!!!

How often do we really think about punctuation in our daily life?  For me...not so often.  But for those of us that enjoy reading and writing, a simple punctuation mark can create the context of a paragraph or line of thought.  What if we applied that idea to the things we do, say, and think today?  Or at least tomorrow...it's pretty late right now...


So this morning I was reading in Genesis about the life of Jacob and a couple exclamation points jumped out at me.  First, Jacob has this dream about the ladder reaching up to heaven, and it says in Genesis 28:12 that “the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!”  I love this because that exclamation point made me stop and re-read what I had skimmed over because I’m already familiar with the story.  Really...this story is a bit nuts when you think about it even thought it’s just a dream.  The whole idea that the angels would actually need a ladder (or stairs, or whatever) to go up and down to heaven is hilarious.  But this dream was one of the pivotal moments in the development of the people of Israel (and civilization as we know it)...and it deserves an exclamation point!


The other one that caught my eye was when Jacob woke up the morning after his first wedding (Genesis 29:25).  “Behold, It was Leah!”  Totally makes me laugh every time I read it.  I picture his father-in-law sitting outside the tent on the wedding night thinking "Just maybe this’ll work!"  I get that it was dark and Jacob may have been smashed or whatever after the feast, but seriously?  He slept with the wrong woman and didn’t know it?  He had to be totally pissed and embarrassed and you would think Rachel would be just a bit annoyed.  I love the Bible…it’s completely open about the scandals that most of us would try to hide or judge (whole other topic!).


So what's my point in all this?  It's just that it's CRAZY how we can bypass some of the most amazing things in life because we think we already know the ending...because we think there won't be an exclamation point to catch our attention.  When I go through life with this mindset, I tend to settle into a routine that is punctuated by nothing outside of the random hardships that I try so hard to avoid.  When I settle for endless commas and periods, I choose a life empty of exclamation.  We need to stop just existing and start creating experiences worth remembering!






Random side note...click HERE if you're at all into rap/r&b.  Not normally my musical style, but this song is playing right now on relevant.fm and it's got me at least paying attention...