God’s punctuation

by Barbara Galbraith 16 March 2007 136 views Comments

With a move for my family in our soon-to-be near future, I have been looking at the websites of churches in different areas in case we end up leaving the Northern part of our fair state. Just now, I came upon a wonderful little UCC church website that had this quote from, of all people, Gracie Allen (”Goodnight Gracie”) at the bottom of the last page of the site…
“Never place a period where God has placed a comma.”

I am heading off to bed, wondering how often in my own life, and the lives of others around me, I have placed a period on a relationship, a conversation, a pondering, an experience, etc., where God had only placed a comma.

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Catherine Amber said:

Barbara,
Why don’t you all see if God has opportunities down south for you? Eugene is fertile ground! Kind of just kidding. I am looking forward to meeting you someday and am in a bit of wonderment about what God is up to in our midst. I am grateful for your boldness and faith. I love women with moxie, especially when it is rooted in Jesus.
Love the quote. The follow up question you posed resonates for me, too.

# 17 March 2007 at 9:25 am

Dave Cramer said:

I will never use punctuation again

OnthatnoteIwillneverusespacesbetweenwordsagainIwillbeginsentenceswithoutproperspacingandIwillrefusetoletmyselfbetakenoutofmygamebysomepeoplewhomightclaimthatitistoodifficulttoreadTheyarejustcomplainersmaybeishouldstopcapitalizingwordstoobarbarathereisplentyofroominportlandanditwouldbegreattohaveyouherebecauseportlandisawesomeandthingsthatareawesomeshouldsticktogetherhaveagoodnight

# 17 March 2007 at 10:52 pm

Dave Cramer said:

Well, that didn’t turn out quite like I had planned. That word should be about 45 letters longer. This is embarrassing. Due to that monumental failure, I have reconsidered my position on spacing and punctuation.

# 17 March 2007 at 10:53 pm

Anthony Doheny said:

Right Dave. While God is in no need of punctuation we’d better stick to it although I did read your post with complete understanding.

# 18 March 2007 at 6:09 am

Sue said:

Barbara, Love the quote! Hope I don’t forget this one. You should consider Iowa direction, check out our doors at crfamily.org The heart of our pastor is really sensing new direction also…It’s in the air… When you let the Lord lead, blessings will follow wherever you go!
Dave, I’m drawing the conclusion that you’re quite a character! That’s why we all loved Anthony back here, never a dull moment! lol

# 18 March 2007 at 6:35 am

Nick Mosher said:

Dave, had a hard time reading your first comment. It gave me a headache. Don’t worry I get headaches when I read. I have to get glasses on Wednesday. I believe that we don’t have to do everything little thing God does, like punctuation. It might not be confusing to God, but it would be to us. If we all just stopped using punctuation, then we would get what Dave made. That made it so much tougher for us to understand, or should I say read. I understood what Dave was saying, but it took me longer because I had to make the spacing in my head when I knew there was supposed to be.

Barbara, I have only lived in Eugene. I think I will stay here when I am older too. When I grew up I hated it here, it was boring and dull. Eugene has come a long ways in the past years. One thing making me want to stay is my family. They want to stay here, not in Eugene, but in Oregon. I want to be close to my family. I want a big open land when I am older. I might move out into Springfield, or someplace like it. I personally don’t like crowded places. I like quite places where no one is to bother you. Well I hope you find a place that you love and can enjoy. Eugene is a nice, but accounting for I have only lived here.

# 18 March 2007 at 8:06 am

barbara said:

Ahh, but God does need punctuation (and apparently so does Dave!). There are definite times when God has put a period at the end of a sentence in my life - “Barbara, you are sooo done with THAT!!”. I have quite a lot of firsthand experience (as we all do I am sure) with God’s ponderings that end with a question mark. What struck me the most about Gracie Allen’s comment though was just the profound realization that there have most-certainly been many, many times when God wasn’t through with me yet in regards to something ~ someone ~ someplace ~ somewhere; places where God had definetly intended to place a comma so that the experience could continue, but I chose to place a period there, and move onto a new paragraph, chapter, page, or even a new book. What amazing things did I miss out on, and what things that are near and dear to the heart of God did not come to fruition (church word alert!!) because of my impatience?

