a dress of Christmas green

My knees object a bit
as I kneel on the floor near the wood chest. I wipe the dust away with my shirt sleeve and open the lid.

An earthy cedar scent infuses the air. My hands touch the treasured memories held softly inside. Ribbon, tulle, polyester, satin, sequins, corduroy and lace. I uncover the fabric my fingertips seek.

Green velvet. A dress for a girl, size 3T.
I remember
a mother struggling,
a young woman exhausted.

Impoverished by circumstances.

Lost in a sea of crimson promises.

Burgundy dresses in velvety splendor, the color of berries and bright holiday reds, without a shade of deepest green.

Is velvet in a different shade the selfish desire of her childish heart?

A spark of joy cast into the black void of hopelessness, the sea of darkness she is drowning in this Christmas?

A wish for her children, a life path different from her own?

An abundant life, one she knows she can't provide?

Like Joseph
an earthly man
takes on a quest.

He wins my heart with
a dress of Christmas green.

And God will generously provide all you need
... and plenty left over to share with others.
2 Corinthians 9:8 NLT

Rw

Spumoni

Preferring tidy boundaries, I hesitate to mix things up. Faced with the multifarious offerings of Baskin Robbins, I choose two scoops, one flavor: maple nut. My husband lives more deliciously.

One favorite, Spumoni, is a 3-layer creation infused with pistachio pieces, chocolate chunks and bits of cherries. We first discover Spumoni at an Italian restaurant, after he is promoted from
the on-site construction team into the corporate office. His new job includes weekly travel, airports and suits-n-ties. Our Tuesday-morning routine is dropping Dad at the airport; our Thursday night his homecoming.

The taste of Spumoni takes me back to 1988, a rented 2-bedroom apartment, sharing one car, decorating sugar cookies Wednesday night, serving potato soup with grated and sliced cheese, and a crusty bread, for our dinner on Christmas Eve.

Our meal blends robust cheeses nestled inside gifted boxes with simple ingredients: whole milk, potatoes, parsley, butter, salt, bread. A poinsettia on our table, one just like it gifted to other couples existing the company holiday party, an upscale hotel.
A paper plate angel on our tree.
Sugar cookies as dessert.

Tearing off the outer wrappings, the crisp suits-n-ties corporate culture of this shiny American holiday, reveals a quiet simplicity
... a young family working and making ends meet at Christmas.

Sharing potato soup with grated and sliced cheese, and a crusty bread for dinner on Christmas Eve. We continue our tradition.

After all these years, I am learning how to live more deliciously.

"What I'm interested in seeing you do is:

sharing your food with the hungry,

inviting the homeless poor into your homes,

putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,

being available to your own families."

Isaiah 58:7 MSG

"Then the light of my blessing

will shine on you like the rising sun."

Isaiah 58:8 NIRV

Rw
.

Island of Misfit Toys

Getting out of my 1998 Saturn in a parking lot full of shiny new cars, I am aware that I do not fit in here. My battered paperback New Testament The Message looks shabby compared to the leather encased Holy Bible across the table, King James Version stamped in formal gold letters on its spine. The suit-n-tie set, especially those with instant Biblical recall, memorized chapter and verse citations, often leave me feeling like a misfit.

Yet, I choose to come here - or go there - to venture outside my comfortable community in Christ, to spend time in churches within the greater community.

This morning, as I read from
Colossians, the Island of Misfit Toys comes to mind ... the
jack-in-the-box named Charlie ... the spotted elephant ... a choo choo with square wheels on the caboose ... a water pistol shooting jelly ... the bird that swims but cannot fly ... the cowboy who rides an ostrich ... a little boat unable to afloat.

Alongside the suit-n-tie set, dressed in my jeans and scruffy shoes, I am often uncomfortably under dressed. Sometimes,
no matter what I am wearing, I am entirely uncomfortable.

It is not my wardrobe, the clothing and shoes selected from my closet. I choose to come here - or go there - somewhere deep inside, embracing the crippling voice of the enemy, cruel whispered memories, echoed lies: "You cannot and do not fit in."

