The B's Have It

And now, January & wintertide.  The time to "reset, recharge, & renew your focus on what truly matters." It is also the time of the annual visitation of Snowmen & snowy pine trees scattered throughout my house. My Snowfriends & I have been together many years now & I always look forward to their arrival!

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This is our country chandelier that hangs above our dining room table. It hosts several  candles, but this year I decided to let some of my happy snowmen preside over (literally!) our daily meals. Some of them sit right on top of the candles, battery operated of course so my Snowfriends don't melt! 

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The last two were just for fun. They are just so darn cute! 😌

These are just a few of my Snowfriends that bring a smile to my heart when I enter the room & get my happy endorphins going!

Because winter, especially if it's in the northern regions such as I live in, lasts a good time longer, I like to make our indoor atmosphere spirits lighter & warmer, contrasting the less sunny & colder, sometimes arctic weather, like it was the first weeks of January. We were blessed with a lot of wonderful, therapeutic snow, but with it came the not so therapeutic temperatures. MY snowmen were happy to be indoors at that time. 

& at the end of one of those kind of days, how good it is to soak in a steaming, Epsom Salts bath, which almost always ensures a good night's sleep for me. But on one night, I woke up out of one of those Epsom Salts sleeps, wide awake all of a sudden. When that happens, I start praying because I believe the Lord wakes me up for a purpose. & He did. After praying for a bit, I started quoting scriptures, then I realized that I was quoting a lot of 'BUT' scriptures. "Wow Lord. Those are really some BIG 'BUT' scriptures!" Those two words were actually capitalized in my mind. Then, the Lord gave me the inspirational content for this blogpost. I really believe that. So if any take offense about it, please ask the Lord. I didn't even realize the possible humorous parallel  until later. Then I thought I better tone down what was the original title of this blog so you would read it. Which was....

"The Blessed, Beautiful, Big 'Buts' of the Bible".

That's when it hit me. "Hey, that's pretty catchy, BUT, will people think I'm being disrespectful to You or Your word?"

Now, for those who know me best, which are my children & my husband, & Jesus of course, they know that never in my life have I ever used the 'B' word for the part of the anatomy that you sit on. or anything but the original word created by God that women use to  nurse their babies. (See? I don't even use the real, or reasonable facsimile of the word.) Nor do I use the 'P' word for intestinal or bladder evacuation. Never. I mean ever.  

No slur intended here on anyone who uses those words. I just want to ensure you that I don't, so that you know I use the word 'But' here as a conjunction only. & the Lord truly did suggest the title first. I thought it was kind of cute actually. & maybe I didn't need to explain this in such detail so I'll stop right here so I can get to the crux of the matter. Which is....

 the truly beautiful 'Big Buts' in the Bible.

So, let's see how some of these scriptures would look  if they would 'end' (oops! Major faux pas there.) before the conjunction 'but'.

"For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.."

"In the world you will have tribulation.."

"The thief comes to steal, kill & destroy."

Jesus talking to Peter "..Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat." 

 

"And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold"

"Hatred stirs up conflict."

"Do not be overcome by evil."

"Weeping may endure for the night"

"Heaven & earth will pass away"

"With man this is impossible"

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick." 

"Many are the afflictions are the righteous"

"The wages of sin is death"

I don't see too much hope in any of these verses. Remember when you were growing up (this probably applies to those of us over 60) your Mother would use the phrase, "But me no buts!"

Well, in these scriptures, we want to be but-ed a LOT of 'but's!

So, let's add the 'buts' & see how it changes the entire context of the verse.

"For he who sows to the flesh will reap corruption, BUT he who sows to the Spirit shall of the spirit reap eternal life."

(Galatians 6:8)

"In the world you will have tribulation, BUT be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." 

(John 16:33)

"The thief comes to steal, kill & destroy, BUT I have come to give life & give it more abundantly!"

(John 10:10)

Jesus talking to Peter, "Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, BUT I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." (Luke 22: 31-32)

"& because lawlessness will abound, the hearts of many will grow cold, BUT he who endures to the end shall be saved."

(Matthew 24:12)

"Hatred stirs up conflict, BUT love covers all sins."

(Proverbs 10:12)

"Weeping may endure for the night, BUT joy comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:5)

"Heaven & earth will pass away BUT my words will never pass away." (Matthew 24:25)

"With man this is impossible. BUT with God, all things are possible."  (Matthew 19:26)

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, BUT I have delivered them out of them all." 

(Psalm 34:19)

This may be a bit tedious, reading through all of these scriptures, BUT...they are His words. They bring life, warning, encouragement, help, hope, & a wonderful future to those who will listen to the Lord's heart. & all of these scriptures & a lot of others, are held together with the not-so-little, in fact, BIG word, 

'BUT'. How wonderful that the sentence didn't stop before that conjunction.

"Conjunction junction, what's your function?" from the children's show of the 1970's, "The Electric Company."

Conjunction:

"Joins two complete sentences, to join words, phrases, clauses. It connects & finishes the complete thought."

Just basic grammar. BUT what a world of difference it makes.

All of this because the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me a story.

"Once upon a time, there was a little conjunction who turned out not to be so little after all. As a matter of fact, he became a lot of  Blessed, Beautiful, Big  'BUTS' of the Bible. & he lived happily ever after. & because of him, a lot of others did too. Still do. & I'm one. The 'Bs' definitely have it.

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Raintree Perk of the Day:

"The wages of sin is death, BUT !!!the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 6:23

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