Friday, April 7, 2017

Four-letter Words

The term "four-letter words" has painted a huge boatload of English words with a tar brush.  It is true that there is a handful of four-letter words that are scatological, sacrilegious, and disrespectful.  We should know these words in order to avoid using them.  Okay, every twelve-year old boy knows them, anyway, but we need not be stuck in the prepubescent stage of our lives.

Meanwhile there are tens of thousands of perfectly good and useful four-letter words in the English language.  I propose to present a few of these select four-letter words that brighten or enhance our lives and our ability to communicate one with another.  If I have the stamina for it we may go through the alphabet looking for such words.  But meanwhile let us start with the best four-letter word of all:

 love.

As with many English words, this one can function either as a noun or a verb.  This is not a thesaurus or dictionary, nor do I propose to write such for there exists a plethora of such volumes.  We all have a construct of this word and recognize the deep emotional, spiritual, and intellectual power it evokes.
Sad the person who does not experience and receive love.  Even sadder the one who does not practice love toward others.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest of these is love."  I Corinthians 13:13 (NIV) 

Remember, too, that Jesus summed up the law in two commandments.  Both were to love.  First, God; then our neighbors and ourselves.

3 comments:

Grace said...

Oh please do! Start with 'A' - I expect your choices, from so many, will be wise and wonderful and witty.

I Corinthians 13 was the go-to in the church I grew up in. Memorized early, repeated often.

There was a tradition, amongst Italians anyway, of sewing 'faith, hope, charity' charms to a piece of red fabric which was always pinned on or near a baby - blanket, crib, carriage, clothes...to keep anyone from 'over looking' the baby ie: giving the baby the evil eye. I had my charms for the longest time, wore them on a chain when I was older - a heart, a cross, an anchor.

Secondary Roads said...

Love is the greatest.

vanilla said...

Grace, thank you for sharing the tradition. I Corinthians 13 was referred to as the "Love Chapter." We learned it, too.

Chuck, indeed it is.