God's Grammar Rules: Adjectives

Ooo! Ooo! I'm so excited! I was just looking through some old posts, and I found God's Grammar Rules! Do you remember those posts? ... Well, it's time for another one. ... I looked up the definition for adjective, and my favorite DEF is "not able to stand alone; dependent." Good, huh?

When you think about adjectives, you can see that definition ... adjectives often describe nouns ... a noun can stand on its own in a sentence (Watch the cat run.), but an adjective can't (Watch spunky run.). It just doesn't work. But put 'em together, and you've got a more descriptive sentence (Watch the spunky cat run.) Ha! What a lame sentence ... but hopefully you see the point.

I like this new grammar rule for three reasons ...

#1: Being reminded that I can't stand alone helps me DEPEND on God. In my everyday life, I need God to survive - He gives me the very air I breath, and He can take it away. In my everyday life, I need God to help me overcome sin and trials, and without Him, I would just be a big tub of hopeless, sin guts. In my everyday life, I would probably sink into the depths of despair without His love and hope. My life is one big adjective. It exists to bring glory to the Noun, God, Himself. Apart from Him, I can do nothing.

#2: Also, in being an adjective, I need other parts of speech to help me be the best adjective I can be - often, those other parts of speech are verbs or other adjectives. ... I'm learning that it's difficult to stand alone. I've been very lonely lately. My friends will always be my friends - thank you, Jesus, for that. But they are still getting married, having kids, moving away. And that changes things for us ... there is no way around it ... change comes to friendships. God works in the midst of that change, but the change is still hard. My fellow verbs and adjectives are still doing their jobs to complete the sentence of their lives ... but they are leaving me to stand alone just the same. But again, I guess that DEPENDENCY on the Noun makes me a stronger adjective ... which will help me articulate more fully the awesomeness of the Noun to those around me.

#3: Lastly, I love being an adjective who describes the Noun because the Noun gives me a job to do - description - otherwise known as - PURPOSE. I have a reason to live and keep pushing forward in this sentence of life: The Noun loves me enough to give me a calling and to write my story everyday. The Noun thinks I'm beautiful. The Noun MAKES me beautiful. I may make the Noun look good by describing Him to a world of incomplete sentences, but He fulfills me and sticks with me so that I never have to truly stand alone.

I'd say being an adjective is okay ... wouldn't you? ;)
While I was going to school at IUPUI, writing papers and tutoring papers, I came across a lot of weak adjectives. The reason? Thinking up effective adjectives is hard work! You have to really think about it. But don't let that get you down. Be the best adjective you can be. Make Jesus look good! :)

God's Grammar Rules 102: Appositives

So .... does anyone remember God's Grammar Lessons? .... Yep! Waaayyy back when! The first lesson was about commas and periods. Today's lesson is about appositives. They are one of my favorite grammar devices. (Yes, I'm an English major.) :) ....

For those who aren't into grammar and have no clue what I'm talking about ... appositives are phrases offset by commas that when you take them out of your sentence, your sentence functions just fine without 'em

.... I like 'em because they are often used to enhance your sentence. They can also make your sentence wordy or too long and confusing, but used correctly, they can make your sentence so much better! So! I have two thoughts about "life appositives," as I'm gonna call 'em. :)

Before I start ... let's make a word picture. (Yep, they are our favorites, aren't they, Alex?) :) .... Think of your life as a sentence. If we wanted to get really complex, we could think of our lives as an entire paragraph or even a whole book .... but for this lesson, let's stick with our life as a sentence, shall we? ... We shall. :) Our sentences (lives) are full of punctuation, adjectives, nouns, ect. Our sentences are also full of appositives ... those events/people/whatever that either enhance our lives or make them confusing and difficult.

Often (if not always!), we can take these things out of our lives, and our lives function just fine without them. The example I want to use in my life is ..... dut, dut, dut, duh! .... My love life (or lack thereof - ha ha!). .... For the past two years, I've been trying to add this love life appositive to my sentence. I've been trying to write my own love story. But rather than this appositive enhancing my sentence, like I THOUGHT it would ... like I WANTED it to ... it just got wordy and confusing. This appositive involved getting so caught up in finding the "right guy" that I wasn't focusing on the ONLY Guy who really matters ... yep. The Jesus Man! :)

I battled these crazy offset commas for months and months. And when I finally dropped the pen and let God continue writing my sentence, I found that He took this love life appositive out. He knew that the sentence worked just fine without it. He knew the sentence worked BETTER without it. He helped ME see that my sentence was better (at least for now) without these so called "enhancements."

