Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Life

In the blink of an eye, a week of the holidays have drifted by. Some days were spent being 'productive'..others...were left to laze and glide by. I was doing some random surfing today and came across this. 'Chat with God'.. really inspirational and insightful if I may say so. Do read through it. It helped answer some questions I had. It might just help you too.


God : Hello. Did you call me?
Me: Called you? No.. who is this?
God : This is GOD. I heard your prayers. So I thought I will chat.
Me: I do pray. Just makes me feel good. I am actually busy now. I am in the midst of something.
God : What are you busy at? Ants are busy too.
Me: Don't know. But I cant find free time. Life has become hectic. It's rush hour all the time.
God : Sure. Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you results. Activity consumes time. Productivity frees it.
Me: I understand. But I still can't figure out. By the way, I was not expecting YOU to buzz me on instant messaging chat.
God : Well I wanted to resolve your! fight for time, by giving you some clarity. In this net era, I wanted to reach you through the medium you are comfortable with.
Me: Tell me, why has life become complicated now?
God : Stop analyzing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it complicated.
Me: why are we then constantly unhappy?
God : Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday.You are worrying because you are analyzing. Worrying has become your habit. That's why you are not happy.
Me: But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?
God : Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional.
Me: But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty..
God : Pain is inevit! able, but suffering is optional.
Me: If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?
God : Diamond cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don't suffer. With that experience their life become better not bitter.
Me: You mean to say such experience is useful?
God : Yes. In every terms, Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.
Me: But still, why should we go through such tests? Why cant we be free from problems?
God : Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons (to) Enhance Mental Strength. Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance, not when you! are free from problems.
Me: Frankly in the midst of so many problems, we don't know where we are heading..
God : If you look outside you will not know where you are heading.Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight.
Me: Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the right direction. What should I do?
God : Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing you rode ahead. You work with the compass. Let others work with the clock.
Me: In tough times, how do you stay motivated?
God : Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessing, not what you are missing.
Me: What surprises you about people?
God : when they suffer they ask, "why me?" When they prosper, they never ask "Why me" Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth.
Me: Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here. I cant get the answer.
God : Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be. Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not a process of discovery but a process of creation.
Me: How can I get the best out of life?
God : Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.
Me: One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.
God : There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO.
Me: Thank you for this wonderful chat.
God : Well. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve not a problem to resolve. Trust me. Life is wonderful if you know how to live. "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that took our breath away!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Grace and Glory

God says, " I have carried you since you were born: I have taken care of you from your birth. Even when you are old, I wil be the same. Even when your hair has turned gray, I will tkae care of you. I made you will take care of you" - taken from Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren

It’s Sunday today and I think it’s apt that I dedicate a post to He who made it all possible. I’ve been putting this song on repeat the whole morning. ‘Worthy is The Lamb’. These past three months have taught me a lot on life’s lessons. Tomorrow marks the last day of m first semester in college. And it is with a slight nostalgic feeling that I leave this place. This room where I’ve been spending three months of my life in. But don’t hear me wrong, I’m glad as can be to be leaving for the semester break. A whole blissful month back home.

Yesterday, I had the severest attack of gastric ever. And to top it off, I sprained my right shoulder and neck pretty badly. It came to a point where I couldn’t even turn my head. Combing my hair and tying it up was no mean feat. But, in it all, I learnt a lesson. I’ve been mulling things over the whole morning. I’ve decided to be more carefree. Come to think of it, I’m only eighteen. Far too young to be cynical and jaded like I used to be. With age comes responsibility they say. And I guess I’m responsible to live life to the fullest.

God gave me life. And I owe it to Him to make the fullest out of it. It is comforting to know that God’s always there. It is indeed a joy to know God. A feeling I can’t exactly put into words. God has been there for me through the darkest moments. Through those times when I needed comfort most. Know God, and regret not. God is the one who’ll accept us for who we are. Because he made us that way. I’ve spent a great deal of my life living up to expectations. It gets tiring at times. And through the despair of disappointments, I sometimes get that glimmer of hope that things will turn out for the better. I’ve been through times when I thought no one would understand. Times when I’ve felt so alone. But I was wrong. God was there for me always. I was wrong to try to live up to seemingly impossible expectations, to seek to be perfect when God made me unique in my own special way. To fear when there was no need to fear. God made everyone unique. What we see as flaws may be what God sees as special. Sometimes, we don’t need to conform to what people will think of us. I remember this quote I once read. If I’m not mistaken, it was by Roald Dahl. Be who you are, for those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter, don’t mind. This may not be in verbatim for I can’t remember the exact words.