All the old fashions are now obsolete. 

Words like... insider and outsider, 

uncivilized and uncouth, 

slave and free, mean nothing. 

From now on everyone is defined by Christ, 

everyone is included in Christ. 

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, 

dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: 

compassion, kindness, humility, 

quiet strength, discipline... 

regardless of what else you put on, wear love.  

Colossians 3

My faith community is an island of misfits, a vibrant reef of Christ followers, that outsiders may interpret as lawless and misguided. My experience says otherwise. The peace of Christ keeps us in tune with each other. Christ's love gives us the strength to serve others in His name.

Suits-n-ties. Jeans-n-scruffy-shoes. We are all misfits, hindered by square wheels, or swimming because we were not taught to fly. Like Santa who cherishes and repairs the misfit toys, Christ is working within us, inviting us to accept our place in God's plan for all creation.

All are welcome here!

Rw


Photo Credit

Today is Fathers Day!

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to

open your mouth and remove all doubt.

—Abraham Lincoln ... or Mark Twain?

Google is unsure.

Yahoo, Ask and Wiki too.

In the absence of citation, does the quote become a simple maxim? A nugget of homespun wisdom? A word of caution to a blogger, from her husband?

I often open my mouth. I often open my mouth and wantonly risk revealing that I am a fool. I am painfully aware of my humanity.

Even a fool is considered wise when she keeps silent,

discerning, when she seals her lips.

—Proverbs 17:28 HCSB *

A fool does not find joy in understanding

but only in expressing her own opinion.

—Proverbs 18:2 GW *

I want to read for myself, discover and experience understanding, risk asking God to reveal. I want to revel in the 'ah ha' moments.

This morning in reading the family tree of Jesus, there is an 'ah ha' moment, a big reveal, something I missed before: the name of Joseph, in cadence with the list of biological fathers who came before him in Jesus' family tree. Matthew 1

Joseph, an adoptive father, is father. Undifferentiated. I find joy in this affirmation of adoptive fatherhood as fatherhood. Are there other adoptive fathers in the family tree of Jesus?

I treasure the Josephs around me, precious men who parent through the torment of the cruel and insane question society so often asks: "But who is their real father?"

Those who consider themselves religious and yet

do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves,

and their religion is worthless.

James 1:26 NIV

Religion that God our Father accepts as

pure and faultless is this:

to look after orphans and widows in their distress

and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:27 NIV

I am inspired by precious men around me, fathers like Joseph who love the children God placed in their care.

Today is Fathers Day! Let's celebrate the Josephs!

Rw


* adjusted for gender, i am inherently a she

Man Club

This remnant from a Sunday lunch with my husband sat on my desk for a couple weeks before resurfacing this morning, a stark contrast to the images included within my Nov 23 blog.

When I first open the cookie and read this fortune, I smile and imagine presenting it to the gatekeepers of Man Club, a vibrant and 'off limits' group within my faith community. Man Club is 'off limits' because I am a woman. And, I am ok with that.

Readers who've known me a long time, may need to read it aloud: "The group 'Man Club' is off limits to Renee because she is a woman. And, she is ok with that."

For a very long time I wasn't ok in being excluded by my gender. I fought against perceived barriers, expended precious energy trying to go places that an elusive "they" said I couldn't go.

The selfishness of my mindset hit home one Sunday morning. A friend expressed hurt in being unwelcome as a pastor/teacher within churches because he was divorced. Another friend pointed out that she's been excluded from teaching within these same churches from the day of her birth, simply by being born female. My heart grieved for my sister in faith, I've experienced her pain. And, throughout our remaining time together, my heart cried out in anguish for my dear brother in Christ.

Though a man may express wonder at the kick of the growing child within his wife's womb, only she will feel the first flutter of life, the tiny sensation from deep within.

There are countless others who will experience neither the kick nor the flutter.

All humanity is excluded in this fallen and broken world.

