“What Does It Mean To You?”

 I recently came across a writing exercise that says, “Open up a dictionary to a random word. Define what that word means to you.” If my brain or a bicycle, this would be a stick in my spokes. I cringe when I hear that question, “what does it mean to you?”

One distinct feature about words is that they have meaning. And we agree on that meaning. God created with words, and in The Word of God, the Logos, all things are held together. Man, being made in God’s image, are creative with words. So while I’m comfortable with a thought, that we use words to communicate, and so fulfill what it needs to be made in God’s image, it’s a nerving to take a defined word and generate a new definition. 

Here is an extreme example of dangers of using, “what does it mean to you?” I have in my pocket one dollar but now I choose to redefine it, because to me it’s five dollars. The example is ridiculous, but then, so is the idea that anything can be redefined. And we are surrounded by people doing this every day, choosing to identify with anything but who they really are. So, no, I cannot merely open a dictionary and say what it means to me.