.

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My hail-damaged car was declared totaled by the insurance adjuster, so off I went in my rental to find and buy a different car.** When speaking to my insurance agent over the phone, I was told to bring in the title of my surrendered car along with a photo ID in order to collect my coverage check. I drove home from work feeling sure that I knew where the title was, but when I opened the envelope I was expecting to find it in, it was not there. I pressed down a wave of panic, searching diligently until I found it.

This experience made me think about the importance of paper documents – and why we keep some and throw others away. Though our world has become increasingly filled with digital replacements (and some say eventually everything will be digital), many of the most important documents in our lives are written or printed on paper or some form of paper/plastic.

Car titles. Passports and drivers licenses. Leases and contracts. Wills and power of attorney papers. Birth, marriage, and death certificates. Insurance cards. Diplomas. Letters of recommendation. Hand-written notes from those we love or respect.

The above are not necessarily valuable because of what they are written or printed on. They are valuable because of what’s represented in that writing.

Ownership. Identity. Promises. Trust. Final wishes. Life, love, and leaving. Protection. Achievement. Good faith. Relationships.

The same holds true for a printed book. I could go and buy any new Bible or a copy of Great Expectations from the bookstore. But the feeling I’d have in picking up those new copies is not the same as the one I have while holding my grandfather’s worn Bible or my friend’s favorite copy of Dickens. The feel of holding the paper copies in my hands is comforting, both for the texture and smell of old leather and cloth covers – but even more so because of the people or memories they represent to me, and the solid writing found in these books.

This is what key written documents do: help us to hold the value of all life, and of our own life, in our hands.

And this is what well-written words do: help us to consider lives and thoughts of the past and present and think of how we will live in the present and the future.

The next time you look at or hold something hand-written or printed that is valuable to you, consider these words. Take a moment to be grateful for what you own, what you have been entrusted with, the people you love, and the blessings you have been given. Let the tangible remind you of the intangible and the unseen.

**Special thanks to Marc Alvarado and the staff of Dingman’s Collision Center, Aaron Stockton and State Farm, Andy Larson and his colleague Jean of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Quincy Hunt and the team at Beardmore Subaru for helping me through the maze of my car replacement process. God bless you all.

 

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A dear friend named Allie encouraged me to do something I very rarely do: go on a road trip. We set our sites on Winterset, Iowa – the little town where John Wayne was born. He is one of the most beloved American actors of all time and arguably the quintessential cowboy of cinema. Allie and I thoroughly enjoyed the drive and our time at the John Wayne museum, the nearby birthplace (a quaint four-room house), and the delightful square/downtown area of Winterset.

I knew a little about the life of John Wayne prior to this trip, and I had enjoyed watching parts or all of several of his movies. But there were a number of things about his roots and his life that struck me as I toured the museum, browsed books in the gift shop, and peered into the room where he was born.

He was a hard worker and an extremely considerate person. He went for the practical over the expensive and showy. He was quick to express his gratitude to others. And he was honest through and through.

But what struck me most profoundly was how he was a real “man of his word.” Even when it meant having to do things that might not seem the best for his career or when it was not easy, if the Duke (as so many called him) signed a contract or told someone he would do something, he followed through. He didn’t go back on an agreement or break his promise. That seemed to be one of his core personal principles.

I thought that deserved to be applauded. Presently, I hear a lot of people say they will do things or make big plans – only to pull out or otherwise let the other person/people down. True, there are things we cannot control, and we would all understand if, say, a father had to postpone an event or job because his child was being rushed to the hospital. But how often are we tempted to drop out of something or walk away from an agreement just because we don’t “feel” like it or it’s not convenient for us? Or because we pack our schedules too full/tight and over commit?

It’s good to ponder the rewards – if only in character-building – we receive when we do what we say we will do, even when we don’t feel like it or it’s not convenient.

The day before our planned road trip, Allie heard my car had been heavily damaged in a hailstorm. She asked if I still wanted to go or if I needed to back out. (She had already planned to drive, but wasn’t sure if I’d feel able to get away for the day.) As I have long been a person who hates to go back on my word once it’s given, I was determined to accompany her no matter what.

A lovely day with a gem of a friend. I’m so glad I followed through and didn’t miss the opportunity.

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There is power in repetition. How many times have we used it to remember facts for an exam or temporarily recall some important piece of information when we can’t find a pen to write it down? How often have we been uplifted by hearing a compliment more than once on the same day or been torn down by hearing another’s criticisms several times in a row?

It’s amazing how often our thoughts can circle around to the same thing or follow similar patterns. At the risk of overly simplifying things, I suggest that our brains often get stuck in negative repetitive ways of thinking – patterns we must actively work to break or derail. And the best way to do that is to replace the negative with the positive. For we will think – and we will often think repetitively. So let’s repeat the good stuff.

Several years ago, I was plagued by a great deal of worry. At best, it was distracting. At worst, on some days, it was almost debilitating. I wanted to bring an end to the cycle. So I started a worry notebook. I carried around a small notebook with me, and every time I found myself worrying about something, I wrote it down in my notebook and said, “God, I give it to You. It is no longer inside of me, no longer has a place in my mind.” Then I would look back over the list from time to time and see all the things I used to worry about that had slowly become unimportant or less troublesome in my thought life.

But to paraphrase a famous teaching of Jesus, it’s not enough to clean out the house and leave it empty; after cleaning out the bad, we must infuse the good.

A couple of years ago, my dad introduced our family to the idea of a “blessing box”. He gave each of us a small wooden box and slips of brightly colored paper. Then he encouraged us to develop a new habit of gratitude. Every time we encountered a blessing in daily life, he suggested we write the date and a summary of the blessing on a slip of paper before adding it to the box.

I’ve given up keeping a worry notebook – though there are days when I think taking up that habit would be useful again. But the blessing boxes at home and at work: those have been filling up steadily. I need to keep using them until they are full and I have to start new boxes or buy bigger boxes. In this way, I will use repetitive thoughts focused on the positive in a way that gives life.

Let this be a motto for each of us day by day: May the input I give myself and others repeat what’s good and true, what’s blessed.

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