Are You "And" or "But" ?

Recently I was engaged in conversation with a friend concerning a particular individual (I'll call him Carl) who I was considering doing business with. When I inquired about Carl to my friend he said, "He's really a talented guy, smart, well-spoken, has been very successful while operating his business. "And besides that," he went on to say, "he's just a nice guy. Honest, trustworthy, a person of integrity, fair, community-oriented, family guy someone you'd want to be associated with".

In contrast to Carl, I was reading about a Syrian military warrior who lived during 800's BC. His name was Naaman. This is how he was described.....

"Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

I was taken back by the description of Naaman because of the ending or if you like, the "but". All the wonderful things that were mentioned of him were almost entirely erased because of the negative

 "... but he had leprosy."

In ancient times, leprosy was a terrible skin disease that was not curable and thought to be punishment from God for the person's past sins. They were so cursed that when they died they were buried outside city walls and were remembered as "unclean".

As I reflected on these two different add-on descriptions of a person between "and" or "but" I considered the number of people who have told me of the negative "but's" over the years. Here are some examples and I bet in your own life you can see the faces when you hear..

"He's a good mechanic and heavy equipment operator, but he's also a liar and a thief"

"She knew her stuff and very competent, but she was a gossip and kept things stirred up in the office."

"He was really fun to be with most of the time, but he was drunk and didn't know how to handle his booze."

" Yeah you can make some good money working for that company, but the managers you have to work with are tyrants"

How sad that some people will end their life or career or relationship with a negative "but" attached to their knowen existence.

People don't often get a chance to see inside our hearts and understand the motive or circumstances that shaped our life..All they see is our actions or behavior.

Without realizing it, we all are leaving a daily impression with our relationships on the job, in the office, on the farm, in the store at our family gatherings. We are unconsciously building a "but" or "and" as an addition to who people say we are.

Since I read of Naaman, I am more aware of the "and" that I want to leave behind as positive.
 "Bill Lewis was a valuable part of our organization, and..............."

Let those attributes, those "and's" describe me as I strive to
Finished Well.

How about you? Are you "and" or "but"