I spent a good portion of yesterday at the bedside of a friend (and family member) who is dying. He is not even 60, but cancer has ravaged his body for the last 10 months and it appears that the end is very near. The time at Scott’s bedside with others in our families who love and care for him deeply was very intimate, very moving, very sad, and very difficult. People were speaking, and feeling, lots of periods, and lots of question marks. Yet all I could think of was God’s comma….for Scott, for his daughters, his wife, and for all of us.

Thanks for letting me share…..and I’ll keep Portland, Eugene, and Iowa in mind for our upcoming move. Well, Portland is already on the list; I am not sure my Beaver husband would ever consider Eugene, but I’ll try. As for Iowa, well - never say never!

# 18 March 2007 at 8:52 am

Rick Dancer said:

Two years ago, when God said leave the IC (institutional church) I experienced “The Period”. To me “The Period” is a time when God says, that’s it, no more, stop….now.

Most of my life seems to be centered around “The Question Mark”. I won’t bore you with all of those. “The Question” is important but I wonder sometimes whether God gets bored with all of my questions. Let me rephrase that. I think He may get bored with me asking the same question over and over again. I believe He never gets tired of a question, but when we just ask, for the sake of asking (I do that a lot) I think He may tire of it.

Here’s my thought.
Our lives are a story.
We use words to show that story to others.
As I sit here writing this, God is showing me something very strange. I think as I write my story I forget to think about the punctuation. It’s like something I have to put at the end of a sentence. I forget that it’s really a road map to help my story. If I fail to pay attention to the punctuation, am I missing a huge chunk of my story?
(there goes another question)
God uses punctuation to stop us, start us, get us excited, pause us and move us in a new direction.
Are you with me?
So how often ( I did it again) do I ask questions failing to see the giant period at the end of my sentence?

Kathy and I are at the end of a sentence. We see God standing there, holding the number two pencil, and we know what’s coming. We even hear Him telling us “The Period” is coming. We just don’t know when.

I wonder how many times I’ve stopped, or stalled my story, simply because I didn’t want to wait for the punctuation.

I know, another question.
See how good I am at questions.
That was another question.

# 18 March 2007 at 4:40 pm

Rick Dancer said:

Oh, If you guys could please pray for Glenda. She has visited this site and ended up in the hospital over the weekend. Don’t know why…yet.
Rick

# 18 March 2007 at 4:41 pm

Anthony Doheny said:

Sue, I wish you lived out here. We miss you guys tons! And yeah, Dave’s a character alright. Just check out his pictures on myspace.

Rick, I’ll be praying for Glenda. I think she let me in the studio a time or two.

Barb, Iowa’s nice … in May, June, September, and October.

Nick, congratulations on the new glasses!

# 18 March 2007 at 6:09 pm

barbara said:

Rick, I think God loves questions!! So many of Jesus’ parables were full of them.

Anthony and Sue ~ I lived in Nebraska (GO BIG RED!!) before moving to Oregon. I remembering stifling heat and amazing snow. I think I am a “lifer” for Oregon now…unless God in all God’s benevolent wisdom calls me to San Diego or the islands!

# 18 March 2007 at 6:51 pm

Rick Dancer said:

Barbara, I think He loves questions too. Really I do. I’m just in a “period” mode right now. I guess I’m tired of asking questions, and using coma’s in my story. I’m ready for the end of a sentence. (period)

# 19 March 2007 at 8:32 am

Tab Davis said:

Rick,
Sometimes God has to hit me over the head with that number two pencil…lol I have to laugh, what a sense of humor God must have!

# 20 March 2007 at 7:58 am

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