Texting.

It’s how I function these days.

I send love notes to the friends and family and let them fly from my phone the wings of cyber space.

It’s how I make appointments and set up one-on-one’s.

I love its function and efficiency.

I love the voice activation that sends messages when my hands are otherwise occupied.

I love the spell check that fixes my too-fat-fingers’ mistakes.

And I love the automatic capitalization.

It automatically capitalizes names, places and first words of sentences without my having to think about it.

Except for one word.

 god.

Of all the things in the entire universe that should be given the honor of an uppercase “G”, the word god is not.

I mean, in a way I get it.  The word god can be used to denote lesser things than the true meaning.

But why isn’t “God” the automatic default response?

Honestly, it made me sad.

It reminded me that texting autocorrect is not the only thing that minimizes the God I love.

I’m guilty of it, too.

Maybe not in my spelling, but in my life.

How often do I give God the lowercase “g” by trying to maintain control of the things in my life; things that belong only in the hands of the One who gifted me with them in the first place?

 – my time

 – my money

 – my family

 – my gifts and abilities

 – my problems, for Pete’s sake

Or how about when I fail to see His inscription, His signature with a capital “G” in the miracles of every day life?  The beauty of His handiwork and magnificent mind?

 – His creation

 – His answers

 – His mysterious ways

 – His presence

 – His attention to detail

Oh, and what about that little box?  You know.  The box that comfortably contains a small “g” god?  The one I don’t expect too much from so I won’t be disappointed?

 The tiny “god” that seems to appropriately fit my tiny faith.

If I somehow believe that the size of my “mustard-seed faith is in direct proportion to my god then I won’t see the wonderful things that my God can do:

 – His miracles of healing and growth

 – His Power to change me or my circumstances

 – His ability to “work all things together for good”

 – His capacity to take my little and make it much

 The visual of a lowercase “g” in my God’s name is offensive to me.

But even more offensive is my lowercase “g” attitude toward who God really is in this world, in my life.

Every time I see a little “g”, I want it to serve as an icon to prompt me to do three things:

  1.  Open my hands – releasing the things I’m holding on to so tightly

  2.  Open up my eyes – to see Him in and around and through all things

3.  Open up the little box – to let the Capitol G escape the confines of my own understanding and blow me away.

Think about it.  The little “g” is closed.  Small and insignificant.  But the Big “G” is big and round and open.  It commands respect just by its stature.  It signifies beginnings and important things.

THAT’S the kind of God I want to acknowledge in everything I say and do and think.

Texting doesn’t give God the automatic “G” He deserves. Every time I text the word “god” I will have to be deliberate in choosing an uppercase “G”.

And maybe THAT is precisely the point…. 

Isaiah 45:5 – I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God.

Isaiah 52:6 – But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.

Revelation 1:8 – I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.