A 3-year-old was walking along, hand-held by her mum.
As she walked, one shoe slipped off, and she didn't even realized it. It was her mum who saw it and got her to put it on.
It's like...
As we walk with God, hand held by Him. We don't even need to worry about things dropping out of our bag, because He's all that matters. God has captured our attention so fully that we didn't even notice our phone vibrating, our washing machine beeping, our shoes slipping...
Maybe the causal relationship isn't to drop it, then be closer to Him.
Maybe it's to be closer to Him, then we'll drop it. Actually, by that time, to drop it or not, doesn't seem to be a matter of concern anymore.
Whenever I get home, I've got the habit to unpack my bag. Empty it. Make sure every thing is in the right place right where they should be.
I guess it makes sense relating it back to God too. Whenever I go back to God, I need to lay down my thoughts, my burdens, and my troubles. Just stay at His feet and be with Him. Setting my path straight.
"Why do you have the ring on your little finger?" I asked.
The chirpy child sunken with a sad face immediately.
"It's painful." She said.
"Did you tell your teacher?"
She shook her head.
"Your teacher won't scold you. If you tell her, she can help you. Next time, you should let her know. Ok?"
Sad face. :(
But perhaps I said the words too soon. When the child told the teacher, with me around, the teacher wasn't too encouraging about it. It was even a little reproachful. So, I had to explain to the teacher.
Angsty. Some teachers are just angst about every thing. Even teaching session can sound like a reprimanding session, with voices raised, finger pointing, and bloodshot eyes. (ok. Maybe not bloodshot, but piercing stares.) I can't imagine how scary it must be for the kids. However, truly kids adapt really fast and they manage to survive, taking in some techniques (stay low) to avoid being scolded. While some daredevils fight back by shouting louder than teacher, and some just 'arrow' their friends.
I don't know if I can do this, if I were them.
On a serious note, teachers, please don't lose your passion for the kids. Some days are difficult and it's tough when you have challenging kids, but creating an environment where kids learn the right attitude to life, learning and friendship goes a long way. You never know you're impacting their lives in ways beyond your imagination.
I was really frozen in the theatre, anyway. It was freezing but the songs kept me sitting through the movie. I really love musicals, theatre musical, movie musical, and animation musical, I love it all! I like how songs bring out the crescendos of emotions and lead me deeper into the character's thought processes.
'Frozen' has an interesting plot and the songs make it even better! It's the story of a princess, Elsa, who possesses cryokinetic powers, and she accidentally hurts her younger sister, Anna, one day. So, her parents told her to conceal her powers and shut all doors in the palace. And the story begins...
I particularly love this song "Let it go". I love how the song brings the listener through a saddening scene of her leaving her palace, and it brightens up into her accepting who she really is and discovering the limits of her power, but ended with nonchalance and a tinge of sadness.
It's a pity that the ending is such a rush, when everything just happens so quickly that things doesn't make sense anymore. The sword breaks when it tries to cut through ice. Suddenly, the snow storm cleared when Elsa thought Anna was dead. So coincidentally, all the characters were around the same place.
Reflection
Could there be anything that I might be concealing because of social pressure or even self-induced pressure?
Hmm... Maybe... Sometimes I thought of some verses or how God will think when I'm out with my friends or colleagues, but I choose to keep it within myself and not voice out. Probably because I don't want them to think of me as being religious or afraid of the change in mood after saying it. I guess I need to "let it go... let it go... can't hold it back anymore... I don't care what they're going to say." haha!
What if I can choose a superpower, what will it be?
Hello 25! Time has passed in a flash, as always. And I saw
this quote at the back of a mini ‘lock-kok’ van today – “Age is not a number,
it’s how you feel.” Yea, I think I’ve gotta look beyond the number and
I actually feel pretty good about my 25th year! I
think it’s gonna be exciting with my upcoming new house, my without-supervision
therapy sessions, my kinda-bonded youth cell, and my new zone cell with my good
friends all inside! I’m looking forward!
Just to share an amazing time when God comforts my heart…
When I was looking back at 2013 one day, suddenly a thought
came to me and it was so awful. A voice was telling me that I’m lousy and I haven’t
been at my best in 2013. I was sulking about it. Then my cousin asked me to
search for his baby picture, and I began to flip through my old photos. And I
found lots of cards that people wrote to me, each thanking me for blessing
their lives somehow and sending me their best wishes.
There was a handmade 2006 scheduler with many of my JC
friends’ baby photographs (some naked, some taking their baby steps, some just
flashing their smiles). They knew I love young children and decided to make me
love them more by showing me their baby photos. But they didn’t know I already
love them for who they are. :)
There was another handmade booklet/diary for me to jot down
my daily journal when I was in Shui for 2.5 months. It was a trialing time for
me as I struggle with homesickness, finances and loneliness. But all the photos
of my ‘C girls’ and funky messages at the sides were the very significant
strings that I held on to during those days. I shouldn’t say that the Shui
experience was totally bad because when I was reading what I wrote, I found
myself marveling at God’s creation or His works of blessings almost every day!
Between some pages were snippets of drawings by the kids or youths and they
want me to keep them and bless me with it. I was drawn to the simplicity of life
there… And I’m missing it. I think I’ll go back one day. Maybe in 2015!
Then, there were 2 big cards made of drawing board for my
past birthdays. One by ‘C girls’ when we were like in our teenage years. Those
were the times we made time to create handmade cards and there was so much sincerity
in that big card. I think I lost it too. The other handmade card was done by a
little mischievous boy, my cell member then. For a year, I volunteered to take
up the sec 1 boys cell! I think I was crazy! I didn’t know how I survived through
that year! During cell, I was mostly angry and frustrated. Tried to be fun with
them (they were boys after all), but I think I couldn’t take it. I still prefer
the warm and cuddly girls cell where we cry about broken friendships or bad
results and share deep about relationship with God. But I remembered being very
touched receiving this card from him. It was a big Garfield drawn on the cover
and coloured. And inside was just a few words ‘Thank you Shumin for teaching
me. Happy birthday!’
I know my identity in Christ, but it’s really nice to be
appreciated for who I am. I guess everybody needs a bit of that. And without these
people,
I wouldn’t be a ‘C girls’ member (we named
ourselves that because all our surnames begin with ‘c’)
I would be the only girl in a F. Maths-Maths
C-Physics class (there was only 5 girls in my class)
I would not be the only female cell leader
leading a boys cell
I wouldn’t be who I am today.
After cruising through 2013, I think 2014 is a year when I’ll
soar! :)
