My husband and I leave Manila for 9 months in Canada in a few hours. Moving is never easy as it involves goodbyes but also hellos. So goodbye for now to my friends here in Asia and hello to friends in Canada!
Something to chew on till I write again!
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson -
I've learned....That money doesn't buy class.
I've learned....That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
I've learned...That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
I've learned....That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
I've learned....That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
I've learned...That love, not time, heals all wounds.
I've learned...That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
I've learned....That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.
I've learned....That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
I've learned....That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.
I've learned....That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
I've learned....That I can't choose how I feel, but I can choose what I do about it.
I've learned....That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness, and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
My head feels weighted down to my pillow.
It is so quiet and so dark.
Just a few more minutes of sleep would be so welcome.
I stumble out of bed and wash my face.
The floor feels cold to my bare feet.
It is so quiet and so dark.
I find myself at my desk with my Bible in front of me.
Darkness is like a wall that keeps the rush of the day at bay
All is asleep except God and I.
It is so quiet and so dark.
But I can hear my thoughts in this wall of darkness.
Is this just a ritual that I have done since a child?
Surely I can meet God in a few hours from now!
It is so quiet and so dark
The morning is about to break and with it the clamor of a busy life.
I read His Word, written so long ago
Yet I feel I am sitting in a room alone with God
It is so quiet and so dark
“Morning, wait to come” I am enjoying my God’s presence.
My younger sister and her husband are experiencing empty nest this summer. Their oldest has started university in
We are a step ahead of them as our three girls all have a life on their own now. We raised our girls to be godly, responsible and make good choices in life. They are doing just that so I cannot be sad, right? But is it still lonely? At times, to be honest yes. But skype and MSN are huge helps. On the other hand it is also a great time of life. The living room stays tidy; my husband and I don’t need to go out to date or talk; no fight for the TV remote…. But I remember my mom used to say when we were all gone from home for boarding school- the Silence is deafening! I know what she means!
One motto we live by: Distance doesn’t separate us, silence does. So we keep chatting, keep calling, and visit as often as our overseas lifestyle can manage. But once a parent always a parent…. I just received this as I was thinking about the empty nest syndrome- kinda fits- and how true!
Is there a magic cutoff period when offspring become accountable for their own actions? Is there a wonderful moment when parents can become detached spectators in the lives of their children and shrug, "It's their life," and feel nothing?
When I was in my twenties, I stood in a hospital corridor waiting for doctors to put a few stitches in my son's head. I asked, "When do you stop worrying?" The nurse said, "When they get out of the accident stage." My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
When I was in my thirties, I sat on a little chair in a classroom and heard how one of my children talked incessantly, disrupted the class, and was headed for a career making license plates. As if to read my mind , a teacher said, "Don't worry, they all go through this stage and then you can sit back, relax and enjoy them." My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
When I was in my forties, I spent a lifetime waiting for the phone to ring, the cars to come home, the front door to open. A friend said, "They're trying to find themselves. Don't worry, in a few years, you can stop worrying. They'll be adults." My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
By the time I was 50, I was sick & tired of being vulnerable. I was still worrying over my children, but there was a new wrinkle. There was nothing I could do about it. My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing. I continued to anguish over their failures, be tormented by their frustrations and absorbed in their disappointments.
My friends said that when my kids got married I could stop worrying and lead my own life. I wanted to believe that, but I was haunted by my mother's warm smile and her occasional, "You look pale. Are you a all right? Call me the minute you get home. Are you depressed about something?"
Can it be that parents are sentenced to a lifetime of worry? Is concern for one another handed down like a torch to blaze the trail of human frailties and the fears of the FAMILY: Is concern a curse or is it a virtue that elevates us to the highest form of life?
One of my children became quite irritable recently, saying to me, "Where were you? I've been calling for 3 days, and no one answered I was worried." I smiled a warm smile. The torch has been passed.
