Giving riddles of love

I'm a sucker for honest, smart, neighbor-honoring copy in an advertisement; it goes a long way in earning my respect. Clever also catches my attention but only until the laugh or intrigue ends. Then I'm back to being frustrated. When is it ever appropriate to make consumers feel insecure? When is it helpful to embellish an item with more value than it's really worth?

As far as I'm concerned, using/managing/stewarding/assigning/writing/broadcasting/editing/creating words is a high calling. On Friday at TheHighCalling.org, I wrote about using words as a way of giving riddles of love. Here's the intro and link to read more:

I enjoy solving, and telling, riddles while hiking with others. Like this one: “There are fifty-two bicycles and a dead man in a room. What happened?” Riddles take work to solve - the first time, at least. The second time is a snap and by the third, you know the answer before the riddler finishes the question.

What fascinates me is that no matter how many times you hear the same riddle, your brain still has to solve it. Eventually it may feel like you simply know the answer but that’s only because your solution speed has increased.

Words work like this.

Read the rest of the article here.

TheHighCalling.org is a conversation site about work, life and God.