God gives us life. So treasure our lives, for life is precious.
Cherish the present, do not regret the past nor plan too far into the future. Put our trust in Him, for He is always with us and within us.
Cast fear behind the smoky veil, where it belongs. We are God's children, and there is nothing for us to fear. Forces of darkness may test our will, but the Holy Spirit will sustain us and give us wisdom.
Face each new day with courage and laughter. Hold on to the Word. Like a kite, flying freely in the sky, but anchored by the string. For the Word is our string.
Time ticks relentlessly. Always forward, never backwards. Enjoy our sojourn here on earth. And when it's time for us to leave, there will only be anticipation, no regrets.
Rainbow as Sign
Monday, October 24, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Perfection / Imperfection
We are always eager to project the perfect side of ourselves in public. The perfect family living in a perfect home, stepping out with the perfectly made-up face and presenting the image of a perfectly groomed self. The person that has got everything together, the perfect supermum or the perfect single woman who juggles careers, family / children / relationships with the ease of a supercool woman. We want a perfect holiday. We want a perfect wedding. Even when we have our photographs taken in expensive studios, we want to appear perfect, to the extent of being professionally airbrushed. We want perfection. We crave for perfection. We strive for perfection.
As opposed to perfection, we have trouble dealing with imperfections. We cannot bear the thought of a stubborn zit on our cheeks, and spend sleepless nights agonising over it, especially when there's a function for us to attend. We tend to place our entire focus on that tiny, miserable zit, and allow it to spoil an otherwise enjoyable function. We smile and play happy families in public despite quarrelling with the spouse or getting frustrated at the children just half an hour before. We clean the house yet again even though our houses are clean when we are expecting guests, just so that the guests might not see a ( barely-there anyway ) film of dust resting on the coffee table.
We distance ourselves from the imperfect. The disfigured man gets a grimace and a sympathetic shrug thrown in his direction, or people will simply avert their eyes in embarrassment and quicken their footsteps. We throw dirty looks at homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks. We turn our faces at society's ills. By pretending that it doesn't exist, we hope that it will not affect our perfect lives.
But why is perfection so important to us? Why can't we accept that imperfection is actually part of perfection? There can be no perfection if there is no imperfection. What is the factor that forces us to be so obsessed with perfection?
Perfection is an illusion that hides the decays of imperfection. We polish the good parts till it glitters to show the world and stow away the bad in dark recesses. It is a farce of human nature used to bolster up our own self image. Perfection binds our spirit and gradually suffocates us. In placing too much emphasis on how the world sees us, we gradually become neurotic. We think the world is laughing at us when we slip up, when in actuality the world will not notice our slip ups as it is too busy being preoccupied with its own pursuits of perfection.
By obsessing over the expectations of perfection, we lose our perceptions and direction. We forget that there are more important things in life. In winning the race for perfection, we'll end up the big time loser. Spiritually and psychologically.
As opposed to perfection, we have trouble dealing with imperfections. We cannot bear the thought of a stubborn zit on our cheeks, and spend sleepless nights agonising over it, especially when there's a function for us to attend. We tend to place our entire focus on that tiny, miserable zit, and allow it to spoil an otherwise enjoyable function. We smile and play happy families in public despite quarrelling with the spouse or getting frustrated at the children just half an hour before. We clean the house yet again even though our houses are clean when we are expecting guests, just so that the guests might not see a ( barely-there anyway ) film of dust resting on the coffee table.
We distance ourselves from the imperfect. The disfigured man gets a grimace and a sympathetic shrug thrown in his direction, or people will simply avert their eyes in embarrassment and quicken their footsteps. We throw dirty looks at homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks. We turn our faces at society's ills. By pretending that it doesn't exist, we hope that it will not affect our perfect lives.
But why is perfection so important to us? Why can't we accept that imperfection is actually part of perfection? There can be no perfection if there is no imperfection. What is the factor that forces us to be so obsessed with perfection?
Perfection is an illusion that hides the decays of imperfection. We polish the good parts till it glitters to show the world and stow away the bad in dark recesses. It is a farce of human nature used to bolster up our own self image. Perfection binds our spirit and gradually suffocates us. In placing too much emphasis on how the world sees us, we gradually become neurotic. We think the world is laughing at us when we slip up, when in actuality the world will not notice our slip ups as it is too busy being preoccupied with its own pursuits of perfection.
By obsessing over the expectations of perfection, we lose our perceptions and direction. We forget that there are more important things in life. In winning the race for perfection, we'll end up the big time loser. Spiritually and psychologically.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Struggles
Once,
We dreamed of freedom
Of independence and civil liberties
Of basic rights
The right to vote
A voice of our own
To be heard
Nonetheless denied
By men's fragile pride.
Then,
We fought for freedom
An uphill task
Where male opinions held fast
Barriers we faced
At every turn we made
Demonstrations we held
And made our presence felt
In this male dominated world.
Now,
We gained freedom
A voice acknowledged
Education, employment
And political position
But beneath the victorious facade
The serpent lurks
Sexism, harassment
Broken home environment.
We have fought hard, and we have won. But at what cost? Will we ever be able to gain complete victory by struggling to rearrange God's hierarchy order?
We dreamed of freedom
Of independence and civil liberties
Of basic rights
The right to vote
A voice of our own
To be heard
Nonetheless denied
By men's fragile pride.
