"But or "And"

“But” or “And”

            I’m an English teacher so writing is just a tiny bit important to my job.  I teach 8^th graders and they just love it!  (By the way, they learn the word sarcasm very quickly in my class).  When they are writing, we work on run-on sentences by combining them with commas and conjunctions.  I tell them, however, that they must pick the right conjunction.  For example, let’s look at the following.

            He bought the batteries for the remote. They were the wrong size.

You would obviously want to join those with the word “but” to show that the batteries are not going to fit.

            He bought the batteries for the remote, but they were the wrong size.

            It starts out positive but then moves to negative.  Choosing the right conjunction is important.  You are probably wondering why in the world I am boring you with an 8^th grade English lesson.  It’s because this lesson has taken on a whole new meaning lately.

            A couple of weeks ago, my husband came home with news that his hours had been cut at work.  Of course, this had to be the day after we toured the college where my son will attend and we saw the bottom line of costs.  (God does have impeccable timing – and a sense of humor).  I’ve been a Christian for many years, but I still went into panic mode.  “What are we going to do?”  “Why us?”  “Why now?”  “God?  Really?”

            Over the next several days a conversation continued between me and God.  I would start with one of my panic-filled questions.  I would feel this soft answer of, “Be still and know that I am God.”  I would begin to answer, “I know, but…”  And HE would interrupt my sentence, and say, “Be still and know that I am God.”  So I would just shut up.  Other times I would start to talk to him, and I could feel him telling me that it was going to be okay because he had it all under control.  I would begin to say, “I know you do, but…” And again, HE would interrupt and tell me, “I know what I am doing, and everything will be okay.”

            Do you see the importance of the conjunction?  When I started my sentence with a positive and then inserted “but,” I negated everything I had just said.  I gave God a compliment and then took it away by saying “but.”  God started his sentence with a positive and used “and” which connected his two positives.

            Which do I want?  Which do I need?  A positive which is taken away by my own negative thinking?  Or why not try it God’s way?  I could use a couple of positives!