“I am the Lord your God . . .” (Exodus 20:2)
Economy of words is a daily struggle for me. And I mean daily. If you receive these reflections each morning there’s a good chance that the first thing you do is scan your screen, sizing up the length of the piece. Maybe you read. Maybe you move the cursor to that little ‘x’ in the upper right hand corner of your screen, planning to come back later. Maybe you simply ‘delete.’ My defense: I really do try. My confession: I’m prone to wordiness.
Deeply aware of my lack of verbal restraint, I was fascinated by an AJC article about a book titled Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. The book is co-authored / edited by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser. The premise of the book is simple: People were invited to write their life story in six words. That’s it. More than 15,000 submissions were received. It’s surprising what you can say in six words.
Some of the responses, as you might expect, were quite amusing:
New Jersey to California: thank God.
Became my mother. Please shoot me.
It was embarrassing so don’t ask
It’s pretty high. You go first.
I think. Therefore I am bald.
Made a mess. Cleaned it up.
Must remember: People, gadgets. That order.
Others were not so amusing. Six words can cut deep.
Found true love. Married someone else.
Was father, boys died, still sad.
Old Testament scholarship has given us an impressive word for the Ten Commandments: the “Decalogue.” Decalogue literally means “ten words.” The Ten Commandments are God’s ten words to us – ten words that capture what life looks like when it is lived well. The first half of the Decalogue talks about life before God. The second half deals with life with our neighbors and families. Naturally, we are inclined to give our attention to these ten words because they tell us what to do, how to behave.
But before being told what to do we are reminded to whom we belong. In the English Bible, God did that with six words: “I am the Lord you God.” Before we get to the ten words, we get six words that define and shape all that follows. Yes, the ten words are important, critical even. But if we skip the six words, we won’t understand the ten.
These six words tell us that God isn’t giving us rules so that we can become his people. God is inviting us to live life whole and well because we are his people. Maybe God’s message to us in the commandments can be captured with these six words: “You belong to me. Live well.”
And with that, I’ve said enough.
Prayer:
Gracious God, remind us today that we belong to you – not because we have behaved well, but because you have loved us freely. Empower us by your Spirit to live well; to live in accordance with your words to us; to live every moment of this day so that you will be pleased and honored in all things. Amen.
Economy of words is a daily struggle for me. And I mean daily. If you receive these reflections each morning there’s a good chance that the first thing you do is scan your screen, sizing up the length of the piece. Maybe you read. Maybe you move the cursor to that little ‘x’ in the upper right hand corner of your screen, planning to come back later. Maybe you simply ‘delete.’ My defense: I really do try. My confession: I’m prone to wordiness.
Deeply aware of my lack of verbal restraint, I was fascinated by an AJC article about a book titled Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. The book is co-authored / edited by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser. The premise of the book is simple: People were invited to write their life story in six words. That’s it. More than 15,000 submissions were received. It’s surprising what you can say in six words.
Some of the responses, as you might expect, were quite amusing:
New Jersey to California: thank God.
Became my mother. Please shoot me.
It was embarrassing so don’t ask
It’s pretty high. You go first.
I think. Therefore I am bald.
Made a mess. Cleaned it up.
Must remember: People, gadgets. That order.
Others were not so amusing. Six words can cut deep.
Found true love. Married someone else.
Was father, boys died, still sad.
Old Testament scholarship has given us an impressive word for the Ten Commandments: the “Decalogue.” Decalogue literally means “ten words.” The Ten Commandments are God’s ten words to us – ten words that capture what life looks like when it is lived well. The first half of the Decalogue talks about life before God. The second half deals with life with our neighbors and families. Naturally, we are inclined to give our attention to these ten words because they tell us what to do, how to behave.
But before being told what to do we are reminded to whom we belong. In the English Bible, God did that with six words: “I am the Lord you God.” Before we get to the ten words, we get six words that define and shape all that follows. Yes, the ten words are important, critical even. But if we skip the six words, we won’t understand the ten.
These six words tell us that God isn’t giving us rules so that we can become his people. God is inviting us to live life whole and well because we are his people. Maybe God’s message to us in the commandments can be captured with these six words: “You belong to me. Live well.”
And with that, I’ve said enough.
Prayer:
Gracious God, remind us today that we belong to you – not because we have behaved well, but because you have loved us freely. Empower us by your Spirit to live well; to live in accordance with your words to us; to live every moment of this day so that you will be pleased and honored in all things. Amen.
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