RachelStarrThomson.com

It’s All About the Words

Taking a quick break from work…

I work with words for seven or eight hours every day. I read them, I write them, I correct them. They never cease to amaze me. The fact that we can string 26 letters together and communicate worlds with them, across centuries and cultural boundary lines, that we can form new ideas and challenge old ones, put fears to rest and create upheaval… words are amazing.

I write to create beauty. I realized this the other day. For me writing is not just about communication. It’s an art form. That’s why I get a thrill out of poetry, or a piece of description that’s just perfect. I love a sentence with rhythm; a paragraph with style. I love a line of dialogue that sounds in my head. I love the way beauty itself communicates: with more power and truth than can be in words alone.

I love it when words force me to stop my day for a moment just to absorb them.

I love the vocabulary of Scripture. I like to pull its word out and run them through my head: grace, thanksgiving, great love; awesome, holy, LORD of Hosts. “I call to remembrance my song in the night” (Psalm 77:6).

What are words to you?

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3 responses to “It’s All About the Words”

  1. L.L. Barkat Avatar
    L.L. Barkat

    words are friends, enemies, a cave and a river, yesterday and tomorrow… sometimes exasperating, sometimes entrancing… nonetheless, a gift from the Maker of Words himself

    Reply
  2. Ted Gossard Avatar
    Ted Gossard

    Rachel, Great words here. I pick up what you’re saying in your writing as to how you want to write. To convey beauty and wonder.

    What a blessing that you can work on words all day. I love words too. And it’s amazing their impact on humans, for good or ill.

    Thanks.

    Reply
  3. Rielly Avatar
    Rielly

    Thank you for these thoughts Rachel. Words also resonate with me. Words have a transcendent ethos to them, as they always point to something beyond themselves. Good words are humble, because they always say, “don’t look at me, look at the idea.”

    Cultures and societies (especially church cultures) get into trouble the moment they start worshipping the words in and of themselves.

    Keep up your work. It is inspirational to me.

    Reply

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