Surprised By Verbs

I love the book Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. She gives writers a cool challenge in a chapter called ”The Action of a Sentence.” It’s deceptively simple and incredibly rewarding:

1. Fold a piece of paper in half.
   
   
2. On the left side, write 10 nouns—ordinary or abstract (grace, stone, regret, door).
   
   
3. On the right side, choose an occupation (like chef, mechanic, pastor, potter) and list 10 verbs associated with that role (slice, weld, stir, bless, hammer).
   
   
4. Now combine them into sentences.
   
   Let the verbs animate the nouns in surprising ways.
   
   

The regret boiled over the edge of the bowl.

Grace welded itself to my memory.

The door blessed the room with silence.

This exercise trains us to avoid the predictable (“the light was warm”) and reach for the vivid (“the light sliced across my ribs”). The verb should carry the sentence—like in the best of Scripture.

Here are 3 biblical examples where the verbs startle us and elevate the language.

Psalm 85:10

“Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.”

—We expect to read about these virtues, but not see them kiss. The verb turns doctrine into poetry.

Isaiah 55:12

“The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

—Creation doesn’t just sit pretty—it performs. The trees clap. The mountains sing. Heaven and earth rejoice.

Jeremiah 20:9

“His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.”

—God’s word isn’t merely remembered. It’s shut up—pressurized, burning, dangerous to contain. The prophet is combustible. This one’s a little different. His word is. How is it? Like a fire shut up in his bones! He could’ve also said, “His word burns.”

Try it this week:

Write 5-10 surprising noun-verb pairs. Let the verbs carry the weight. Push past predictability and watch your writing come alive. If the Holy Spirit writes this boldly, so can you.

—Jeff

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