Ah! The thrill of playing "joke" on a triple letter, triple word space. Triple digit score!!Aside from pluralizing words with the coveted "s" tiles, my favorite part of WordsWithFriends is tapping the "shuffle" button. I love to watch as my eight tiles scurry and float to swap places. Time after time after time. Same letters. Seemingly limitless combinations.
Here is are two words that use the same letter tiles.
PRESERVE: to keep safe from harm or injury; protect or spare
PERSEVERE: maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement; continue steadfastly; uphold.
(a dyslexic nightmare, I know:)
They look so similar, and yet contradict each other in meaning...especially in Kingdom issues.
"Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it." Luke 17:33
Oh, how I try to protect myself; spare myself pain and disappointment. Think of all the ibuprofen, the epidurals, the bunny slopes, the sidewalks, the harnesses, straps, and helmets...all the times I broke up with "him" before he had a chance to break up with me. Self-preservation.
The Bible mentions "preserve" several other times....but the subject activating the verb is God. HE will preserve your life....assuming you have died to yourself and submit to His plan. tough. tough.
What about "persevere"?
"Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves....the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." James 1:22-25
I am so often a "hearer who forgets". I hear songs and sermons, read scriptures and sonnets, and within the span of a few moments, I am capable of living in distinct opposition to those truths. I long to be a "doer who acts". I want to look into the perfectly liberating law of Christ and do, and be, and produce beautiful fruit!
It's a daily struggle to arrange the words. But here is one more neat little quirk to notice as I ponder scrabblishessly.
The difference is the extra letter. I can play "preserve" all by myself...just find a spot where a couple of the letters align with another word, and I'll use all the tiles I have to earn the bonus.
However, if I wish to play "persevere", I'll need another "e". I can't do it on my own. I'll have to find an "E" already on the board. It will still take all I have, and there will still be a bonus ...but it will be in addition to the value of whatever word I latch on to..."abundancE", "quiEt", "richEs", "safEty", "pEace", "lovE".
Triple digit potential with everlasting victory!