Christ came to save us. Christ asks us to pray:

"Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."
Matthew 6

The words Jesus gives us in the "Our Father" offer the promise of God's kingdom in heaven AND on earth.

The selfishness of my exclusionary gender mindset is not based in historical fact nor Biblical truth. Like the fortune cookie, invented decades ago by Japanese Americans, my frustration is based in perceptions skewed by years of marketing and socialization, images and ideas assimilated from our broken and fallen world.

I am invited to be a woman of integrity, to respond with my abilities, to be part of God's plan to bring heaven to earth.

All are invited. Women and Men. All Humanity.

All are invited to integrity in Christ.

Rw
.

Creator, Savior, Sanctifier

My faith community uses a movie theater for worship on Sunday mornings. The space is available, affordable and accessible, especially to those of us whose wounds are associated with more traditional religious architectures. Our pastor stands at the lowest level of the theater. The teaching illustrations are displayed larger than life on the full size movie screen behind him.

For the past few weeks our study of Revelation has moved slowly. We are at a difficult and complex point:

Revelation 17:3-6 the Wh*re on the Scarlet Beast.

This morning as I searched for
an image, both Google and Yahoo blocked 'adult content' from my results. Even with the filters, the images on my computer screen were deleterious, my humanity indisputably injured by exposure to evil.

I hear the enemy whisper twisted teachings, see the Wh*re as a willing co-conspirator within me.

In the absence of the feminine pronouns she, her, She, Her... my 5th grade feminist often casts aside Biblical teachings as 'not me'. I do not want our Creator referred to as a sterile genderless It, yet I long for a more inclusive language. I get sidelined by the pronouns, dismissing much that is written as male, he, his, He, His... taking myself out of the game.

I forget that ALL are created in God's image, female and male.

A beautiful blonde Bride of Christ stands in contrast to the brunet Wh*re and her Scarlet Beast. My heart is open and hopeful, healed by the images of the cities lighting her gown. And the woman/child within me is deeply troubled. I am a brunet.


The 5th grade feminist, the woman/child within me, the champion of whispered hopes, contemplates the harm: the whispered and twisted teachings of our enemy, the possibility that our men get sidelined by the female images of the Wh*re and the Bride, and risk taking themselves out of the game.

Eve and Adam. Female and Male. Sisters and Brothers.

Not promiscuity and purity, but Integrity.

The Pinnacle of God's Creation.

Humanity. Me and You.

Siblings saved from the cruel whispers of the enemy by Christ's willingness to die for us.

His willingness to die for us ... for all of us.

Rw

Illustration Credit Wh*re

Illustration Credit Bride

5th grade feminist
.

Tracks

A fresh snow fell Saturday.

In the evening, on our walk, Harley was quite skittish.

The next morning, as the sun came up, Dozer was quite intrigued.

At first glance, I thought it a teenage prank? Someone walking in animal slippers, on their tiptoes? Perhaps a neighbor's new and very large dog? Walking unleashed, without human companion?

Starting at the east end of our street, the tracks meander back and forth from curb to curb heading mostly west, then turning south - crossing the paw prints the dogs and I left Saturday evening - and continuing onto our lawn, around the willow tree, through our garden and under our clothesline, before cutting behind the adjoining property's garage and heading south down our alley. We are not country dwellers. The heart-of-downtown is just four blocks away. Our neighborhood isn't a place I'd expect to see tracks this big.

On Saturday evening, during our walk, a fresh and unblemished snow covered our lawn.

On Sunday morning, the intersection of my own footprint with an 8" track, unnerves me.

Looking at my photos, my ever logical husband observes, 

"that's really not a very large bear."

Huh? The dogs and I were much more concerned about proximity!

Rw

.

Bacon and Sausage

The alarm clock rang at 5am. I got out of bed, hit the snooze button, went to the kitchen to fry bacon and sausage. I don't remember the last time we purchased breakfast meats. Typically we're a bagel and fiber bar house, enjoying something heart- healthy with our coffee.

