Browsed by
Tag: idioms

Nothing to Write Home About

Nothing to Write Home About

Comments 0 Comment

Nothing to write home about-Grand Canyon photoJoseph C. Ives explored the Grand Canyon and Colorado River region in 1857 and 1858. He thought it was nothing to write home about. Although he admired the scenery, he described it as “altogether valueless.” He could not imagine anyone wanting to visit there.

I wonder what he would think if he could see the Grand Canyon’s millions of visitors today.

Nothing to write home about means something is nothing special.

It is:

  • Boring
  • Not very good
  • Unimportant

The expression can describe almost anything, including:

  • Food
  • Income
  • Places
  • Activities
  • Books
  • Movies

We don’t always agree on what is nothing to write home about.

 For example, do you enjoy:

  • Seafood?
  • A job with regular hours?
  • The Grand Canyon?
  • Tennis?
  • John Grisham books?
  • Hallmark Christmas movies?

Some of us like these. Others of us think they are for the birds.

Caring for one another is always something to write home about.

Jesus set the example of love in action. We do well to follow, through thick and thin.

“Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other” (1 Thessalonians 4:9 NIV).

Thanks to Jim Graybeal for the suggestion.

Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

Burst with Joy

Burst with Joy

Comments 9 comments

Burst with Joy--old silo with smiling faceI remember the first time I saw this silo. It looked like it would burst with joy. A freshly painted smiling face greeted every passing traveler.

To burst with joy means we are so full of joy we can hardly hold it.

Our cup runs over with happiness.

The years have been hard on my silo friend.

  • Its paint has faded. Yet, its smile remains.
  • Rain, wind, and storms have given it a hard time. Yet, it still stands.
  • Time will continue to take its toll. Yet, each change reveals the silo’s inner strength.

It still looks like it could burst with joy.

I love the lessons this old silo teaches.

  • Age changes our appearance. Yet, it does not have to take our smile.
  • Life’s storms beat against us. Yet, they don’t have to defeat us.
  • Time will take its toll on our lives. Yet, we can make the best of each life stage.

We can’t always choose our life circumstances. Yet, we can choose our attitude.

Thanksgiving reminds us to count our blessings.

  • If we have faith, family, and friends, we have more wealth than many in our world.
  • Food to eat, a home, and basic needs also make us richer than most.

When we share with others, our blessings grow.

May we never forget to thank God and the people who add joy to our lives.

Let’s also never forget to bless others.

Keep smiling. Let your life burst with joy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music” (Psalm 98:4 NIV).

What makes you burst with joy? Please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

Lipstick on a Pig

Lipstick on a Pig

Comments 2 comments

Lipstick on a Pig--baby pigWe can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.

Lipstick on a pig means we try to make something look better than it is.

  • A pretty plate does not make bad food taste good.
  • Fresh paint on a falling-down house does not make it safe.
  • A new building does not make a failing business succeed.

Change must occur inside as well as outside.

  • Cook better food to go on that pretty plate.
  • Repair the house and then paint it.
  • Change how the business in that new building operates.

Lipstick on a pig fools few people.

Often it fools no one.

Only true change makes a difference.

An improved appearance may make us feel better for a while. However, we must tackle the real problems for lasting change.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you” (Romans 12:2 TLB).

Thanks to Frank Cheatham for the suggestion.

Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

Run Deep

Run Deep

Comments 2 comments

Run Deep--tree roots on the groundRecently a cousin wrote, “Our roots run deep and are closely intertwined.” She meant our family has a long and strong history of close relationships. We may not see one another often, but our ties remain. We can depend on mutual love and support.

Anything that runs deep (or goes deep) stays strong.

 Family or friends give and receive:

  • Loyalty
  • Joy in good times
  • Sympathy and support in bad times
  • Commitment

We take our relationships seriously. We provide what others need when they need it.

If roots don’t run deep, we often fail when troubles come.

Like trees with surface roots, problems destroy our:

  • Relationships
  • Emotions
  • Sense of responsibility

When we root ourselves in the eternal, we survive the temporary.

By focusing on what matters most, we:

Therefore, let’s root ourselves in the never-failing promises of God. Then we can stand tall and stand firm through the hardest times.

“Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,  rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7 NIV).

Thanks to Rhonda Wade Royster for the suggestion.

Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Gone But Not Forgotten

Comments 2 comments

Gone But Not Forgotten--Liberty, KY Memorial Park wallLiberty, Kentucky’s Veterans Memorial Park includes three walls with names of local veterans. A Liberty Bell replica stands at the entrance and a fountain in the center. American flags line the back wall.

Some veterans with names on those walls still live. Others are gone but not forgotten.

Gone but not forgotten means we remember people or things no longer with us.

They may live somewhere else. Often, they have died.

Although gone but not forgotten usually refers to people, it also applies to:

  • Animals
  • Events
  • Possessions

Anything gone but not forgotten often reminds us of the good old days.

We recall:

  • Times shared with special people
  • Favorite activities
  • A different way of life

This Veterans Day, take time to thank veterans still living.

Many went far beyond the call of duty. Remember and honor those now gone.

“I thank my God every time I remember you” (Philippians 1:3 NIV).

Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

Tuckered Out

Tuckered Out

Comments 7 comments

Tuckered Out--man with mowerAfter mowing all day, most of us feel tuckered out. We have little energy and are too tired to move. Without rest, we will soon be under the weather.

Tuckered out means very tired, exhausted, or sleepy.

To stress how tired we feel, we might add that we are plumb tuckered out. Or, we might say we are plumb wore out. (Worn out is proper grammar, but wore out is commonly used.) We need to hit the hay.

