A beautiful romance of the young and beautiful. Filled with ups and downs, highs and lows. We laugh with them, sympathise with them, at times worry for them. We wonder how God will enable them to complement each other, to accept one another as they are, and the trials they need to endure to become one in spirit, mind and heart. Whenever they need an understanding ear to unburden themselves, a shoulder to cry on, or Words from the Gospel to help them find their way, we are there for them. We are keen to help them lighten their burden, ease their pain and straighten their perspectives. Their relationship has an impact on the people around them, making people laugh and cry with them.
A romance in the form of the aged and the wrinkled. Filled with the same ups and downs, highs and lows. But how often have we laughed at their antics? Wondered about the outcome? Yes, we thought about how God would show them the way, but more often in mirth. The impact of the blush and teardrops on wrinkled cheeks is not similar to those on smooth pale cheeks. The ear and the shoulder are still offered with equal sincerity, but also with a grin not straying far. We could barely supress a shudder and a giggle at the terms of endearment that fall from their lips. Their relationship has an impact on those around them as well, making people laugh, and more often than not, cheering people up for the wrong reasons!
In our hearts, we know that all God-given relationships are beautiful. We just can't get pass the image our eyes send to our brains, thus turning the cherished into a comedy!
Rainbow as Sign
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Acceptance
There has been an ongoing war between my spirit and my mind, at an on and off basis, that is. At times, my mind simply could not accept the changes in my life. Perhaps it is because God has been pushing me rather fast, and my spiritual state has progressed more in almost 2 years than in the past 20 years! My mind knows that I have to demolish my old temple, but a certain part of me wants to hang on to my past lifestyle. The internal battle has made me very tired, and when I felt weak, very disheartened. There were times when I wanted to walk away from it all, times when I could not pray, and times when I simply do not want to have anything to do with the church at all. The path of fire I chose to walk is scorching my feet, and it's getting harder and harder to endure.
Then recently, I woke up and decided to simply accept it. Accept everything, the good and the bad, all the trials and tests God has thrown my way. And with acceptance, comes strength. Once I accepted that this is the path God wants me to walk, my infighting stopped. The moment it stopped, I began to see everything in a different light. I finally realised that all this time, I've been praying to God to give me strength, not knowing that the strength is within me all along. The key to the reservoir of strength is acceptance.
Full, wholehearted acceptance. All the trials become a lot easier to bear after that.
Then recently, I woke up and decided to simply accept it. Accept everything, the good and the bad, all the trials and tests God has thrown my way. And with acceptance, comes strength. Once I accepted that this is the path God wants me to walk, my infighting stopped. The moment it stopped, I began to see everything in a different light. I finally realised that all this time, I've been praying to God to give me strength, not knowing that the strength is within me all along. The key to the reservoir of strength is acceptance.
Full, wholehearted acceptance. All the trials become a lot easier to bear after that.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Random Thoughts
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Perfect Will
An old friend passed away yesterday. Old friend as in aged friend, not as in long-timed friend. He was over 80 years old. He fought bravely against one of the greatest scourge of our lifetime -- cancer. Years ago, cancer ravaged his lungs, but he won the battle. Then cancer struck again, attacking his intestines. Yet again, he fought bravely and cheerfully, and won the battle. He was at death's door during Christmas 3 years ago, bedridden with no sign of consciousness, but he miraculously pulled through before the new year. His will to live was tremendously strong. And at the beginning of last year, he lived to celebrate his golden wedding anniversary with his beloved wife. At the end of last year, he sung and danced at our Christmas concert.
But cancer reared its ugly head again at the beginning of this year. After suffering greatly for the last 6 months, during which he could barely eat and was finally reduced to a skeletal state. His summons came and he finally answered, though not without putting up a final struggle.
His love for his wife was deep and touching. He stayed true to her since they exchanged vows in church 51 years ago. He was the model husband, and his wife, the envy of women. Unless on days when he was very ill, he always prepared breakfast for her, took care of lunch and dinner, obliged and indulged her, made sure she has everything to make her happy and comfortable, and was also her full-time chauffeur. He was a very good provider, and very shrewd in the stock market. All in all, a hugely successful and respected man.
