“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”

Did you know that the Ampersand…this thing: “&” was once considered the 27th letter of the alphabet?  I didn’t and if you did, then consider auditioning for Jeopardy.  Originally, the ampersand was conceived of to be a shortcut for those who wrote by hand and needed an easier way to bind a thought or words together.  Think monks and scribes.  But when we started printing and typesetting, it was also part of how we shortened things down to make more room on the page.  Even today, when constrained by 280 characters we will look to the ampersand for help.  It’s also been great for logos….H&M…AT&T.  What was a shortcut, turned out to hang around and become part of who we are.  These things happen and we should look for the productivity and efficiency improvements that we can find and then see if we can hang onto them for the long run.

There is no shortcut to God’s favor.  We must believe, accept, surrender and then live a changed life of pursuit of Him. But, make no mistake, ours is a God of more and more and so in many ways, we are His binding ampersands connecting His love, grace, mercy, healing and forgiveness from one person to another.  There will be an “&” in front of you today, somewhere….when you see it, stop and think of what God wants to do with you as a connector today.

Reference:   Ephesians 4:3 (New Living Translation)