 Other activities that make many of us plumb tuckered out include:

  • Gardening
  • Walking
  • Shopping

According to The Phrase Finder, “‘Tucker’ is a colloquial New England word.”

 It was “coined in the early 19th century, meaning ‘become weary’ and … ultimately derives from the Old English verb ‘tuck,’ meaning ‘punish; torment.’”

Several activities may feel like punishment or torment:

  • Housecleaning
  • Pulling weeds in the hot sun
  • Moving heavy boxes
  • Washing a sink full of dirty dishes

Yet, getting tuckered out often makes us feel good.

Although tired, we finished what we needed or wanted to do. Whether fun activities or not, we can thank God for the ability to do them.

“[God] gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak” (Isaiah 40:29 TLB).

What leaves you tuckered out? Please comment below.

Thanks to Charles Smithers for the plumb tuckered out suggestion. Thanks to Emily Akin for plumb wore out.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

Wring Our Hands

Wring Our Hands

Comments 3 comments

Wring Our Hands -- woman wringing handsWe cannot sleep. We cannot eat, or we eat too much. We wring our hands until the skin almost comes off.

Does that sound familiar?

To wring our hands is one sign of worry.

We twist our hands and rub them together over and over again. However, we often do nothing about what worries us. Rather than try to fix the problem, we spend all our time as a worry wart.

We:

  • Worry about our bills but fail to follow a budget
  • Complain about young people but don’t show them a better way
  • Cry over hungry children but never help feed them
  • Complain about the government but refuse to vote

Wringing our hands will not make a difference.

Rather than waste time worrying, why not lift our hands in prayer. But let’s not stop there. Why not also put feet to our prayers?

Seek God’s guidance. Then do something to improve the situation.

We cannot change all the world’s problems. We can change a few.

Will we dare to make a difference?

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life” (Matthew 6:25 NIV).

Thanks to Tillie Cowherd for the suggestion.

Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

Under Your Wing

Under Your Wing

Comments 0 Comment

Under Your Wing, hen with chicks under wingsWhen a storm approaches, a mother hen gathers her baby chicks under her wing. She wants to keep them safe.

If you take people under your wing, you care for them.

You batten down the hatches during life’s storms by:

  • Protecting them
  • Loving them
  • Meeting their needs

Taking someone under your wing may require little or much time.

  • Older students tutor younger students.
  • Bosses guide new workers.
  • Friends take care of a sick friend.
  • Neighbors offer a place to stay when another neighbor loses her home.
  • Relatives rear a child when its parents die.

Look for opportunities to care for a hurting world.

  • Show love in all you do.
  • Help the hopeless see light at the end of the tunnel.
  • Give financial help to people going through hard times.
  • Show respect to everyone, whether you agree with them or not.
  • Treat people the way you want to be treated.
  • Don’t get mad as a wet hen when you don’t get your way.
  • Ask God to guide you in all you do and say.

“[God] will cover you with His feathers;
you will take refuge under His wings.
His faithfulness will be a protective shield” (Psalm 91:4 HCSB).

Thanks to Carole Fite for the suggestion and to Pam Barnes Harlow for the photo.

Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

Wait for the Next Shoe to Drop

Wait for the Next Shoe to Drop

Comments 3 comments

Wait for the Next Shoe to Drop--shoe hanging beside bedWhen we sleep in a room with thin walls, we don’t want noisy neighbors. If those neighbors live in the room above us, we often wait for the next shoe to drop.

To wait for the next shoe to drop means to wait for the next event to happen.

A noisy neighbor drops one shoe. We know the next shoe will soon follow.

Because of what has already happened, we predict what will happen next.

This expression usually means we wait for something bad to happen.

We receive bad news. We expect worse news soon.

  • A family member gets sick. We fear our loved one will die.
  • Our boss fires other workers. We expect to lose our job soon.
  • A rainstorm damages our property. We dread flooding that may follow.

What do we do when the next shoe drops?

Hard times may cause us to:

The reaction we choose changes our lives. It also changes the lives of others around us.

“Stop being afraid of what you are about to suffer … Remain faithful even when facing death and I will give you the crown of life—an unending, glorious future” (Revelation 2:10).

Thanks to Ann Klotz for the suggestion.

Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

A Little Better than Plumb

A Little Better than Plumb

Comments 5 comments

A Little Better than Plumb--Henry and Janice Holt Giles cabinIf anything is plumb, it is perfectly straight.

It is exact. Therefore, a little better than plumb is not really better. Instead, it is:

  • Off plumb
  • Out of plumb
  • Not straight

Kentucky authors Henry and Janice Holt Giles wrote about building their cabin in the book A Little Better than Plumb: The Biography of a House.

One worker asked another if what they just nailed was plumb. The reply: “Sure was. Fact is … hit was jist a little bit better’n plumb ….” The Giles’ discovered that several parts of their cabin were a little better than plumb.

Read more about the Giles family and their cabin in the September 2019 Kentucky Monthly magazine.

A Little Better than Plumb -- plumb lineA plumb line helps measure whether anything is straight or plumb.

A metal weight (plumb bob) at the end of a line holds the line straight. It may be low tech, but it works.

Our lives often get off plumb or out of plumb.

We leave the straight and narrow and end up in hot water. Yet, God offers us a fresh start.

If we accept that fresh start, God expects us, like plumb lines, to show others the perfect way.

“I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line” (Isaiah 28:17 NIV).

Thanks to Jeri Stone for the suggestion and to Iva and Jewel Wade for the plumb line photo.

Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.