I'm Letting the Cat Out of the Bag

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

~Matthew 28:19,20

So what does that mean, "I'm letting the cat out of the bag?" Why don't we just say "I'm going to tell you a secret."? 

According to Grammar Monster, an idiom is a commonly used expression whose meaning does not relate to the literal meaning of its words. 

Here in the south where I live we use them all the time and are likely to make up a few of our own.

I’m letting the cat out of the bag on this one. My friend Vonda Bland Hamilton has recently released her book for deaf children to help them understand the idioms we use every day without even thinking about them. Her book is called Letting the Cat out of the Bag. If I signed “letting the cat out of the bag” a deaf child may have difficulty understanding the meaning. Who would put a cat in a bag? The cat would be scratching and clawing and screeching. That’s not the meaning of the phrase at all! It means to share a secret.

Vonda’s book shares the secrets of idioms with deaf and hearing children. The book is set up very logically. The illustrator, Samantha Smith, drew a kid-friendly picture depicting the expression. Then Vonda wrote the idiom beneath the picture. The next page gives the meaning of the idiom with a picture. Vonda then relates the idiom to a scripture verse.

Mrs. Hamilton has an idiom for each letter of the alphabet but there are so many more. She and her husband Steve are missionaries with the Deaf with Expressions of Emmanuel. Her book, which also contains a DVD, can be purchased through Expressions of Emmanuel and on Amazon. You don’t have to be deaf to enjoy Vonda’s book. We can all have fun playing with expressions and learning how to apply scripture to the words we share.

And there's more! Mrs. Hamilton has a new book, As Easy as One, Two, Three, coming spring of 2022. 

You can learn more about Vonda and her family by visiting the website www..expressionsofemmanuel.com

Father God, please give us a vision to reach every person, in every nation, man, woman, and child. 

In Jesus's name we pray. Amen.

Hey Kids:

Do you know how to use sign language? I remember learning the alphabet as a child. My friends and I would sign messages to each other. As I got older I encountered people who were deaf. I learned there's more to signing than just the alphabet. The sign for milk is making the motion for milking a cow. How fun!

Sign language is often taught in colleges as a foreign language. But you can get a headstart by learning a few signs now. You can

•  download a poster with the ABCs. 
• visit Mrs. Hamilton's YouTube site
• search other You Tube sites with your parents for learning to sign.
• find a friend to practice with

You never know who you might encounter. Knowing how to communicate is important. Remember Love is the greatest language of all.