when does life get better?
This Morning’s Office of Readings
God of my fathers and Lord of mercy,
who made all things by your word;
who in your wisdom set man to rule over all that you created
– to arrange the world in holiness and justice
– to make right judgements according to the guidance of his heart:
give me Wisdom, who stands by your throne,
and let me not be unworthy to be your servant.
For I am your slave and the son of your servant-girl,
a man, weak, short-lived,
slow to understand your judgements and laws.
Even the highest of the children of men
– if your wisdom is absent – counts for nothing.
With you abides Wisdom, who knows your works.
She was with you when you made the world.
She knew what was pleasing to your eyes.
She saw what was right according to your precepts.
Send your Wisdom from the highest heaven;
send her from the throne of your greatness;
that she may abide with me and work with me,
so that I may know what it is that pleases you.
For Wisdom knows everything, and understands;
she will lead me wisely in what I do,
and protect me in her glory.
SMU Fides: Empty Bench
An empty chair in void decks, what does it mean to you?
Imagine yourself lying on the bench trying to sleep. You have not eaten anything for days and the only thing to counter the hunger is to sleep it off. Now imagine the cold of the night and how vulnerable you are to the elements, assaults and theft. Imagine yourself shivering as all you have to keep yourself warm are some cardboard boxes you found earlier. Worst of all, imagine that this happens every single night of your life. How would you feel?
What I have described can be a typical day of a homeless person in Singapore. To him, this bench is probably the only form of familiarity amidst all the loneliness or bustle of trying to survive. Just how many of these people have we missed? Although you may not believe it, there are a significant number of homeless in our midst.
Bread Run is a project started by Willing Hearts to distribute leftover bread from bakeries to the homeless in Singapore. I would like to share some of my experiences from one such Bread Run which was co-organized by Fides and the youth group from Nativity Church.
Through my participation in the bread run, I understood that what I previously described barely scraped the surface of the hardships these homeless people face in a society where they are easily marginalized and forgotten.
First, I would like to share the experience of a fellow member. She had approached a homeless man who was asleep when he suddenly jolted up in fear. That was when she realized it wasn’t easy sleeping out in the open where we were all so vulnerable and had to constantly be alert. As a result of that, it wouldn’t be easy to get a good night’s rest to tackle the problems of tomorrow. Contrast this to our own lives where we live behind locked doors in safety, with our fans and air conditioning, comfort which many of us cannot fathom living without. We sometimes take simple things in life for granted and fail to take a step back to appreciate and be thankful for what we do have. It is time we become aware and appreciate the little things in our lives.
The next event that I would like to share is the experience of their past and lack of skills in society. A man I approached to give the food looked me in the eye and said “I don’t have money”. After we told him it was free, he talked about how he had come here many years ago without his wife and children. Although he seemed a little senile, I could feel the truth behind his words and that got me thinking. How many of these people have been left behind by society because we have progressed too fast and forgot about them?
Later, we found out that some of these homeless had been abandoned by their children. Most of us who grew up under decent family conditions will not understand how anyone could abandon someone to die, especially their parents who have worked so hard to bring them up. It was also then that I realized how sheltered we were and how much we actually take our parents for granted. While it is easy to overlook the actions of your parents as being irritating or naggy, we sometimes do not see that these same actions are actually acts of love from them. “Just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to, doesn’t mean they do not love you at all.”
Lastly, what struck me was that community is important and it exists even amongst the homeless. Everyone seeks a place to belong and even amongst the homeless, that does not change. At the void deck which I visited, I saw a place where a few of them congregated and shared with each other. Another experience I had was when one homeless man helped another to collect cardboard boxes so he could sell it for 60 cents a kilogram. Despite his living conditions and him keeping the cardboard boxes to sell, he selflessly helped another man. These are acts of kindness that should never be lost and are true reflections of the teaching of Jesus. Yet in today’s society, how many of us can do the same?
