Share Four Somethings: January 2024

Inside: Insightful links about the fears of old age, what’s happening when “God goes silent,” how to help grieving people and why we all need to fast from digital devices and information. Plus, a tiny geek out about quotation marks. ~

Is it just me, or does it feel like time is moving at warp speed in 2024?

How are we already three weeks into the new year? I have no idea.

The prayer in Psalm 90:12 becomes more urgent by the hour: “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.”

While we count our days—looking for ways make the most of each moment they contain—it helps to slow down from time to time and identify the blessings. Ponder the learnings. Articulate the observations.

Writing a regular Share Four Somethings blog post is one way I try to accomplish this. Even when I skip a month or deviate from the linkup’s stated categories, it’s helpful to reflect on recent happenings even as we look forward to the future, however cloudy it might be. Starting with …

• Something Loved

I love winter. The colder, the better. The more snow, the better. Granted, I live in Kansas, not North Dakota or Alabama, so my idea of a lot of snow might not be the same as yours.

I missed my annual snow walk with daughter Molly this year, but I still got to experience the wintery mix up close and personal when I went outside to knock snow off the branches of some vulnerable evergreens in my backyard.

• Something Read

When it comes to reading material, everyone is different. Words that resonate with me during this season of my life might put you to sleep.

Maybe not, though.

Several blog posts and articles have struck a chord with me lately, so I thought I’d share a few with you.

In “How to Help When You Don’t Know What to Do,” Tricia Lott Williford offers hard-won guidance to those wondering what to do, as well as those who are hurting. For example:

“If you don’t know what to say, simply say, ‘I’m so sorry.’ Or even better, ‘I am so sad for you.’ Don’t try to explain or offer a lofty word. There is no explanation, so free yourself from trying to find one.”

I’m not what John Piper calls an “older saint,” but his article titled “Five Fears of Old Age” touched my heart. It reminded me of my parents, but it also contains wisdom I hope to remember as I get older.

“Affliction, in the purposeful hand of God, has effects now in this life, and after death,” Piper writes. “It is never meaningless. It is never without God’s merciful design for our good.”

Trevin Wax writes about Augustine and his mother in “God Knows What You Really Want, Not Just What You Think You Want.” This piece provides a peek behind the curtain of those occasions when “God goes silent” in response to our sincere prayers.

“God is painting a portrait. Dark strokes are part of the canvas,” Wax says. “The Artist knows his subjects better than his subjects know themselves. Trust his hand. Yield to his brush. God often says no to our particular pleadings in order to say yes to our most profound prayers.”

Finally, in “Digital Detox, Intentional Ignorance, and the Proximity Principle,” Seth Troutt shares practical advice about “fasting from digital devices and fasting from information,” as well as thoughtful insights about why this is so important.

“Omnipresence is one of the characteristics of God,” he explains. “When technology makes us hyper-present, not only can our nervous systems not handle it, but our close friends and loved ones go unloved because we are aloof, distracted, and preoccupied.”

• Something Learned

Most people don’t geek out about punctuation, but I learned something this last month that sort of blew my editor mind. Turns out, the way quotation marks are used in American English is the opposite of how they’re used in Australia.

I discovered this when reading an ebook by two women who live in Australia. It was a well-edited book, but I kept noticing commas outside quote marks, not inside, and single quotes where I expected to see double.

My first thought: How could an editor overlook something so obvious?

Screenshot of page from “Good Mourning: Honest Conversations about Grief and Loss” with Australian usage of quotation marks highlighted.

Eventually, I started wondering if the comma placement wasn’t a mistake after all, that maybe they simply did things differently in Australia. I looked it up, and sure enough, they do.

According to this article on the Elite Editing website, “American English uses double quotation marks, and only uses single quotations marks when quoting inside a quotation. … In Australian English, single quotation marks are used, and double quotation marks are only included to quote within quotations.”

Furthermore, “In American English, the punctuation mark (i.e. the full stop or comma) always comes before the closing quotation mark. Conversely, in Australian English, the punctuation mark will usually come after the closing quotation mark, unless the quotation is also a complete sentence.”

This might not mean much to people who aren’t used to including quotes in their writing. But as a former newspaper reporter who has been quoting people in articles for decades, this was fascinating information.

(If you’re knowledgeable about Australian English, please chime in if I’m missing anything important here.)

• Something Observed

Editorial geek outs aside, I’m thinking there’s a deeper meaning to my recent experience with quotation marks.

We may think we’re right about something, or that someone else is wrong, when we simply don’t have enough information to make a judgment about the matter.

I thought I was seeing editing mistakes in the book I just mentioned, but I wasn’t. If I hadn’t taken a step back and considered whether they do things differently in Australia, I might have gone on my merry way, smugly continuing to wonder what kind of editor misses such things.

Whether we’re talking about punctuation, politics or a zillion other issues, there’s often a side (or perhaps many sides) to the story that we aren’t seeing, for whatever reason. Making assumptions or jumping to prideful conclusions never benefits anyone.

I’m not talking about having such an open mind that your brain falls out, as the saying goes. It is, however, always a good idea to ask, “What am I missing?” Because we never know what that might be.

• • •

Now it’s your turn. How do you feel about winter, snow and sub-zero temperatures? Have you read any memorable books or blog posts lately? What blessings, lessons or observations have you noted in the last month? Please share in the comments.

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with sharefoursomethings, #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Let’s Have Coffee and Grace & Truth.