Nearing his end, it was hard to see the way he clung to life, and the way the loving couple refused to let each other go. His wife kept trying to convince herself that he could pull yet another miraculous recovery, and he himself refused to let go, though he was suffering everyday. Could it be the reason he refused to look forward, to the kingdom that's waiting, was that instead of turning his eyes towards God, he kept his eyes on the person dearest to him? Could it also be that he did not have the assurance that God will take care of his wife, and through years of pampering, a deep fear that his wife could not carry on without him? He simply could not let go.
His reluctance to leave this life has set me thinking. Perhaps we place too much importance on ourselves. Perhaps we unconsciously turn our life partners and children into the idols we worship daily. Without purposely intending to, we cling to the temporary tenaciously and neglect the absolute. It is easy for all Christians to say that we place God above all. But do we fully succeed in doing that? Do we actually submit ourselves thoroughly to Him, or we only thought we did? Perhaps we did submit to Him, but only partially. We excel at pushing all our problems to God, praying in troubled times and trusting him to show us a solution. Yes, that is one of the 'perks' of being the child of God, and that is what we should do. But what about during good times? During the times when life is enjoyable and satisfying? Of course we do not forget to thank God for that, but our prayers tend to be shorter and less earnest. That is when we do not think about Him at all times, make our own decisions without testing and confirming, and allow our perspectives to wander elsewhere. Then when our lives hit another snag, it's back to praying and whining to God. This has become a predictable cycle.
And when the end is near, we are not fully prepared to move on. We pray fervently to God to give us or our loved ones more time. We forget that everything moves according to God's timetable, and stubbornly refuse to submit to His perfect will.
But cancer reared its ugly head again at the beginning of this year. After suffering greatly for the last 6 months, during which he could barely eat and was finally reduced to a skeletal state. His summons came and he finally answered, though not without putting up a final struggle.
His love for his wife was deep and touching. He stayed true to her since they exchanged vows in church 51 years ago. He was the model husband, and his wife, the envy of women. Unless on days when he was very ill, he always prepared breakfast for her, took care of lunch and dinner, obliged and indulged her, made sure she has everything to make her happy and comfortable, and was also her full-time chauffeur. He was a very good provider, and very shrewd in the stock market. All in all, a hugely successful and respected man.
Nearing his end, it was hard to see the way he clung to life, and the way the loving couple refused to let each other go. His wife kept trying to convince herself that he could pull yet another miraculous recovery, and he himself refused to let go, though he was suffering everyday. Could it be the reason he refused to look forward, to the kingdom that's waiting, was that instead of turning his eyes towards God, he kept his eyes on the person dearest to him? Could it also be that he did not have the assurance that God will take care of his wife, and through years of pampering, a deep fear that his wife could not carry on without him? He simply could not let go.
His reluctance to leave this life has set me thinking. Perhaps we place too much importance on ourselves. Perhaps we unconsciously turn our life partners and children into the idols we worship daily. Without purposely intending to, we cling to the temporary tenaciously and neglect the absolute. It is easy for all Christians to say that we place God above all. But do we fully succeed in doing that? Do we actually submit ourselves thoroughly to Him, or we only thought we did? Perhaps we did submit to Him, but only partially. We excel at pushing all our problems to God, praying in troubled times and trusting him to show us a solution. Yes, that is one of the 'perks' of being the child of God, and that is what we should do. But what about during good times? During the times when life is enjoyable and satisfying? Of course we do not forget to thank God for that, but our prayers tend to be shorter and less earnest. That is when we do not think about Him at all times, make our own decisions without testing and confirming, and allow our perspectives to wander elsewhere. Then when our lives hit another snag, it's back to praying and whining to God. This has become a predictable cycle.
And when the end is near, we are not fully prepared to move on. We pray fervently to God to give us or our loved ones more time. We forget that everything moves according to God's timetable, and stubbornly refuse to submit to His perfect will.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
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