Perhaps ... down the road ... God will put this love life appositive back in my life. But for now, I'm really enjoying my sentence without this particular appositive. My sentence is reading so much more smoothly, and it is no longer wordy and confusing. .... It's amazing how that works, huh? When we give the pen to God, He writes a sentence (and an entire story!) packed with fulfulling and purposeful punctuation, adjectives, nouns, appositives, and so much more!

Keep trusting God to write your sentence! He is the Master Writer and Editor, and He knows what He's doing! :)

God's Grammar Rules 101

Alright! Another homework break post! Swweeet! :D

Before I start .... I forgot to include the scripture reference for my last post (the one about Mary and Martha!). Check out Luke 10:38-42. And let's be Marys!!!! :)

Okay! So it's on to grammar! Yep, you know it!!!!! (It's true I'm an English major, and it's true I DO like grammar!) ... This is a different kind of grammar. I got the idea from the Mary/Martha book I told you about yesterday. In one chapter, the author discusses "God's Grammar Rules," and one rule in particular stuck out for me! So I thought I'd share it. As I thought more about the "grammar rules" from God, I thought of a few more ... but we'll talk about those another day! :)

Today (Yes!), I want to talk to you about commas and periods. And the rule for today is:

"Don't put a period where God puts a comma."

Yep, you got it! Don't stop when God brings "pauses" to your life. ... When I heard this grammar lesson while on my way to school yesterday, I wanted to jump out of the car and do a cartwheel or something! It was one of those moments when God just jumps out of the text (usually it's the Bible I'm talking about, but in this case, I'm talking about the Having a Mary Spirit in a Martha World book) and smacks you right in the head! And it was a good smack, as they always are - full of conviction and encouragement!

God has been bringing a lot of "pauses" to my life over the past 6 months. Boy, has He!!!! These pauses have taken the form of heartbreak. And they are heartbreaks that I HAVE BEEN seeing as PERIODS! Bummer, I know. But I've been thinking about these "periods" over the past few days ... and they really are NOT periods at all ... they are COMMAS!!! YESSSSS!!! We don't need to freak out when God delays things or when He "takes things away" or when He says "wait, my child." We don't have to take those actions that God performs as periods - as things that are done and over. ... Just because I couldn't pass a silly test doesn't mean I'm not gonna be a teacher (many options out there!) .... just because things didn't work out with a special someone doesn't mean God doesn't know what He's doing! God STILL has a plan for those things in my life! He may put me in a teaching position I didn't picture myself in - teaching English to kids in China, teaching/helping kids learn basic skills (how to take care of themselves) in a village in Africa, working with/discipling young kids in the inner city, substitute teaching in Hendricks County schools .... and the list could keep going! God knows what He's doing, and He HAS a plan!!!! These so called "periods" in my life are actually commas!

God has our entire lives planned out (think of our lives as an entire sentence). He places punctuation in our lives to spice up our lives (just as punctuation gives life to a sentence and keeps it from being boring, ineffective, and awkward). God puts commas and periods and exclamation points and question marks and all kinds of punctuation in our lives to make our lives BETTER!!! And more importantly! He puts them ALL in the RIGHT places! :) Working in the IUPUI Writing Center, I KNOW how IMPORTANT it is to put punctuation in the right spots!!! Ha ha!

Soooo ......... do you have some commas that God's put in your life that you've been treating like periods??? Granted, they COULD be periods. God DOES stop things in our lives and tell us "no" regarding some things, but sit and think about your "periods." Are they really periods? Or are they commas? Don't let "pauses" in your life get you down (I'm trying not to!). God has the entire sentence already written ... you have already come across some punctuation, and there is so much more to come! Keep reading the sentence of your life (living your life!)! Don't give up! Go to the Writing Center for help (GOD!)!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA! I am cracking myself up with this analogy! Isn't it amazing???!!! (I work in the writing center; I'm an English major .... this stuff is funny!)

Well, okay! I need to get back to homework and eat some lunch and get to class. .... Keep pressing through those commas (and whatever other punctuation you're enduring)! God has a plan! I will strive to do the same!!!! ...... And stay tuned for more "grammar lessons" from God (brought to you by me)! :)

Have a wonderful day, my blogger friends! :)