Stars and Exclamation Points

The overuse of exclamation points is my grammar pet peeve.  Good writing doesn’t rely on punctuation to express emotion, but  allows the words to convey the sentiment.  



Even in Christian writing, exclamation marks are all too common.  Those exclamations, along with the accompanying “feel good” writing, tell the reader that life is fun, happy, and great, as if Christianity equates with constant excitement and bliss.

Certainly, God is good, provides for us, and keeps His promises.  But life is also full of sin, hurt, and death.  It's almost as if those exclamation points are denying and covering up sorrow and tribulation.  



I like to pray outside in the early morning hours.  Blended with the dark and the quiet, the starry sky is like God’s sanctuary, breathtaking and holy.  Creation testifies to a creator.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  Psalm 19:1

Sometimes while praying, the experience seems bigger than me, and I’ll sing a hymn or kneel in prayer.  But like exclamation points which say “be happy” my view of God can become defined by looking at the starry sky.  And I’ll realize how easy it was for early man to worship the heavens.  And that I could do the same.

Just as I can't be perpetually happy, I can't simply look to the positive, to the beauty of creation, for my connection to God. He is not in happy, emotional stories, nor is He the majesty of creation.  

Jesus said,

“...Whoever has seen me has seen the Father...”  John 14:9

I look instead to Jesus, my savior, bloody, beaten, hurting, dying on the cross.  That’s our God and that’s where I find real forgiveness, real and lasting joy, not in trite, happy phrases or even in the majesty of creation.  But in Jesus, who walked among us, died for us, and rose again.