Then,
We fought for freedom
An uphill task
Where male opinions held fast
Barriers we faced
At every turn we made
Demonstrations we held
And made our presence felt
In this male dominated world.
Now,
We gained freedom
A voice acknowledged
Education, employment
And political position
But beneath the victorious facade
The serpent lurks
Sexism, harassment
Broken home environment.
We have fought hard, and we have won. But at what cost? Will we ever be able to gain complete victory by struggling to rearrange God's hierarchy order?
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Bulgarian Church Murals
A friend of mine recently toured the Balkans, and came back with some beautiful shots of the murals in a Bulgarian church with an interesting story behind them. It seems that during the communist era in Bulgaria, the people are not encouraged to paint murals of important events in Christianity on the walls. So this church came up with an ingenious idea : A combination of irrelevant pictures in drab colours and significant pictures in vivid tones. The results are unique and beautiful.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Mindset
Mr. Caveman ( aka my main man ) and I were at the movies last night. The movie was a remake of the popular Chinese classic legend, of the forbidden love between a white snake demon and a human. The story is roughly like so : The white snake fell in love with an honest man, took the form of a beautiful human woman and married him. There was also a monk who was the certified demon catcher of the era, spotted the demon and went after the demon's very-long snake tail. He gave the demon a chance to leave the man, stressing that demon and human are not meant to be together. The final part was where the demon tried to get her man back from the monk's temple, and conjured up tsunamis to flood the temple with snakes that resembled Nessie the Loch Ness monster, only there were TWO of 'em! The movie ended with the snake demon being punished for her crimes and the couple forcibly parted forever.
A simple legend. But when we talked about the movie, we discussed that there are different ways for people to interprete it, depending on circumstances. Some look upon it as a tragic love story, where a couple so much in love with each other were tragically forced apart. They blame it on heartlessness in upholding the universal rules.
From my point of view, I see the demon as an obsessive, though misguided female who would stop at nothing regardless of the cost to keep her man. She pursued this love with a selfish single-mindedness and with a blatant disregard for others, resulting in chaos and tragedy.
From Mr. Caveman's point of view, he sees that forbidden love must be torn apart. But in the movie, the method used was forced justice on the lovers to uphold righteousness, not love and righteousness to move them into giving up each other.
Depending on how you look at it, one story will more often than not end up with many different flavours. It's the mindset that differs. Take the Harry Potter books for example. After reading the books, does one see wand-wavings and latin incantations plus a 'bezoar' being shoved down one's throat as a threat to the children's spiritual learnings, or the essence of the book that conveys the message of good triumphs over evil, and fighting together to prevent evil from staging a hostile takeover?
Even in well-loved fairy tales, one might see Cinderella's case as unpaid child labour, or Jack of the infamous beanstalk as a murderous thief, and rampant ostracism & racism in the ugly duckling.
Often, it's the mindset that clouds our perceptions. The 'what we think is right' frequently makes us see 'what we want to see', blinding us from seeing things as how God meant it to be seen.
A simple legend. But when we talked about the movie, we discussed that there are different ways for people to interprete it, depending on circumstances. Some look upon it as a tragic love story, where a couple so much in love with each other were tragically forced apart. They blame it on heartlessness in upholding the universal rules.
From my point of view, I see the demon as an obsessive, though misguided female who would stop at nothing regardless of the cost to keep her man. She pursued this love with a selfish single-mindedness and with a blatant disregard for others, resulting in chaos and tragedy.
From Mr. Caveman's point of view, he sees that forbidden love must be torn apart. But in the movie, the method used was forced justice on the lovers to uphold righteousness, not love and righteousness to move them into giving up each other.
Depending on how you look at it, one story will more often than not end up with many different flavours. It's the mindset that differs. Take the Harry Potter books for example. After reading the books, does one see wand-wavings and latin incantations plus a 'bezoar' being shoved down one's throat as a threat to the children's spiritual learnings, or the essence of the book that conveys the message of good triumphs over evil, and fighting together to prevent evil from staging a hostile takeover?
Even in well-loved fairy tales, one might see Cinderella's case as unpaid child labour, or Jack of the infamous beanstalk as a murderous thief, and rampant ostracism & racism in the ugly duckling.
Often, it's the mindset that clouds our perceptions. The 'what we think is right' frequently makes us see 'what we want to see', blinding us from seeing things as how God meant it to be seen.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Three Words
One wrong move. Just three words. Uttered with resignation and frustration. Often tinged with the futility of regret.
To be followed by three more words.
I should have........
I should have been wiser. I should have seen it coming. I should have known. I should have thought about it.
Usually linked to three fatal words.
It's too late........
Too late to love. Too late to recoup losses. Too late to reconcile. Too late to undo.
Just three words, entrapping people by sucking them into a dark vortex known as depression.
And yet........
If we bothered to just pray, seek out God's will and confirm it, those three words would never need be uttered at all.
To be followed by three more words.
I should have........
I should have been wiser. I should have seen it coming. I should have known. I should have thought about it.
Usually linked to three fatal words.
It's too late........
Too late to love. Too late to recoup losses. Too late to reconcile. Too late to undo.
Just three words, entrapping people by sucking them into a dark vortex known as depression.
And yet........
If we bothered to just pray, seek out God's will and confirm it, those three words would never need be uttered at all.
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