Slight & Short

This month, the magazine Christianity Today featured a cover story on young, theologically reformed pastors. I was anxious to read it because I'd been interviewed for the article and, if they quoted me, I hoped that I would come across as deep and profound. As it turned out, they did quote me. But my dreams of profundity died when, in the midst of the article, I encountered the following sentence describing me. It read, and I quote, "Slight and short, Harris doesn't stick out in crowds." Now, I know I'm short. And I don't mind acknowledging that fact. But it was something new to be called slight and short in the same sentence. And, to be honest, "slight" was a new word for me. I wasn't totally sure what it meant. So I looked it up in my dictionary. You know, the great thing about dictionaries is that they list various definitions for words. So I was planning to pick the most favorable definition and hopefully salvage my dignity. But here were my options:

1. Small in degree, inconsiderable 2. Not profound or substantial; somewhat trivial or superficial 3. Not sturdy and strongly built

That wasn't working out real well, so I turned to the thesaurus. I was hoping that maybe there was some distantly related synonym for slight like "buff" or "stud muffin" that I could claim. But here's what I found. Synonyms for slight: small, tiny, minute, inappreciable, negligible, insignificant, minimal, remote, slim, faint, minor, inconsequential, trivial, unimportant, lightweight, superficial, shallow, slender, petite, delicate, dainty.

Dainty?! Man, I think I'll stick with "slight."

While I nurse my worthless and wounded pride, I would recommend checking out the Christianity Today article. I think its author, Collin Hansen, did a great job. The trend his article spotlights encourages me, and I pray it will continue. After you read it, I'd love for you to comment here and share your impression of it. Please feel free to share how the article does or doesn't reflect your own theological journey.