Life's Commas

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ne of the hardest parts of punctuation for me to master was the comma.  I never quite seemed to catch on to the use of that little guy and if you read closely, (there's one) you'll begin to see what I mean.  I still haven't mastered it.  I place them where they don't belong and fail to put them where they're needed.  Every time my mother would proof read something I had written, (there's another one) she would always draw my attention to the overuse or under use (but never proper use) of commas in my writing.  Well, I'm still struggling with this little curvy line that causes so much trouble for so many people.  Please be patient and bear with me.

As I progressed in school, (there's another one) my English teachers began to stress more and more the importance of punctuation.  The comma, I learned, (double whammy) was the same as a stop sign.  It meant stop, consider what has just been said, and then continue.  Once I began applying this rule to my reading, my thinking, and my writing, I began to appreciate and understand this little punctuation mark. In time I've actually come to appreciate it and have even grown fond of it.  I can't same the same thing for its cousin, the semicolon!!  That's a whole other issue!

But the comma has spiritual as well as life applications.  In life, there are pauses that make us stop and reflect on what is happening to us at a particular moment.  Sometimes the commas come to break up the every-day humdrum of life, and at other times they are used to make us wait on something else to come.

Our scripture verse demonstrates very nicely the idea of life's commas.  Jesus said in verse 10 of John 10, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  Notice the placement of the comma in Jesus' words.  He has come that we may have life.  There is a pause here for us to reflect on what has just been said.  Before the coming of Jesus, there was no life, there was only existence!!  What a powerful truth!!  That is why Jesus says of himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE "(John 14:6).  So Jesus has come that we may have him (life).  But notice that he doesn't stop here.  After the comma, he gives us the best part by saying, "and have it to the full."  In other words, we could restate this scripture in the following way, "I have come that they may have me, and have me to the full." 

This is the true secret of life, having Jesus as our savior!  Even when life places commas in your path, the best always comes after them.  There have been many commas in my life.  Some of them have been self imposed; but most of them God has placed there.  I can tell you without any hesitation that when the pauses of my life were over, I always experienced God to the full.  He is truly wonderful and worthy of all honor and praise!

I trust you will never look at the lowly comma in the same way again.  Notice them for what they are, take time to pause and reflect.  Look forward to what comes after them because the fullness of God is worth any comma life places in your path.