FOLDEROL!

Remember the plastic flutes (also called "tonettes" or "recorders") for many music classes in elementary school? I still have one in the “toy stash” I keep for my grandsons. Oh, so squawky and primitive! Wonderful play item! Seeing it in their toy bins (oh, does it bring on the little-grandboy- giggles!) reminds me of an old-fashioned reed flute of long-ago, and its owner playing a nonsense song called a falderal or folderol. When a singer needed to inject some whimsy into his or her song, the choice was a frivolous interlude, like la-la-la-la. The “o” version (“folderol”) is now more commonly applied to sayings about actions or words that make something seem to be more important than it really is.

Its earliest known use in literature was a 1701 play (Farquhar's Sir Harry Wildair). Today, the old name "folderol" carries the idea of nonsense or foolishness. Besides the spontaneous speaking or singing in silly old songs (like “tra-la-la”), the term "folderol" is used for describing cheap knickknacks (also called “trifles” or “gewgaws”) or celebrations that go overboard with decorations and refreshments.

If you want to adopt that word into your vocabulary and sound sophisticated, you can learn more about it at this site: FOLDEROL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Website . But I lean toward “simple”--and so did Jesus. In His Sermon on the Mount, He taught in plain language. He used everyday examples to convey deep spiritual truths: “The Kingdom of God is like.....” He didn't make a big show of ministry, not even His miracles of healing people or raising the dead. No folderol. Just mercy and a miracle.

“Folderol” can have its negative implication, too, when someone speaks loosely and/or negatively to or about someone else, without considering the repercussions of that wounding. Instead, Colossians 4:6 counsels, ”Let your words be seasoned with grace”--meaning kindness, wisdom, thoughtfulness, and reflecting Jesus. “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable,” says Proverbs 10:19, “but he who restrains his lips is wise.”

Thus, not the negative “grr-grr-grr,” but conversations continually passed through the screen of “what would Jesus do?” Not wounding, empty or worthless “folderol,” which can come across squawky, like those old plastic recorders we had in grade school. Instead, words that reflect the harmonious grace and mercy of our Savior, worthy of Heaven's audience.