Parentheses

Parentheses are small brackets in written materiel that have an important function, although we don’t really think of them as “important”. They signal an interruption of the flow of the text. Something is being inserted into the material that the author believes will explain, add clarity to or qualify the main theme being presented. Sometimes the reader is tempted to skip the parenthetical material, but it is never a good idea to do so, because the meaning of the entire text will be altered.

There are parentheses in life that interrupt our work and our ministry, push the accomplishment of our goals farther out into the future, set us back financially and seem to complicate everything. We would rather just skip them and get on with the “real” business of living. However, in life as in writing, skipping them would alter the meaning of the entire work. They have been put into place by the Author to clarify, illustrate or explain what He is saying to us or through us. It is our story, but we don’t get to write it.

Sometimes we are the readers and the message is for us. Sometimes we are the characters and the message is for other readers. But God is always the Author. The message is His.