Low, yellow lights flickered inconsistently, buzzing with annoyance. The four surrounding walls felt enclosing, and the clock had frozen in place. I was sitting, uncomfortable and uncaring, while a teacher held up a stack of newly-graded essays and lectured on punctuation.
The grammar lesson didn’t concern me all that much, and a quick glance around told me that nobody else was that concerned either. But I couldn't help thinking that I was just like those commas we were being lectured on. Sometimes I think we all feel like we’re living the life of a comma.
Allow me to explain.
We can do small chores, right? But when it comes to more important tasks, us comma folk just won’t cut it. We’re not significant enough. There’s smarter, better, people who would do a better job than us. We’re just commas. There’s others who, like semi colons, have to take over sometimes because we’re not good enough.
Not only are we incapable, we’re also easily forgotten or missed. Some people have the ability to make a large noticeable difference in the world. It’s like they’re exclamation marks. They don’t go unnoticed or unappreciated. Others, people who are like question marks, lead to deep conversation and thought processes.
But us comma folk, we can’t do those things. We do small, unimportant tasks that nobody really cares about. We get skipped over and misused, but nobody really seems to notice. And who could blame them for not noticing? After all, we’re just commas.
But the thing is, we’re not just commas. The Message, an 'everyday modern english' translation of the bible, has a beautiful passage in 1 Corinthians 12...
"God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit…Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful… All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.”
In other words, God created everybody different. He didn’t make us all have deep insight like we might see question mark type people have. He didn’t create us all with extreme stories or experiences like we might see in people who could be labeled as exclamation marks. Sometimes what God has created us to do might seem unimportant, small, or petty. But he created everybody for a purpose, and gave them all specific tasks to do. Sometimes we don’t see how those tasks make a difference, but God does.
Commas might not be able to lead into deep conversation or make an explosive point, but try writing a list without commas. Try connecting your thoughts without commas. Try to write stories, essays, reports, anything, and not use commas!
The tasks we may be called to do can seem very boring, but God has it planned out so that every part of our lives really does make a difference. Sometimes we don’t see it. Actually, a lot of times we don’t see it. But just like a piece of writing wouldn’t be the same without the use of commas, this world could never be everything it was meant to without each and every one of us.
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