The Comma
14/07/2013 15:45
I was busy. Busy making a Handbook of Guidelines for our staff. I typed a statement in page 1 – “In all that we do, may we endeavour to maintain a quality of excellence that will bring glory to God.” I chose the font carefully. It would have to be Bauhaus 93. I liked how it looked. The font fitted the words perfectly.
As I re-read what I’d typed though, I noticed something strange. I was surprised. I’d seemed to have placed a full stop rather than a comma in the sentence. This is what it read. ‘In all that we do. may we endeavour to maintain a quality of excellence that will bring glory to God.” Did you see it? A full stop rather than a comma after the word ‘do’? I did. I hastened to change it.
I went back to where the comma had been and replaced the comma with a full stop. Or had I? When I looked at it again, I found it still remained a full stop. Not a comma. Wait a minute. Perhaps the Bauhaus comma looked more like a full stop rather than a comma? My guess was right. Yes. It had been a comma which looked like a full stop. Oh!
What should I do, I wondered. There was one way to get over that little hurdle. I moved my mouse over the comma that was dressed like a full stop. “Sorry mate, you have to go.” I said. I then changed the font for that comma into ‘Calibri’. That worked fine. Calibri obviously understood what a comma had to look like. A dot with a tail. Not a dot that remained a dot as Bauhaus 93 decided it should be.
Now the sentence looked correct and was pleasing to my eyes. But there in that sentence was a comma that was out of place. Every other character in that sentence was in the font Bauhaus 93 and were content to remain that way. No one except me (and now you!) knew though that the comma was dressed in a different garb to the rest. It was dressed in the font of ‘Calibri’. (Shhh… don’t tell!)
You know what it taught me? That sometimes, I need to step out of my comfort zone and become different to the rest of the world. And you know what? It is not easy. There are times when it is far simpler for me to adapt to the world I am in. To become exactly like them. To walk like them. Talk like them. Be like them.
But the truth is that there are times I have to be like that comma. To go against the flow. To dress in Calibri rather than in BauHaus 93 like the rest. It is not easy. But it can be done. You and I are called to reflect God to a world that has forgotten its Saviour.
Sometimes we have to say ‘No’ to what everyone else says ‘Yes’ to. And that’s hard. Very hard. Sometimes we have to put up with ridicule. Or contempt. Or the temptation to change who we are just so we are accepted.
But no one said that the way of Jesus is easy. He didn’t say it. Neither does the Word. Jesus calls me to deny myself, take up my cross and to follow Him. That means I sometimes need to be exactly like that rebellious little comma. Not dressed in the ways of the world. Dressed instead in His garments of righteousness and purity. Standing up against the crowd. Speaking up for what is right. Willing to be despised. Willing to be rejected.
Being a Calibri comma when the whole sentence is in Bauhaus 93 is difficult. Sometimes it might seem impossible to do. But the truth is – the Calibri comma is doing its part in being a perfect match in that sentence. A perfect little comma.
Just the way it was created to be.
Are you remaining in a Bauhaus font when changing to Calibri takes courage?
Is it time to make a change? To stand up for what you believe in?
It isn’t easy. But there is no other way.
Let’s do it!
"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him." Philippians 1:29