What’s in a word?

The beautiful Mary Alessi

I’ve always been a bit of a word geek; in fact a perfect evening for me would be a Scrabblathon with a hefty serving of chocolate on the side…

But what fascinates me most is the way we may think we understand a word for decades and then realise it might actually mean the complete opposite.

One example of this is the word “shadow” or, more specifically, “overshadow”. These words have always spoken of darkness, danger and domination to me.

And I believed the Bible backed up this view:

• 1 Chronicles 29:15b and Job 8:9: “Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.”
• Psalm 11:2: “The wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.”
• Isaiah 59:9b: “We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
• Psalm 23:4 speaks of “the valley of the shadow of death”, while Job 16:16 talks about “dark shadows” around the afflicted man’s eyes and James 1:17 says that God is not changeable like “shifting shadows”.

So shadows are bad, right?

Well actually, I was overwhelmed by the number of positive references I found:

• Isaiah 32:2: “Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.” Isaiah makes several references to being hidden/covered in the shadow of God’s hand.
• Acts 5:15: “As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.”
• And of course there are many references to being hidden in the shadow of God’s wings in Psalms.

Okay, so “shadow” is a little hazy (excuse the pun), but “overshadow” can’t possibly be positive – can it? This is how the dictionary defines it: “To cast a shadow over; darken or obscure” and “to make insignificant by comparison; dominate”. Case closed, then.

Well, that’s not the way the Bible uses the word. American songwriter and worship leader Mary Alessi points out that the two key instances of the word – just prior to Jesus’ conception and at His transfiguration – are incredibly positive:

• Luke 1:35: “The angel replied [to Mary]: ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.’”
• Mark 9:7: “And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son: hear him.’”

 I also found the following great usages of the word, and I’m sure there are others (please feel free to add these in the comments below):

• 1 Kings 8:7: “The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles.”
• Ezekiel 31:3: “Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest; it towered on high, its top above the thick foliage.”

As Mary Alessi explains, it is the source of the shadow that makes the difference. If our ‘source’ is in or of the world, we are likely to end up feeling insignificant and defeated when we are overshadowed. But God’s overshadowing represents his presence, his protection and the pleasure he takes in our growth and success.

  

Read more from Joy in the upcoming issue of Liberti magazine.

Mirror image

Photo credit: MabMeddowsMercury

I’ve been thinking about mirrors a lot lately. That probably sounds pretty vain, but there are several reasons why the looking glass has become a recurring theme for me in recent weeks.

I can’t deny the fact that I’ve been spending some time standing in front of every mirror in my flat recently. Am I that good looking? I hear you ask. Well, no. The fact is, I just can’t stop checking out the ever-expanding abscess in my throat. It probably sounds a bit sinister, but I have to keep looking at it so I can figure out how this red lump of puss inside my mouth has completely taken over my life.

You think I’m exaggerating, but I can’t eat, sleep, talk, drink or swallow. At one point I stopped breathing and had to go to A&E. But although it’s excruciating and hideous-looking, I’m utterly fascinated by it. Maybe deep down I think that if I look at it long enough I’ll suss out how to regain the upper hand.

Mirrors cropped up again when I read a BBC news story about a new piece of technology that promises to revolutionise the way we shop. Basically, it’s a virtual mirror that takes a picture of you and then allows you to virtually ‘try on’ dozens of outfits in a matter of minutes.

No more taking 17 items into the changing room to find you can only try three at a time. No more pulling clothes on and off hangers and working up more of a sweat than you would on the treadmill! You’ll be able to try stuff you’d never normally consider and you can even send the images to your friends to get their feedback.

Having said this, the technology probably won’t become mainstream for some time, and it could end up breaking the bank with so many combinations at our fingertips. Most importantly, it’s bound to attract cubicles full of teenage girls sending pictures of themselves to everyone they know.

The next mirror element sprang to mind during the trial of Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s now infamous doctor. Although I didn’t really follow the case, I couldn’t avoid the influx of jokes about how “bad” Murray was, and what a “smooth criminal” he had been.

With mirrors already on my mind, I started reflecting (excuse the pun) on one of my favourite Jackson songs; no prizes for guessing which one. I realised I’d sung along to it hundreds of times without really thinking about the significance of the words.

I'm starting with the man in
the mirror,
I'm asking him to change
his ways.
And no message could have
been any clearer:
If you wanna make the world
a better place,
Take a look at yourself, and
then make a change.

Whatever you think about the king of pop himself, these are powerful words. It seems Michael spent his life struggling with ‘mirror fever’, consumed by self-image, narcissism and self-hatred.

I’ve stood in front of the mirror countless times and hated my reflection. But I’ve also been pleasantly surprised at by the way I looked on some occasions. I don’t like to admit it, but the way I look has a profound effect on my mood in the same way that my mood has the power to change the way I see myself.

“Man in the Mirror” asks us to examine not only our external blemishes, but our internal ones; to correct our own behaviours before setting the world to rights. This reminded me of a well-known Bible quotation:

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye’, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:4-5). I think this is the same point Jacko was making.

Then a Bible verse specifically about mirrors sprang to mind: “Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like” (James 1:23-24).

This is a call for us to act on what we read in the Bible rather than just sticking it back on the shelf. If you look in the mirror and feel confident about your appearance, but immediately forget what you saw when you leave the house, you’ll lose that confidence and look for it in other places. The Bible makes so much sense!

Anyway, you’re probably fed up with mirror analogies by now, so I’m off to check out my angry abscess once again. And maybe while I’m standing in front of the glass, I’ll be asking Him to change my ways. 

Read more from Joy in the upcoming edition of Liberti magazine.