"...many...believed in Him because of the word of the woman..."
John 4:39
The origin for the name of this website, Wordy Woman, is found below in the story of the woman at the well. You will notice right away that some of the sections are highlighted. There is a reason for this. I am well aware that some of us like to meander, take the backroads, and view all of the scenic turnouts, while others prefer to stay on the interstate. To accommodate interstate readers, I have highlighted the major points in green. Why green? It is associated with go (ha), it seems appropriate for spring, and mostly because it's my favorite color. By the way, if I had started that highlighting thing in this paragraph, that last sentence wouldn't have been green.
Origin of website
There is much controversy surrounding this subject. Some research seems to indicate yes, some no. Do women really talk more than men? For a while it was purported to be a fact. One study reported that women said three times as many words as men in a given day. This spurred research to explain why women were the chattier of the sexes. The findings pointed to a greater presence of a certain protein in the brain. A more recent study claims that women speak a tad more, but that there is no significant difference. No matter what the research says, females wear the wordy label. The trophy has been awarded. The winner has been announced. We are stuck with the reputation, as of now.
Being a person of many words is not generally perceived as a virtue. Remember the old quote: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt?" This bit of wisdom has been attributed to Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and others, but no one seems to be sure where it originated. It sounds like a take on Proverbs 17:28 to me. "Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue." Then there's this commentary on a wordy person from Ecclesiastes 10:14: "A fool also is full of words..."
About, oh, I'd say five years ago, something occurred to me. I noticed a trend that seemed to be pretty common among people. My observation was not new, just new to me. Here is my earth-shattering discovery: A person's greatest strength has the potential to be his greatest weakness. Think about it. A courageous person can find himself taking unnecessary risks. A generous person can become a spendthrift. A thoughtful person can be over-sensitive. You name it, there's a downside. What does all of this have to do with having a reputation of being wordy? Everything! If this strength/weakness thing is true, wouldn't the converse also be true? If being wordy is a weakness, couldn't it potentially be a strength? The answer is a resounding yes! Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue..." If I am going to be wordy, I will strive to be wordy for God's glory. Let my words bring life!
The story of the woman at the well is the story of the transformation of a human being. This transformation occurs right before our eyes. I just realized the last time I read it, that the woman's words are the Apostle John's primary means of revealing the change in her life. This should come as no surprise. Jesus said, "...whatever is in your heart determines what you say." (Matthew 12:34) Let's examine how an encounter with Jesus that changed her life also altered her speech.
This story is found in John chapter four. The scene opens with a tired, very human Jesus sitting down to rest from a journey. His resting place is Sychar, a town in Samaria. He is thirsty and sits down by a well. A Samaritan woman comes to draw some water. Jesus' first words to her were simply to ask her for a drink. Later in the story she mentions the fact that He has nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep, so we can conclude that He is asking her to do Him a favor. Try to visualize this, one human being asking another to meet the most basic physical need. It is not hard for her to do. She has the means. It would just take a moment of her time, and it's not like she would be depleting the well and leaving herself with less water. How does she respond? Surely she says, "Certainly sir." Sadly, this is not the case. Listen to her first words to a tired, thirsty man. "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" From the get go she uses words filled with suspicion and division. Jesus, in essence, replies to her that if she really knew who He was, she would be asking Him for a drink and He would give her living water. The next words that come out of her mouth are words of disbelief and sarcasm. "Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" Jesus tells her that whoever drinks of the water He offers will never be thirsty again. Her next words are selfish words, especially when we take into account the fact that there is no indication she has given Him a drink yet. "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." At this point Jesus tells her to go get her husband and come back. She responds with deceitful words. "I have no husband." Jesus says, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband." In her reply she evades this issue. "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Her reply is not only evasive, it is also racial "...you Jews..." Jesus explains that the place is of no consequence, but that true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Finally the woman speaks words of sincerity and anticipation. "I know that Messiah...is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us." Two of the versions I read began the next verse with this word "Then..." "Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am He." I once heard that this section of scripture is the longest recorded conversation of Jesus with another person. It's almost as though we sense Jesus wanting to reveal Himself to her from the beginning. What took so long? Could it be that He was waiting for her to surrender in her words? when she finally finished spitting out her deadly poison --- suspicion, division, disbelief, sarcasm, selfishness, deceitfulness, evasiveness, racism --- ("...no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." James 3:8) then Jesus gave her a new view. When her words were no longer bitter, her eyes could see better. Her confession of a genuine desire to know the Messiah touched Jesus. Her ugly words and her ugly lifestyle didn't keep Him from meeting the needs of her longing heart.