The hardier breakfast fare is a seasonal celebration. Today is the opening morning of gun season for white tailed deer. Sunrise 7:08am.

If I were a gambler, I'd put my money on the one in the middle to bring home a buck. She got up early to exercise, ate fruit and yogurt for breakfast.

The rest of us? Well...

Rw

"And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. 

And God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures 

according to their kinds: the livestock, 

the creatures that move along the ground, 

and the wild animals, each according to its kind.' 

And it was so. God made the wild animals 

according to their kinds, 

the livestock 

according to their kinds, 

and all the creatures that move along the ground 

according to their kinds. 

And God saw that it was good. 

Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, 

in our likeness, so that they may rule over 

the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, 

over the livestock and all the wild animals, 

and over all the creatures 

that move along the ground.'

So God created mankind in his own image, 

in the image of God he created them; 

male and female he created them."

Genesis 1:23-27

.

Harley's First Snow

My husband and I grew up with winter, as did our Black Lab mix, Dozer. Our handsome rescued Papillon, Harley, came to us from Texas this past April.

As the weather cooled and autumn promised winter, my husband and I speculated on Harley's reaction to his first snow. We laughed in anticipation of Harley's confusion and surprise as he discovered cold white winter. When I looked out the window this morning, I quietly slipped a camera into my coat pocket, preparing to capture the moment on my morning walk with Harley.

Pocketing the leash and a couple baggies for any mess he might deposit along the way, I invited Harley on our morning walk like today was just another day. And Harley rose to the occasion.

With no other dogs in sight, Harley walked without his leash. Staying within the familiar and defined space of the wet concrete sidewalk, he sniffed at the strange white stuff covering the lawn, perhaps touching his nose briefly to the icy cold. He walked east. He sniffed and strolled at his usual pace, staying to the sidewalk, until we got to the 4th house on our block. Turning south in the walkway leading to the neighbor's front porch, Harley sniffed the shriveled flowerbeds. He turned, backing tushy-first over the plants, and did his business, keeping all 4 paws on the sidewalk ...

... then ran back toward our house at full speed, leaping up the steps of our front porch and skidding to a stop at the front door.
I laughed.

Every morning Harley is a languishing walker, expecting an extended route, several blocks of sniff and stroll. Today, in the snow, he was efficient in the space of a few adjoining front yards, getting back to the front porch a full 40 feet in front of me.

This is when I got out the camera, as Harley waited on the front porch, looking longingly at the front door, then back at me.

I could almost hear him saying, "Gitty up!"

Good people take good care of their animals, 

but the wicked know only how to be cruel.

Proverbs 12:10

Rw

.

EZ Love and Respect

This morning included coffee with friends, a fun and intelligent pair of friends, two people expressing a partnership in marriage. Each person is working at being married, approaching life in partnership, not only with each other but with God.

As we sip our coffee, I hear them speak and see them listen.
I witness them nurturing strengths and admitting weaknesses, encouraging new ideas and risking imperfection. I see a marriage working. Love and respect. Transparency and honesty.

My first marriage ended in divorce. I am a woman twice married.

Morning Glory once asked how I knew the man beside me was the one for me, the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
I thought about it for a moment. I think about it now. My response was and is honest, risky. For me, it is not so much promising to spend the rest of our lives together, as it is loving this man so much that I cannot imagine my life without him.

In a culture where so many couples get caught up in children-first, spouse-second, it is hard to stay focused. As a mother, I know in my heart that I would die to save my children.

As a wife, am I ready and willing to die for my husband?

I, the Lord, am your God ... have no other gods besides me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
You shall not covet your neighbor's spouse.
You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

If I choose to define adultery as physical intimacy with someone not my spouse, I can simply check off item 6. Gold star there!
Not committing adultery often appears to be EZ. If I am honest, staying faithful requires so much more.

While spending time with my friends, do I find myself embellishing faults, whining about being misunderstood and unappreciated, sharing unflattering stories, betraying my husband with my words? Do I politely say no to my friends who are sharing inappropriately with me?