I have a lecturer here who goes around saying “ Jesus loves you” “God bless you Sister/Brother” “Jesus is only knocking on the door of your heart, hoping you’d open the door for him”. I think that’s what I’ll remember him for. He wouldn’t be teaching us anymore after this semester but I think in a way, I’ll miss his quirky self.

I’ll leave this post with the lyrics for the song ‘Worthy is the Lamb’ for it reflects a thousand times what I want to say.

Thank you for the cross, Lord
Thank you for the price You paid
Bearing all my sin and shame
In love You came
And gave amazing grace

Thank you for this love, Lord
Thank you for the nail pierced hands
Washed me in Your cleansing flow
Now all I knowYour forgiveness and embrace

Worthy is the Lamb
Seated on the throne
Crown You now with many crowns
You reign victoriousHigh and lifted up

Jesus Son of God
The Darling of Heaven crucified
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb

Thursday, September 14, 2006

It's good

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. -- Anonymous

It's good to.....

  • have a nice, fluffy soft bed to lie on after a hard day
  • have a steaming cuppa soup on a cool rainy day
  • have a shoulder to lean on
  • rest, relax and watch the world whirl by
  • curl up with a good book and a cup of tea
  • idle chat about nothing and everything under the sun
  • laugh and cry and surrender to that very thing that makes us human - emotions
  • dress up and paint the town red
  • know God exists
  • take a leisure evening stroll on a cool, breezy day
  • have someone to babble on and on and on to on a sucky day
  • watch the sun go off to bed
  • listen to the waves sing their endless medley
  • know that days pass and waiting won't be in vain
  • indulge

Sunday, September 10, 2006

It all begins

Six billion people in the world, six billion souls, and sometimes, all you need is ONE – One Tree Hill

The first semester started off in bright and springy May and it’s now coming to a slow albeit inevitable end in the cool month of September. How fast time flies. I remember the day when we first enrolled, how we needed a map to navigate around. How everything looked so new and fresh and exciting. Unexplored terrains, limitless knowledge just waiting to be acquired. I remember stepping into college with stars in my eyes, all happy to have ‘graduated’ from high school and now taking the next big step.

Anyway, today the first exam of the first final semester exam of the first semester of the first year of college finally commenced. It’s a bit surreal how things have progressed. Sometimes I look back and relive these past few months and it seems as if I’m reading life from a storybook. A never ending storybook

College examinations are pretty stiff. We aren’t allowed near the examination venues till a certain time. And to top it off, they blow a whistle. Yup, like a piercing, silence-slashing, screeching, nerve-wrecking shrill whistle. I have no idea why, but I was so tensed up by then that I almost wanted to laugh hysterically when the whistle blew seemingly out of nowhere. The test progressed pretty well after that. Hopefully.

Someone has been feeding me stories which has gotten me all sappy and soft and moist-eyed on a Saturday night...

A pair of teenagers were traveling over 100 mph

Girl : You’re going too fast
Guy: No, this is fun !
Girl: No, it’s scary. Stop it
Guy: Only if you say you love me
Girl: Fine, I love you.
Guy: And give me a BIG hug
*Girl hugs him
Guy: Now take my helmet and put it on yourself. It’s bugging me

(next day in the papers)
A motorbike crashes into a building because of the brakes failing






Why did I post this, you may wonder, but there’s another part to this story.


Only one person died in the crash. The girl survived since she was wearing the helmet. Truth is, the guy realized earlier on that his brakes were not functioning so he devised this so that he could hear her say “I love you” and have her hug him one last time. He made her take his helmet so that she’ll survive even though he knew he would not.

Now, isn’t that just touching. Though I wouldn’t want to spoil the emotional quality of it by wondering why the girl wasn’t wearing a helmet in the first place.

With that, I’m going to sign off. Hopefully I’ll survive the exams, then I might just have something thought-provoking to blog about later. Till then, ciao !