A Different Kind of Semicolon
Do you see it? The unfinished row of Christmas lights on our fence? As my husband and I put the lights up today, I was reminded of why this row of lights is left unfinished. Last year when we bought the lights and put them up for the first time, we discovered we had miscalculated the length and needed one more set. No problem! We planned to pick up that set the next weekend, but that never happened. Instead, my sister in law, Wendy, had a brain aneurysm and that weekend was spent in the ICU. Her life was altered drastically. Our lives were forever changed. Gratefully, God spared her life despite a month in the ICU. It's as if the devil handed her a period and God smiled, said watch this, winked and turned the period, an ending, into a semicolon. Her life, our lives may have paused, but a year later we all seem to be richer for it. With her, I have found a new closeness, a soul sister, a bond that wasn't there before. Over this past year, we have shared walks, adventures, secrets, school girl giggles, and even the same baptism day. But more amazingly, I've watched her hunger for the word of God in a ravenous and impressive way. It's as if she took that semicolon, that break in her sentence and has run full speed like a warrior queen brandishing a two edge sword, but no longer down a treadmill trying to prove her earthly self worth, but instead seeking to expand the kingdom of God using the incredible gifts she possesses. Overall, our family seems to have gained a strengthened connection, a unity that had been abandoned. So as I gaze at the inopportune end of our lights, it no longer seems like a glaring error, but a reminder of Genesis 50:20 "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." We don't have to look at the obstacles in our lives as burdens and endings, but a semicolon, a chance to readjust, refocus. After all, as a Christian there never is a period to the sentence of our lives because we serve a risen Savior who paid for our period and gives us an eternal semicolon. Spread the news!
