Verbosi-TEA

Much dreaming and many words are meaningless.......(Ecclesiastes 5:7, NIV)

Yesterday after opening to the front flyleaf of my Jesus Calling, I saw the inscription from Sarah Young with the date 8/25/13. "It's lovely to meet you and talk over tea."

What a memory trigger! One year ago she had served me tea. Constant Comment tea. 
Constant comment is almost an oxymoron for Sarah, at least as an author. With all of her books, but especially her first "little" devotional book, Jesus Calling, she is anything but verbose. Certainly, not given to wordiness. No excess. 

She explained to me that when she writes she often sits before the Lord for long periods. Meditating on God's Word. Thinking. Limited writing. That must be what it takes to say the most with the fewest words. Words that seem to speak to each reader, right where she/he is in life. Words used by God to touch hearts. Meaningful words---not just words to fill space.

This morning over my cuppa Constant Comment, I meditated on verbosi-TEA. In both writing and talking, I often add words, out of nervousness, in order to fill empty space. Too many words. Yet, scripture teaches that such excess actually creates emptiness.

"In many words there is emptiness," is the NASB version of Ecclesiastes 5:7. 

Be sensible and keep your mouth shut. (Proverbs 2:19, NLT)

Constant comment is not necessary. 

Verbosi-TEA is a cuppa that one needs to temper with more thought. Too many words would weaken it. Stir in some med-tea-tation to strengthen it. That's the way to serve that strong cuppa which most believers desire. 

"Identi-TEA" : a re-brew

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22, NIV)

"I" is for Identi-TEA was the 12/23/09 blog title. Info given is still  a part of my identity fabric. Alphabetical order is a part of who I am and how I organize---sometimes to a fault. The entry was a bit of a walk down memory lane for me.

These days a cuppa of my identi-TEA would be filled with these words---a book lovin’ tea drinker with a burnt toast nametag, 

This was not a staged burn---tho I did scrape it and "tried" to eat some of it---because I don't like to "waste."

----a gal who loves to write for the Lord but who lacks the gene given to poets who are able to say the MOST with the fewest words. Not so with me. Words string forth. A cuppa Verbosi-TEA---is that a word??

That entry from 4 1/2 years ago also dealt with "I" words in scripture. "I" words that identify the Lord.

For this entry, my word choices will identify who I am in the Lord......because that's the identity that counts.

My "in Christ" identity "SHIELD"---

Blessed. (Luke 11:28) Created. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Forgiven. (Ephesians 1:7) Healed. (Isaiah 53:5) Justified. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Loved. (Romans 8:38-39) Redeemed. (Titus 2:14) Sanctified. (1 Corinthians 1:2) Saved (Psalm 3:8)

These participles might not all start with the same letter but they are in alphabetical order and express the continuous action aspect of my life's identity.