Do I parent with him or against him? If the children see us fight, are we transparent in our resolution? Do we present a united front to our children? Or, are children in our home allowed to manipulate us, playing one against the other?

Do I race to the mailbox, hoping to get the credit card bills or bank statements before he does, keeping my secret spending a secret? Are there emails I don't want him to read? Phone numbers on my cell I couldn't let him call? Is there anything I am hiding?

Focusing on the newer cars, nicer houses, and dinners out that others seem to enjoy, do I forget to appreciate our home, our car, our groceries?

When did I most recently pray for my husband? With him?

Do I even know if he prays?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

My husband is my closest of neighbors.

Our wedding day was a beginning, two people pledging themselves to each other. Today celebrates a life in partnership not only with each other but with God.

Love and respect. Transparency and honesty.

God said, "My presence will go with you.
I'll see the journey to the end."

Exodus 33:14

Rw


EZ Love and Respect copyright 2011 rjw (there's a book in here somewhere)

EZ Autumn Blossoms

In the shadowed
northwest corner of
the flower bed
surrounding
our front porch,
strong purple blossoms
atop delicate stems
await the arrival
of midday sun.

Basking in
the warmth of
southern exposure,
a precocious yellow flower
with rich orange center
signals the inner
vitality of her family,
even as her sisters
emerge as seed.

The honeysuckle
is not an early riser,
but a slowly
awakening bloom.
She will play outside
long after her neighborhood
playmates lay down to rest.
Through frigid icy months
she will wear her foliage,
a warm and rugged coat,
sheltering chirping birds.


Resting in God's care, the flowers do not worry about tomorrow, but live and bloom and seed in autumn harmony, in close proximity to one another, in the care of our Creator.

In the cold predawn shadows, when my rest is interrupted by the toxic speculation of anxiety, will I fondle the dark and dangerous gods of what if... ?

I, the Lord, am your God ... have no other gods besides me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
You shall not covet your neighbor's spouse.
You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

Or choose passionate belief in Christ?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Like the flowers we are invited to grow and rest, each in her own season, each in harmony with others.

Strong and delicate. Precocious and vital.

We are not to worry about the storms expected tonight, but intentionally engage God, spending our earthbound seasons sharing the promise of gentle rains and fertile soil, protective blankets of snow, and the warmth of the sunlight.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6

Rw


EZ Autumn Blossoms copyright 2011 rjw (there's a book in here somewhere)

EZ Coffee Rules

My self-imposed limit, 8oz coffee daily, lasted about 3 weeks. The weather turned colder and a full 14oz mug of steaming liquid felt more substantial. A day or so later, a second splash from carafe to cup was too tempting to resist, and by the end of that week my return to a multiple-cup habit was complete.

I didn't intend to give up coffee, or even limit my consumption for an extended period of time. I set no other parameters nor goals.

What amazes me is how quickly my habit returned once I quit focusing on the well-defined 8oz limit, once the measuring cup was returned to its drawer.

A wood placard hangs above a door in my office. I've owned it for more than a decade, and remember vividly the day it became mine. I was shopping with my parents and my sister, the one closest to me in age. Reading the sign, I laughed aloud at the sentiment. Dad didn't see the humor.

I want to believe the placard is mine simply because it made me laugh. In reality, Dad's less-then-enthusiastic reaction played a bigger part in my decision than I want to admit. My joy was actually enhanced by his displeasure. Why is that?

Within the child me resides a measuring stick for success, a tidy chart with room for lots of gold stars.

I, the Lord, am your God. You shall have no other gods besides me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
You shall not covet your neighbor's spouse.
You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

The twenty-something me hated being treated like a child. She threw temper tantrums. She crashed the fences of limits and parameters like a teenager breaking curfew.

The thirty-something me crash landed, limping away from the wreckage that was once my faith and walking away from the church.

In Christ, God gives me new rules, a new Ruler.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

God's joy was not dissuaded by my displeasure. Why is that?

Rw

.