No matter who or no matter where, every single thing in life teaches us something. So next time something happens, take a step back to smell the roses and reflect a little. Just as how the homeless people appreciate every little gesture, even the littlest things in life should be enough to make us happy.
For more information on Willing Hearts please visit: www.willinghearts.org.sg
Lent
I think university is one gigantic long-drawn crossroad in my life. The experience of university almost wholly determines my future. These are the finishing touches upon my blueprint, before I’m finally released into a “vocational” life. And it’s quite scary to know that these 4 years have that tremendous power to shape me: the searching to discover my interests, making those tenuous connections to what im studying and projecting it onto a possible future job. And the power and influence of my friends, profs, and school culture have a profoundly deep impact on my own values.
And its within these crossroads that I have to make an important choice on how much I would let God be present. It’s an infant idea, but I’m beginning to think of faith no longer as just a support: on God who gives me friends, God who strengthens me, God a person whom I rely on.
To me, God is always standing, watching from afar, telling me that what I’m doing is okay, providing for me without my knowing, being a guardian; a protector. I like to think of God as someone i don’t talk to too often (sufficiently, i hope) but who’s always got my back. Carrying this belief into my next phase of life means that no matter what I do, God will supplement me and carry me through. I’ll just do whatever I do, and retrospectively I will know that He was there.
But “no matter what I do” seems to be a grey area that keeps growing. What is it that I’m going to be doing in the future? For most part, I draw blanks. And somehow, it just dawned on me that God cannot just play a supportive role in my life. He must actively define it, and I have to willingly find out what it is, and let Him. What this means for me is really that my faith imparts to me certain teachings of Jesus, values and particular cultures (of which I could never really define properly) which I will heavily call upon when in the future. And these have to move beyond mere lessons that I learn, to having a certain impact on the future that I plot for myself.
Sorry, i’m a bit sleepy and this became a little bit more incoherent then i would have liked, but i would really like to submit this now. The main question I’m trying to grasp is that “does my faith support, or direct my life?” Maybe there’s no practical value in this either, but I certainly hope its the latter rather than merely the former.
(Source: true-fire, via chasemetothestarrs)
(via pennyeatworld)
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
—Ephesians 3:17-19
1 Peter 1:4-6
It is my greatest fear that if and when Jesus comes, I would not recognise Him. So in preparation for this, I would challenge myself to find Jesus in the most difficult places: in trial and suffering; in the weak, sick, handicapped, poor and destitute; in sin and sinners. Without this I would never know if I have truly believed in Him but when I do, I will rejoice in indescribable and glorious joy!
saying sorry sincerely with all intention and meaning is extremely difficult, because it means wholeheartedly admitting that you are wrong. because of the time we spend trying to make sure we do right, say right, be right, know right and live right, we are inclined to think that for most part of our lives, we are right, right. Which makes saying sorry, saying that “i’m wrong” is an extremely painful thing to do. the process of arriving at this conclusion is no easier a journey. when all along we have been telling ourselves that we are right, how do we begin to discover that we are in fact, not? and why would we force ourselves down a path of self-discovery, where each step is surely more difficult and excruciating than the one before?
i don’t confess to have the right answers, and i don’t confess to being able to say sorry very sincerely very often. i do it once a year, perhaps. but what surely happens when a person decides to embark on a journey to discover wrongdoing, resulting in a sincere apology, is no less than an act of grace. and grace is God’s language for doing what is humanly impossible. and God’s mercy is endless, His forgiveness is infinite. He loves us, and for no other reason wants us to return to Him and away from wrong, because every wrong builds in our hearts and blocks Jesus out. Underneath all the layers of wrongdoing, bringing ourselves to remorse, penitence, seeking forgiveness, making reconciliations, we arrive at the heart of Jesus, where He gives us peace, comfort and shelter.
so i think its time to say sorry more often. to others and to God.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eym833fy8Uc&list=UUJ_UA9NpaUgNXiM8zXS-0vA&index=10&feature=plcp
Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God’s saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’
—Matthew 6:33-34
