Remember the year librarians at school were no longer called librarians but “media specialists”? It was 1999 and at our high school this was a big deal to the old ladies (probably not even that old, now that I am old) who worked in the “media center”. If you used the previous name you would endure: glares (sometimes with one eye half open), snippy corrections, and risk being ignored entirely.
You wonder why the shift? Me too, so one day I asked. These ladies were taking on additional training and were now teaching us savy technology skills. One such skill is the power of the “and” in the search bar.
You see when you search “penguins” you are going to get a ridiculous amount of information. But if you only want to know where they live you can skip the scroll of unnecessary information by just typing “Penguins and habitat”.
Let me be your media specialist today and tell you, you too need the power of “and.”
We are wasting so much of our lives just scrolling. We are letting time slip through our fingers, making horrible life choices, and ultimately ruining our lives.
All because we haven’t utilized the power of “and”.
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:28-31
Life is not easy. Spouses are not perfect. Kids are not precious all the time. There are times in our life when the road seems well traveled and others you have to sport a machete to cut all the crap to get through it.
But when we choose to leave God out of it we are choosing for it to be harder, longer, and our souls to grow weaker. When we say “____ and God” we are eliminating the rest. We are allowing Him to carry us, provide the strength, and power.
Our family is in the middle of a 21 day fast we are doing with our church, and I had so much expectation for our family. We were meeting to do devotionals together as well as on our own. It was going to be so good. We were pulling together “family and God.”
Only a few days in, Covid. We were all separated. Several of us were put into isolation while the others in quarantine. I would like to say I utilized my time to get all my things done, but does watching the entire second season of Cheer in one day count?
The fast is not over and I have new hope. I am still believing in what God is doing.
Our “family and God” can not be stopped by Covid.
We are going to grow in Him and it won’t stop after 21 days.
Don’t ever underestimate the power of “and”.
