Award-winning Gospel singers Mary Mary sing about how happy they are in church on Sunday Morning, singing in the choir. This past Sunday morning I was happy and relieved to be in church, too, and mostly in my right mind.
I looked at the hymn we were about to sing and smiled:
“Let me more of their beauty sing,
Wonderful words of life.”
That struck a chord with me, so to speak. No matter what our state of mind, we writers can still be uplifted by the words we select to tell the stories of our lives and of the characters we create.
Wonderful Words of Life was one of hundreds of hymns fashioned by Christian songwriter Philip P. Bliss (1838-1876). Bliss led an amazing life and experienced tremendous joy through the text and tunes that God gave him to use.
Though many of our own words are neither beautiful nor wonderful — and in fact the definitions of a significant number are decidedly ugly, hideous, downright dreadful and meant to be, our ability to choose and use words are delights in which we, too, can find joy, and can thank the Almighty for letting us borrow them.
“Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.”
ELEANORA E. TATE is a children’s book author who has won numerous awards, including a CBC/NCSS Notable Childrení s Trade Book in the field of social studies for Thank You, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.! and a Parent’s Choice Gold Seal Award for The Secret of Gumbo Grove.
Eleanora is retired from Hamline’s faculty.
