Chaplain’s Corner: CLXXXIV

“Gracious Words”

I have just returned from Stratford, Ontario where I spent three days at the Stratford Festival which is one of the finest theatres you will find in North America.  I saw five plays in three days and the acting was outstanding.  For years it was called the Shakespeare Festival because a majority of the plays were Shakespeare’s.  We always see a couple of Shakespeare’s plays each year and marvel at his brilliance.  No one has ever written in the English language as marvelously as William Shakespeare.  Most of us quote him every week, but don’t even realize it.

Have you ever felt “footloose and fancy free?”

Been “left high and dry?”

Passed a test that was “a piece of cake?”

Have you ever sent someone “packing?”

Or “refused to budge an inch?”

Been “tongue tied”?

Suspected you have been “hoodwinked?

Kept a commitment “through thick and thin?””

Know someone who was a “tower of strength?”

Found yourself in a “pickle?”

Or “knitted your brow?”

Have you ever slept “not one wink?”

Realized it was “high time you did something?”

Explained that this is “the long and short of it?”

Wondered about a situation for which there is “no rhyme or reason?”

Said “for goodness sake?”

Declared that “it’s all Greek to me?”

If so then you’ve been borrowing in the words of history’s greatest playwright.  Not that Shakespeare would care in the least.

Literary critic Elliott Engel observes that his phrases were “so perfect and clever in their expression that people recognized them as works of genius, stole them on the spot, used them in front of their children, and they became part of common parlance.”   Most of us are considerably less confident in our own ability to find just the right words to express our deepest sentiments.  That’s why Hallmark exists right?

Or far better still we can surrender our hang-ups about originality and speak to others with kindness and sincerity.  Here are some all-time winners:

Thanks, I’m so glad to know you.

I’m grateful we’re in this together.

What can I do to help?

You always bring out the best!

I appreciate you.  

I love you.

As the writer of Proverbs puts it, “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing in the bones.” (16:24)  The effect of such simple affirmations on other human beings is impossible to overstate.  Especially if (as Shakespeare first put it) they come from the bottom of your heart.

Faithfully,

Ron Naylor, Chaplain