My vocabulary is shallow. I never feel I have the words to effectively express or describe some feels or perspectives. Sometimes I can’t even think of a word and other times the words I come up with just doesn’t pack the punch or embody the essence of what I’m trying to describe. I’ve been working on ways to improve my vocabulary by leveraging app’s, word of the day sites, and being diligent about looking up words I don’t fully understand. As I was preparing for next weeks Bible Study lesson on Hosea I began thinking about God’s love and God’s pursuit for us. Again, to say my words fell short is an understatement. However, God seeded my thoughts in that moment with a word bubble exercise. Give it a try.
Step 1: Take a few minutes to think about how you’re feeling. Anxious, angry, upset, excited, motivated, etc. Write down a few words to describe it.
Step 2: Write down one word to fill in the blank for one of the sentences below and circle the word.
It’s important to actually write down the words during this exercise. There are a lot of mind map/word bubble apps out there and typing this out probably seems faster, but we’re not going for speed here; we’re taking our time to contemplate. So take your time and think about each words as it lands on the paper.
God’s love is ____________.
God’s pursuits for me is ____________.
Step 3: Pull up thesaurus.com and type your word into the search box.
Step 4: Begin drawing lines from the bubble your word is sitting in and write down the words from thesaurus.com that embody the feeling your trying to describe.
Step 5: Don’t stop at these surface level words. Click into some of these words that stand out to you and dig deeper, finding even more possibilities.
Step 6: When you’re finished, reflect on the words you found. Be reminded of God’s love for you and God’s pursuit for you. What words stood out the most to you? Which words surprised you? How do you feel now? How has it changed from the beginning of the exercise?
Sometimes we might find ourselves steam rolling through our reading, our prayer, and our research. We make up excuses like they’re going to negatively impact our experience. Excuses like the kids are going to wake up soon, we have to start getting ready for church soon, or the dozen emails nagging at the back of your mind. So, we end up trying to rush through the process as if we’ll get the same result. But this isn’t how God works. He’s playing the long game and needs us to make the choice to take our time with Him. So, sit with Him today and think about His pursuit for you throughout the years and how this pursuit makes His love for you so much more apparent.