"a rose by any other name..."

The word was VEHICLE. Our students were being taught the word "vehicle", and it was a word that needed quite a bit of explanation.
When our English Language Learners encounter a new word, they will ask the meaning of the word and then they want to know other words that have the same meaning. They will keep asking for synonyms, until they find a word that sounds similar to a word they know in their native languages.
With vehicle, I explained that it was a word that I very rarely use. I say car or even automobile more often than vehicle.
Naturally, I have had vehicles on my mind. Tonight on my bus ride home, I turned to look out the left hand windows and in my immediate sight there were many vehicles. First there was the big old bus that I was riding in. Then, there were quite a few cars of many shapes and sizes. They were sharing the road with some trucks and vans. A bit further to my left was a moving freight train, loaded with coal cars. And, then finally I sited a small personal jet airplane taking off from the nearby airport.
We have lots of choices when it comes to selecting a vehicle.

Gracious God. We are often in awe of our abundance and our choices. You have given us so much and yet you ask so little of us. Why is it sometimes so hard to follow your simple directive....to love You and to love our neighbors and ourselves? We are such a selfish bunch of folks. Please, don't give up on us. We want to do better. Guide us and help us to make wise choices.