EZ Coffee Rules copyright 2011 rjw (there's a book in here somewhere)

EZ

I believed faith would be EZ:

• an ancient stone stairway with beautiful wood handrails and arched windows framing breathtaking views
• an urban fire escape connecting landings filled with pretty potted gardens and vintage stools for sitting
• a well-maintained ladder anchored in a sturdy brick wall.

I believed my fear of heights would vanish and the path upward would be a straight forward list of 10 steps:

I, the Lord, am your God... no other gods besides me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
You shall not covet your neighbor's spouse.
You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

It is not EZ. I am standing beneath a ladder fastened 40 feet in the air, maybe higher. Even with intense athletic training and Olympic-level gifted physical ability, I could not make a leap high enough to grasp and hang from the lowest rung. I am going to need help, lots and lots of help. I am going to need to do some work. I need to let go of my simple checklist and pride in my own behavior, ease my tight-fisted grasp on control.

My hands and heart need to be open:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, 

neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, 

nor any powers, neither height nor depth, 

nor anything else in all creation, 

will be able to separate us from the love of God 

that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:38-39

Me + God ≠  EZ.

Rw

.



Upending Einstein

EZ copyright 2011 rjw (there's a book in here somewhere)

in the midst of our own uncertainty

When you bring blessing to any other in the midst of your own uncertainty and the depth of the complexity of your own life, when you bring the blessing of the radical Word of God into any human life, you are speaking in tongues. You are speaking language that defies the power of Babel. You are building bridges that somehow get to the very depth of what every human heart desires.
—Dan Allender

As I listen to this podcast, I scramble to scribble down the words, my heart pounding with recognition. Uncertainty, an asphalt layer of darkness lurking just beneath my skin, is an almost constant companion.

My confidence in writing experiences a hiccup. Or perhaps cardiac arrest? I find it difficult to access my inner voice. My writing, the words of my blog, inflicted pain. It happened. I am aware. In that moment, warmth and sunlight evaporate, give way to the bitter cold of self-doubt, uncertainty. The asphalt layer hardens.

In that moment, I want to give up, to retreat from this seemingly insane quest.

Topics. Speaking. Changing minds and hearts. A list lays on my desk, to the left of my keyboard...
empowerment
vulnerability
heaven on earth
we can take it with us
not the $
but the people
relationships
Yes. No.

My heart desires the building of bridges, words of encouragement and affirmation, the richness of vulnerability and transparency in radical defiance of societal expectations and cultural divides. Human connection in Christ.

The complexity of the journey continues to astonish me.

Rw

list Undone

Babel Genesis 11:1-9

.

a sky so full of promise

a sky so full of promise it inspires me to prayer

Approaching Twilight

.

Unhinged

Then the Spirit sent [Jesus] out at once into the desert, and 

there he remained for forty days while Satan tempted him. 

During this time no one was with him but wild animals, 

and only the angels were there to care for him.

Mark 1:12-13

Like a mosquito buzzing in my ear, the word 'secular' said aloud, more than distracts me. I become unhinged. Hearing the word sets off warning sirens within me. I presume that what follows will be divisive, an 'us v. them' mentality, revealing an exclusionary mindset within the speaker.

Or is it within me?

I summarily dismiss the speaker, her or his humanity, based on 

3 simple syllables:

sec·u·lar

In becoming unhinged, do I embrace the enemy's invitation and willfully close my ears to the ideas that follow? Unlike Jesus who was sent there by the Spirit, do I scurry willingly into the desert at satan's beckoning? Forgoing the care of angels? Do I dismiss God's gifts in the person speaking, as I embrace my own judgmental and indignant prejudice?

prej·u·dice

an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.

Eliciting a similar response is another 3 syllable word:

right·eous·ness

In a world where we absorb our vocabulary in childhood, I become unhinged when people use words that feel threatening to me.

A 3-year-old's vocabulary typically is between 200 and 300 words, and many kids begin to string words together in short sentences.

I am a child, in need of the care of angels.

Rw

.