Check it out! I'm introducing a new Thursday series on the blog.
It involves words. More directly, I'm snagging some favorite words used and abused in my home to coach and disciple my kids. We'll unpack how they build up, stir up and even tear apart a home. Words mean things and as I work my way toward the launch of my new book, A Lexicon of Awesome (spring 2020), I want to share some bits and pieces with you along the way. Kind of like offering you a few tasty crumbs of the delicious piece of apple crisp I'm eating and all the while a fresh pan is in being prepared in the kitchen as we speak.
...unless you don't like the apple crisp, which, if that's the case, we're done here. That said, let's kick this word-fest off at the top of the alphabet. Enjoy.
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/ A /
Awesome is one of those incredible words that gets thrown around without the full weight of it coming to bear.
Most times I throw it up like a reflex during one of those lowercase "a" awesome moments in life. Personally captivating? Yep. Awesome defined? Nope.
As reflexes go, I’m quick to toss out a breathy, "That... was... awesome!" when my son hits a slippery patch on the floor between the dining room and the living room and biffs it without warning. Tousled hair. Knees bent in ways the turn the stomach. Is it really awesome? Is that really something to be impressed by? Something that stirs up a genuine sense of wonder and fear and awe in power and might?
Not really.
It’s a reflex. A careless word spit. These moments can be astounding, but they’re not really capital "A" awesome.
Terror, on the other hand, is found at the heart of something awesome. Something so mighty and powerful and wonder-stirring that when I’m in awe I’m temporarily paralyzed, frozen to the gully...
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Keep some eyes out for my forthcoming A Lexicon of Awesome: words that build the home (and some that suck the air out of it) in spring 2020.