Of times, seasons and Punctuation Marks

Language was first only spoken before it became written. Initially the spoken word was the most powerful, and when text was written, it was without spacing or punctuation marks. Besides the miscommunication this would have empowered , it must have been extremely infuriating to say the least.

Apparently we have a man called Aristophanes to thank because he created a system where people could add dots to lines of text to signify pauses.Without the comma, sentence parts can collide into one another unexpectedly causing all kinds of mis-readings and miscommunication. The semicolon is used between independent clauses not joined with a coordinating conjunction. Not to repeat myself, it must have been a real nuisance trying to understand what was being communicated.

So we all agree what a total mess written communication would be without punctuation. Let us equate communication to human life. In life there are many starts and stops, pauses, brackets and inverted commas etc. So for example a young girl falls pregnant and her midwife mother aborts the baby by giving her some medication that would expel the foetus. The foetus is expelled and left in a cupboard in a bucket of brine to die.

The punctuation here depends on which angle you are watching this drama unfold from and which player you are. Is it a full stop, a pause or an exclamation mark?

It was a full stop for the mid-wife mother of the young girl and even for the young girl. That baby’s life was terminated and that was that about that, the end as far as they were both concerned.

For the foetus however, it was just a pause because believe it or not, some other nurses looked in the cupboard and realized that the foetus in the bucket of brine had not died. More about her later.

As for these nurses, it must have been an exclamation mark. This was just a momentary stop in proceedings ( a shocking one, surely). They did not have the luxury of it being a long break in transmission because (no pun intended ) it was a matter of life and death.

There were many things they had to juggle in the minute. What would they do to keep the foetus alive? What if it survived and was brain damaged or what if they kept it and it died in their care? Would they be charged with murder? If it survived and was even normal, would they have to personally keep it or could they give it up? If they gave it up, what if it went to a cruel family, that had ulterior motives for wanting to keep the baby. Etcetera, etcetera .

These nurses did not deliberate too long. They did not allow themselves to be paralysed by the analysis. Anything could happen, even the sky could fall in, they took the next logical step. The next step that was critical to all the other possibilities. Sufficient is the trouble of today. They did not need to pass out because of the possible trouble of tomorrow (which may never come).

As for the baby, unknown to her at the time, her puntuation was a comma. ( A pause, a momentary break in transmission).To the world, if it was a movie it would have been a long pause (with ominous and /or eerie background music). It was however not a long pause and really did not need ominous or eerie music). She however needed help to go from one comma to the next punctuation mark.

What do you think? I think the most important person in this drama (which is true life story) is the foetus who grew to become a delightful, well adjusted, amazing woman. She was totally shocked when she was 16years old and found out she was adopted. When she heard her story, she was absolutely blown away. Guess what she does today? You guessed right. She is an anti -abortionist activist.

She tried to contact her birth mother but could not because she traced her mum to her grandparents who did not want to have anything to do with her even after all those years later. They also did not want her mother to have anything to do with her and ensured that she and the idea of her remained a complete and total full stop. What a sad pair.

In this case who lost? Obviously the parents and grandparents. Why? Well she has grown into a great woman and logic says it would have been wonderful to be related to such a woman. However, however, however, in many situations, what you don’t know you have lost may not really have any earth shattering effect on you which is why the adage says “don’t cry over spilt milk”.

Let me break it down. If you know you have lost something and know you are never finding it, don’t trouble yourself as to what life would have been like with it. Just move on. I know many people have lost a lot of money on … say the stock market. Every time they need money after that point they will wallow in deep depression wondering what may have been if they did not lose the money. It is lost. Move on until something else comes. Sometimes when we think there is a full stop we must realize that a new sentence can start immediately after. so the story is not over (at least not until the fat lady sings)

That sort of wondering never ever did anybody any good but definitely has done a lot of evil. A pity party only has loneliness, depression, possible suicide as its guests.

Punctuation marks to written communication is like times and seasons in our lives. What a tragedy it would be if all the years and all our lives rolled in and out endlessly without any demarcations (punctuations). The important thing is to know when the season is a comma, semi-colon, bracket, full stop or the beginning of another sentence.

What did this foetus need, destiny helpers who ensured it lived, more destiny helpers who adopted it, another destiny helper who blurted out her story in anger and her determination to make her life count for something. The realization that her pause was a comma and not a full stop must have been exhilarating.

At what punctuation mark are you right now in your life. What help do you need and who is helping you. Almighty, (remember the maker of heaven and earth), has placed people at strategic places to help your destiny. Do you recognize them? The Manual for living says there is a time and season for everything under the sun Be sure to recognize your season, time or punctuation mark. You don’t want to wear winter clothes in the summer and vice versa. In the manual for living. there was a group of people who were famous for their being able to discern the times and seasons-the sons of Issachar.

I have not written a blog post since February. Oh! I could tell you a hundred and one reasons why not and all of them would be valid. A shout out to Mobs who asked after my writing and did not seem very impressed with any of my reasons (excuses). She is a destiny helper even though she does not know it. Her simple question has resulted in this post.

Just to finish, I was talking to a teenager who was feeling pressured by her classmates to go out with a boy in her class. I explained about life punctuation/ times and seasons to her. Teenagers should really just have friends, study, play sports and generally enjoy themselves. If they start having relationships (even if you can call it that) with the opposite gender, because they are not fully equipped mentally and emotionally, the situation may get out of hands and lead to something unwanted like a teenage pregnancy or in the very least a (broken heart). We all know this is not the end of the world neither is it a final full stop but it may be a long pause and a different paragraph instead of a short pause.

At the end of this month I get my full health coaching certification after a whole year of intensive learning. My question therefore is this, do you know where you are punctuation wise, spiritually, physically, financially, career wise, health and weight wise and finally relationship wise? Are you even measuring this. In consulting we usually say  ‘what you don’t measure you cannot manage’. If you don’t know where you are , how will you know when you are on a comma or full stop or when you have arrived at your destination?

Do you have mentors (or are you mentoring) in all these areas? People who Almighty has sent your way to help you get to your goal.

As we enter the second half of the year take a pulse of your time and season. What punctuation are you at. The manual reminds us that to everything under the sun, there is a time and a season.

Enjoy what you can from the season you are currently in, plan to move to the next season if you can (some people can’t do much until Almighty moves them).Learn from this season and take it easy because it is not by power or might but by the spirit of Almighty.

Are you tired of all the noise out there telling you what you should be doing? Do you wish they would all just keep quiet and let you think? I totally relate. You don’t have to do anything about what I have said. Thank Almighty though for the lady who should have died in the bucket of brine and marvel at the great works of Almighty.