Contractions

I remember learning about contractions in elementary school.
Always a lover of words, I was excited about this new grammar I was discovering.

A contraction is a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by the omission of internal letters.

I loved the possibilities.
I loved the apostrophe that floated above the space where the missing letter should be.
I used them whenever I could except in formal writing where everything was spelled out.

Why say cannot when can’t would do?
Why take the time to write does not when doesn’t would suffice?
Some contractions are not my favorites, like he’s for he is, or she’s for she is.
Somehow that looks too familiar for my tastes.

One contraction that I consistently use is, I’m.
I’m going to go for a walk; I’m going to the grocery store.
For a busy mother of five, writing I’m was must faster.
I am just seemed too formal for a note left on the kitchen counter.

Yet, the more I study God’s Word, the more I realized that I’m is very appropriate.
I’m seems to fit me.
I’m seems to fit all of God’s creatures when we refer to ourselves.
The alternative has been spoken for.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight- why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:1-6)

God heard the cries of His people.
They were slaves in Egypt and they cried out to Him for deliverance.
God called Moses to send him to Pharaoh to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
Moses was skeptical that God would choose him to be the leader.

God promised Moses the one thing that we all need in order to succeed in God’s calling.
And God said, “I will be with you.” (Exodus 3:12)
God’s presence is everything.

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you…This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3:13-15)

I AM WHO I AM.
I AM has sent me to you.

Yahweh.
A name too holy to even pronounce.
A name the Jewish people would not even say.
A name that, if pronounced, would actually sound like a breath.

I AM.
The eternal God.
The God who has no beginning or has no end.
The God from whom all things began.
The God whose breath-like name breathes into His creation the breath of life.
The God who calls and breathes into a dead soul and gives that soul new life.
I AM.

No contractions here.
I’m just would not do!
I AM.

Simple yet profound.
Declarative.
Eternal.

The Israelites would not even utter the name of God.
It was too holy.
Yet we, who are so nonchalant in our faith, throw His name around on whim.
His name becomes an expletive, a word of astonishment, a word of frustration.

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will nor hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name. (Deuteronomy 5:11)

God’s name is holy.
I AM.
I AM WHO I AM.
No contractions here.