I stare at the phrase again: “Your temples are like a piece of pomegranate.” What does that even mean? Are we talking color? Shape? Texture? I imagine red or pebbled temples, and discard the picture. That sounds diseased, not like a compliment. Maybe the skin has the same soft smoothness as an individual pomegranate seed?

Song of Solomon gets a lot jokes about comparing the beloved’s hair with a flock of goats, but at least I can see a correlation there. As I read the description one more time, I wonder what comparison I would have used…or if I would have thought to pay compliments to the same feature. An idea takes root.

This book is as full of metaphors and similes as a blackberry bush is of thorns, and almost every single one of them is used as a praise. I don’t plan on writing any love letters in the near future, but could I use metaphors as a praise to God?

I quickly fill one side of a piece of notebook paper with a feature per line: eyes, hands, laugh, breath, love. Then I skip through them, trying to think of what comparisons to use. Okay, some of these are pretty odd, and maybe a little embarrassing (“Your nostrils are like grain elevator shafts”), and some lack originality (“Your eyes are coals”), but it’s a good exercise in praise.

It also reminds me of a writing exercise I want to do with the League of the Pointed Pencils when we start up again. First, we fill in a list of nouns with other, non-similar nouns (“War is like ants”; “a house of nails”). Then we pick a few and answer some questions about the comparison—when is this comparison so? How or why? (“Shoes are closets because the hide feet from the scary world, and because eventually they get stuffy and the feet need fresh air.” “There is a tornado of paper when I’m trying to find a specific research note for my story.”) From there you have material you could write a poem with.

Try some praise metaphors for yourself. Write a list of features, then pick dissimilar nouns to go with them. If it feels awkward or embarrassing, don’t fret. This is a private praise session between you and God, no one else needs to see. He understands the comparison, even if others wouldn’t.

If, on the other hand, you come up with one or two that make you want to share, feel free to post them in the comments.

Your mind is like a compost pile—full of nourishment for idea seeds.