Word Epiphany

Stephen Wright wanted to become more learned, so he read the dictionary. He figured with all the words inside, it contained every book ever written.

I actually do read the dictionary sometimes--a page here and there. I love etymology.

The other day, I stared at the word, "disease," in a piece I was reading. Disease, disease, disease. Say any word over and over again, and it no longer sounds like a real word. I don't know why I fixate on these things, but I do!

DISEASE. Root word being EASE.

The qualifying prefix, "did," is the most powerful part of this word. DIS, according to Dictionary dot com is "a Latin prefix meaning 'apart,' 'asunder,' 'away,' utterly,'or having a privative, negative, or reversing force. Not being familiar with "privative," I also looked it up: "consisting in or characterized by the taking away, loss, or lack of something."

So DISEASE is characterized by the TAKING AWAY OF or the splitting asunder of FREEDOM from labor, pain, comfort; freedom from concern, anxiety, or solicitude; freedom from difficulty or great effort; freedom from stiffness or constraint.

No lecture or hidden meaning intended. I simply find amazing the power of words when we stop and truly consider their meanings.

NOT My Year in Photos!

Well!


I've been struggling to post a plethora of photos using my phone because that's where all my photos are! Blogger even has, as one of the photo sources, From Your Phone. It displays almost twenty photos, but my phone contains more than fifteen hundred photos! Clearly, I must research updating my blog from my phone.

Until then, Merry Christmas!
Avalon!
Danette Haworth

Alfie & Casey

Vicerys (How I've missed you!)




K

Preacher Jovan Lawson on Women Working Out!

One of my favorite FL comedians!

Preacher Jovan Lawson notices an important omission in how women work out. Here he is, developing the bit at Diverse Word, but it's already perfect! Preacher, I can't wait to see your inevitable Comedy Central Special!

(Filmed w iPhone, Diverse Word open mic, host: Shawn Welcome; every Tuesday @ 7:30pm, Dandelion Communitea Cafe)


Happy Proverbs Mother's Day!*

I love my kids. 

Some time ago, when my friends and I were young mothers, we bemoaned the constant monitoring we had to do, keeping our toddlers from jumping off couches, climbing unsteady structures, darting across the road, etc.

An older friend interjected, saying she wished it were still the days in which all she had to was worry about the physical safety of her son (in his teens).

"How do I protect him now--how do I protect him from peer pressure or low self esteem? How do I do that?"

She was right on the money. These intangible hazards are far more dangerous than the physical injuries from which we early on protect our children. Parenting today is harder than ever before, with the ubiquity of the Internet (phones, tablets, laptops) and its easy access to questionable content.

Parents can no longer be gatekeepers. Yet we don't want to deny children access to the very technology that is a daily part of academic and professional life. Therefore, it becomes imperative for us as parents to establish a true foundation, something our children can rely on when they encounter problematic cyberspace content without parental guidance:

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but through me" (John 14:6).

Therefore, train up your child in Jesus, and as your child journeys through this life, he will not depart from Jesus, the truth, or Life with our Father, who art in Heaven.


*PROVERBS

Proverbs 1:8
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!