Through the years, through the many years of my life’s journey, one of the several constants has been my love of our language used well, both written and spoken.

It is a gift, the ability to use words really well, one not given to most of us.

Isn’t it interesting, though, that the body turns to dust in time, but the words of some remain immortal? O. Henry made this observation as he lay dying in a darkened room in a New York City hospital.

Few, if any, could martial words more effectively than Winston S. Churchill. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also had the gift. Theirs also was the great gift of oratory. They could make the words they wrote soar when spoken.

Enough preface. Please let me share with you a miniscule sampling of the written words that I have tucked away over the years, much of it didactic.

“ … sound mental health requires a satisfactory life-purpose and faith in a friendly universe.” (WWII chaplain)

“The notion of self-sacrifice is not one that comes easily in American culture today.” (George Wiegel)

“Open your eyes … and see what you can with them before they close forever.” (Anthony Doerr)

“The living have the cause of the dead in trust.” (Osmar White – WWII reporter)

“ … The efforts of the living, with all their works and wars and great buildings, were no more than the beat of a wing against the weight of time.”

(Sebastian Faulks)

“All the money anyone needs is just enough to prevent one from being a burden on others.” (Bishop Milton Wright)

“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

(Anatole France)

“Sic transit gloria mundi.” (Anon — Thus passes the glory of this world.)

“The loss of a loved one is beyond man’s repairing.” (Henry Stimson)

“In the sea of grief there were (are) islands of grace.” (source not recorded)

“ … outsoared the shadow of our night.” (source not recorded)

“Some see things as they are, and ask ‘why?’ I dream things that never were, and ask ‘why not?’” (Shaw — quoted by Robert F. Kennedy)

Let me end this with something that just might describe me.

“I was drifting away on the quiet tide of my own irrelevance.” (source not recorded)

While I don’t possess the remarkable gifts of those who use our language so wonderfully well, I am blessed to recognize and appreciate their talents. For that I am grateful.

Let’s meet here again next weekend.