There is much evidence that this woman's encounter with Jesus completely transformed her life. "So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and said to the men, "Come see a man..." This verse declares two facts, She "left...and said..."
She left her water pot behind. She is no longer selfishly clinging to it, refusing to give Jesus even a drink. Now she has left the entire vessel behind. She relinquished her tiny treasure for riches untold.
Next we are informed that, "...she said..." In a few recorded words we see a tremendous difference in her speech. "Come see a man..." (she issued an invitation to others) "...who told me all the things that I have done." (she glorified Him for His super-human ability) "...this is not the Christ is it?" (in essence, she introduced Him as the Messiah). I love the fact that she retained her personality through her transformation. God loves who we are before we come to know Him. It's our sin He doesn't like. This woman had a natural knack for conveying her point through sarcasm. "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You?" After her encounter with Jesus "...this is not the Christ is it?" It was an effective way of communicating.
Years before this the Bible reveals the story of another woman at a well. This woman was chosen as the bride for the son of promise, Isaac. She was identified as the right bride for the son by her generosity at the well, which had been her source of livelihood. Jesus, the Son of promise, is ever looking for an unselfish bride to minister to Him. He longs for us to show compassion in the most basic ways. In fact, He makes this amazing statement in Matthew 10:42: "...if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." In speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus makes it plain that if we give Him our temporal life source, we will be rewarded with His eternal life source, Living Water.
John 4:39 tells us the result of the Samaritan woman's words. "From that city many of the Samaritan's believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified..." I was blown away when I realized the acronym for Word of Woman was WOW! The word of a woman has the potential to be the WOW factor in her life, if her words are His Words. As females, choosing worthy words over worldly words can add more sparkle to our lives than teeth whitener, and more color than the brightest shades of lipstick.
Being born female carries with it the reputation of being wordy. My goal is to be more and more transformed from a wordy woman into a Wordy woman, who influences others to believe in Him!
John 4:39
The origin for the name of this website, Wordy Woman, is found below in the story of the woman at the well. You will notice right away that some of the sections are highlighted. There is a reason for this. I am well aware that some of us like to meander, take the backroads, and view all of the scenic turnouts, while others prefer to stay on the interstate. To accommodate interstate readers, I have highlighted the major points in green. Why green? It is associated with go (ha), it seems appropriate for spring, and mostly because it's my favorite color. By the way, if I had started that highlighting thing in this paragraph, that last sentence wouldn't have been green.
Origin of website
There is much controversy surrounding this subject. Some research seems to indicate yes, some no. Do women really talk more than men? For a while it was purported to be a fact. One study reported that women said three times as many words as men in a given day. This spurred research to explain why women were the chattier of the sexes. The findings pointed to a greater presence of a certain protein in the brain. A more recent study claims that women speak a tad more, but that there is no significant difference. No matter what the research says, females wear the wordy label. The trophy has been awarded. The winner has been announced. We are stuck with the reputation, as of now.
Being a person of many words is not generally perceived as a virtue. Remember the old quote: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt?" This bit of wisdom has been attributed to Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and others, but no one seems to be sure where it originated. It sounds like a take on Proverbs 17:28 to me. "Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue." Then there's this commentary on a wordy person from Ecclesiastes 10:14: "A fool also is full of words..."
About, oh, I'd say five years ago, something occurred to me. I noticed a trend that seemed to be pretty common among people. My observation was not new, just new to me. Here is my earth-shattering discovery: A person's greatest strength has the potential to be his greatest weakness. Think about it. A courageous person can find himself taking unnecessary risks. A generous person can become a spendthrift. A thoughtful person can be over-sensitive. You name it, there's a downside. What does all of this have to do with having a reputation of being wordy? Everything! If this strength/weakness thing is true, wouldn't the converse also be true? If being wordy is a weakness, couldn't it potentially be a strength? The answer is a resounding yes! Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue..." If I am going to be wordy, I will strive to be wordy for God's glory. Let my words bring life!
