Six words can say a lot

I once worked at a church which built a new sanctuary. In front of the new building was one of those lighted signs that holds plastic letters. Someone would have the responsibility of changing the message on that sign each week. Since I was the low man on the totem pole, that responsibility became mine.
Changing the sign required me to prop open the plexiglass cover, remove all the old letters, and insert the new message, taking care to center each line. I enjoyed this for a few weeks and then reality began to set in. It got more and more difficult to think of clever, witty sayings which would convict sinners and bless saints while offending no one. And when the temperature was anywhere in the vicinity of freezing, changing the sign lost its charm completely.
It’s a challenge to convey a meaningful message in just a few words. A few months ago I read a small book called Not Quite What I Was Planning. The book consists of numerous people’s attempts to sum up their lives using only six words; the title itself is one person’s mini-autobiography. I was charmed by the book and have shared it with many people and encouraged them to choose their own six-word summaries. I made several tries at summing up myself: “A cookie? Yes, I’d love one.” Or “Baptist dilemma: loved music, couldn’t dance.” I came up with some serious ones, too … like “You can’t outlove God. But try.” And “I can’t. God can. We will.”
I wish I’d read that book back when I was changing the sign every week; having a definite number of words to use forces you to be creative, to distill your ideas down to the bare essentials. Can you capture yourself in six words? Give it a try. Email me your results at mrobertson@riverbend.com. I think you’ll be surprised how much you can get into six words. After all, it only takes three to say “God is love.”
Here are six more: “Choose your words; share your story.”