Happy Monday!
My friend Clark Osborn inspired today’s word-of-the-week…
NUANCE
Clark made a simple statement: “Always” is almost always wrong.
He’s mostly right.
I tend to seek the central theme, the big idea, the captivating sound bite. Social media feeds this obsession—we’re all trying to capture our deepest thoughts in 140 characters.
Life, of course, just isn’t that simple. Unless you’re Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton, it’s unlikely that you’ll boil life’s keys down to a couple of simple, powerful equations.
Big, important ideas require nuanced thought. Ideologues win elections, sell books to desperate souls, and attract polarized audiences. They don’t advance the search for truth.
If truth was easy to write in words, I wonder why God sent Jesus to be “the Word made flesh.” My sense is that knowing the words isn’t sufficient. To know the truth, we must know The Word.
I want to know The Truth. He’ll set me free.
I’ll still seek and share what I see as central themes. Who knows—maybe I’ll find one that’ll sell a few million books.
But I want to always be open to discussion, to seeing exceptions, gray areas, and blind spots. It’s in those nuances where we can learn and grow.
Mostly.
Have a great week.
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