The story of the woman at the well is the story of the transformation of a human being. This transformation occurs right before our eyes. I just realized the last time I read it, that the woman's words are the Apostle John's primary means of revealing the change in her life. This should come as no surprise. Jesus said, "...whatever is in your heart determines what you say." (Matthew 12:34) Let's examine how an encounter with Jesus that changed her life also altered her speech.
This story is found in John chapter four. The scene opens with a tired, very human Jesus sitting down to rest from a journey. His resting place is Sychar, a town in Samaria. He is thirsty and sits down by a well. A Samaritan woman comes to draw some water. Jesus' first words to her were simply to ask her for a drink. Later in the story she mentions the fact that He has nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep, so we can conclude that He is asking her to do Him a favor. Try to visualize this, one human being asking another to meet the most basic physical need. It is not hard for her to do. She has the means. It would just take a moment of her time, and it's not like she would be depleting the well and leaving herself with less water. How does she respond? Surely she says, "Certainly sir." Sadly, this is not the case. Listen to her first words to a tired, thirsty man. "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" From the get go she uses words filled with suspicion and division. Jesus, in essence, replies to her that if she really knew who He was, she would be asking Him for a drink and He would give her living water. The next words that come out of her mouth are words of disbelief and sarcasm. "Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" Jesus tells her that whoever drinks of the water He offers will never be thirsty again. Her next words are selfish words, especially when we take into account the fact that there is no indication she has given Him a drink yet. "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." At this point Jesus tells her to go get her husband and come back. She responds with deceitful words. "I have no husband." Jesus says, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband." In her reply she evades this issue. "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Her reply is not only evasive, it is also racial "...you Jews..." Jesus explains that the place is of no consequence, but that true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Finally the woman speaks words of sincerity and anticipation. "I know that Messiah...is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us." Two of the versions I read began the next verse with this word "Then..." "Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am He." I once heard that this section of scripture is the longest recorded conversation of Jesus with another person. It's almost as though we sense Jesus wanting to reveal Himself to her from the beginning. What took so long? Could it be that He was waiting for her to surrender in her words? when she finally finished spitting out her deadly poison --- suspicion, division, disbelief, sarcasm, selfishness, deceitfulness, evasiveness, racism --- ("...no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." James 3:8) then Jesus gave her a new view. When her words were no longer bitter, her eyes could see better. Her confession of a genuine desire to know the Messiah touched Jesus. Her ugly words and her ugly lifestyle didn't keep Him from meeting the needs of her longing heart.
There is much evidence that this woman's encounter with Jesus completely transformed her life. "So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and said to the men, "Come see a man..." This verse declares two facts, She "left...and said..."
She left her water pot behind. She is no longer selfishly clinging to it, refusing to give Jesus even a drink. Now she has left the entire vessel behind. She relinquished her tiny treasure for riches untold.
Next we are informed that, "...she said..." In a few recorded words we see a tremendous difference in her speech. "Come see a man..." (she issued an invitation to others) "...who told me all the things that I have done." (she glorified Him for His super-human ability) "...this is not the Christ is it?" (in essence, she introduced Him as the Messiah). I love the fact that she retained her personality through her transformation. God loves who we are before we come to know Him. It's our sin He doesn't like. This woman had a natural knack for conveying her point through sarcasm. "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You?" After her encounter with Jesus "...this is not the Christ is it?" It was an effective way of communicating.
Years before this the Bible reveals the story of another woman at a well. This woman was chosen as the bride for the son of promise, Isaac. She was identified as the right bride for the son by her generosity at the well, which had been her source of livelihood. Jesus, the Son of promise, is ever looking for an unselfish bride to minister to Him. He longs for us to show compassion in the most basic ways. In fact, He makes this amazing statement in Matthew 10:42: "...if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." In speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus makes it plain that if we give Him our temporal life source, we will be rewarded with His eternal life source, Living Water.
John 4:39 tells us the result of the Samaritan woman's words. "From that city many of the Samaritan's believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified..." I was blown away when I realized the acronym for Word of Woman was WOW! The word of a woman has the potential to be the WOW factor in her life, if her words are His Words. As females, choosing worthy words over worldly words can add more sparkle to our lives than teeth whitener, and more color than the brightest shades of lipstick.
Being born female carries with it the reputation of being wordy. My goal is to be more and more transformed from a wordy woman into a Wordy woman, who influences others to believe in Him!
