The Blessing of Both-And

Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.” (emphasis mine; Exodus 15:20, NASB)

The Problem with Either-Or

We live in a polarized world. Factions have developed based on the extreme ends of various issues, ideologies, and beliefs. The prevailing thought becomes “us versus them” and people are pushed to choose a side. Being able to exist in the middle becomes difficult as the expectations and pressure of choosing a side increases. It’s an either-or world. 

This “either-or” mindset not only dominates in society, but it also prevails in our individual mindsets, how we approach our everyday lives, and our faith. Either-or gives us a choice between two options, allowing us to pick just one. And that’s not fair. 

The challenge with either-or is that it is simple thinking. Either-or forces us to only accept one reality, one outcome, one option, and one possibility. It diminishes our abilities to creatively problem solve and to see what’s available to us. And we become stuck. 

Having a faith rooted in either-or thinking is a faith that becomes stagnant and doesn’t grow. This type of thinking says that we’re either blessed or not. It believes that God either takes away the problem or not. It even says that we’re either bad or good. 

It is the simplicity of this thinking and faith that leads to diminished hope, increased fear, and a lack of growth in God.

The Blessing of Both-And

Miriam, Moses’ and Aaron’s sister, shows us that we are actually both-and people living both-and lives. 

Miriam is believed to have been the sister that watched Moses be placed in the basket by the Nile River. She is also the first woman in the Bible to be named a prophet. She danced in victory after crossing the Red Sea. She was a part of the Israelite’s wilderness journey and helped minister to the people. And she was also chastised by God over her criticism of Moses’ Cushite wife, and was struck with leprosy for seven days. 

Through this brief synopsis of Miriam, we clearly see a demonstration of both-and. She was: 

• Both prophet and human 
• Both called to do God’s work and ruled by jealousy 
• Both loved by God and experienced pain because of her actions 

It was not either-or for Miriam. It was both-and. And she had to learn to live in this space where two things can be true at once, with neither negating the other. 

(For full context of Miriam’s story, read Exodus 2:1-10; Exodus 15:20-21; Numbers 12:1-15.) 

If we learn to fully embrace the both-and of life and faith, we’ll experience greater power and freedom! If we learn to accept both sides of life’s coin, we can enjoy greater abundance than when we only seek to live on the good side. 

A both-and faith calls us to persist even while we’re struggling. This type of faith calls us to believe that God has heard our prayers even while we’re still in the storm. A both-and faith calls us to rejoice even while things are hard and darkness seems to persist (hello 2026). 

Like Miriam, we live both-and lives. 

• Both sick and blessed. 
• Both struggling to pay the bills and spiritually rich.
• Both overwhelmed and filled with peace. 
• Both scared about the future and hopeful for what the future will bring. 

Living both-and empowers us to intentionally look for what God is doing in all of our circumstances. Both-and gives us the power to acknowledge what’s hard in our lives and to open our spiritual/physical eyes to see how God is creatively working on our behalf. Both-and gives us freedom to explore different possibilities and opportunities, to show up differently, to walk boldly because we understand that He works all things together for our good.

Weekly Power Shifts

Questions for reflection and prayer:

• Where is either-or dominating in your life, mindset, or faith? 
• How can you take steps to embrace both-and in those areas? 
• What changes can you envision for yourself by embracing a both-and faith and mindset?

Set action steps:

It’s easy to gloss over the questions and go on about your day. But take 5 minutes to brainstorm 2 - 3 action steps to help you move forward in the blessing of both-and.