I am
A confusion of cultures
Uniquely me
I think this is good
Because I can
Understand
The traveller, soujourner, foreigner,
The homesickness
That comes.
I think this is also bad
Because I cannot be understood
By the ordinary, mono cultural
Person.
They know not
The real meaning of homesickness
That hits me
Now and then.
Sometimes I despair of
Understanding them.
I am
An island
And a United Nations
Who can recognise either in me
But God?
Sam was with Frodo from start to finish. He wasn’t even that concerned, especially at first, about the ring. But he was ALWAYS concerned about his friend. He was no fair- weather friend. He got frustrated with Frodo, tried to get him return home at first, but he never gave up on being his friend. Even when Frodo was convinced that Sam wanted the ring for himself and so sent him packing, Sam left, but not for long. He was back again realizing that his friend needed him more than ever, even though he didn’t know it!
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor of
People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.
It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life….
God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
Home is where I am surrounded by people I love and who love me. When I walk into my house and see our family portrait and children’s pictures, I know I am home. It is the place where I have enough hangers for my clothes in the closet. Also where I am free to cook what I want when I want. It’s knowing where to shop for safety pins, groceries and blank DVDs.
I got this from a friend:
Life isn't about keeping score.
It's not about how many friends you have
Or how accepted you are.
Not about if you have plans this weekend
or if you're alone.
It isn't about who you have kissed,
It isn't about who your family is or
how much money they have
Or what kind of car you drive.
Or where you are sent to school.
It's not about how beautiful or ugly you are.
Or what clothes you wear, what shoes you have on,
Or what kind of music you listen to.
It's not about if your hair
is blonde, red, black, or brown,
Or if your skin is too light or too dark.
Not about what grades you get how smart you are,
how smart everybody else thinks you are,
or how smart in standardized tests say you are.
It's not about what clubs you're in
or how good you are at "your" sport.
It's not about representing your whole being
on a piece of paper and seeing who will
"accept the written you."
Life just isn't.
Life is about who you love and who you hurt.
It's about who you make happy or unhappy purposely.
It's about keeping or betraying trust.
It's about friendship, used as a sanctity or as a weapon.
It's about what you say and mean, maybe hurtful, maybe heartening.
It's about starting rumors and contributing to petty gossip.
It's about what judgments you pass and why.
And who your judgments are spread to.
It's about who you've ignored with full control and intention.
It's about jealousy, fear, ignorance, and revenge.
It's about carrying inner hate and love,
letting it grow and spreading it.
But most of all, it's about using your life to touch or poison
other people's hearts in such a way that could have
never occurred alone.
Only you choose the way those hearts are affected, and those
choices are what life's all about.
There is a rhythm to life. Birth-death, joy-sorrow, hard work- results, morning- night. I find the rhythm in my life is made up of Routine and Spontaneity.
Routine is repetition, monotonous, predictable and bland. Spontaneity is energy -building, surprises, joy and welcome.
BUT, call it wisdom coming with age or common sense starting to seep in, I am finding that the equilibrium to a stable, productive, even a fulfilling life is BALANCE between both, routine and spontaneity.
As I look at God’s creation I see this balance. We till the ground, plant the seed, water the plant and watch it grow- not all of a sudden but in laboriously long months. Then we happen upon a splash of feathery purple in a crag of a rock. Soft and fluttering and delicate, emerging from the foreboding, unmoving, granite rock face. Or we look into the starry night sky. They are in order and so predictable that the order of the stars that were named as the Bear and Orion hundreds of years ago, are still in that pattern to this day. Then one night, with only a fortunate few watching, a light streaks across the skies. You may call it a shooting star- I like to call it God’s spontaneity.
But too much spontaneity and I start to feel out of control. Necessary things aren’t getting done and the surprises aren’t so welcome anymore. Why? Isn’t this what I longed for? My energy that is created from spontaneity is spiraling down and my to-do-list grows. Can I really afford an hour in my quiet time this morning- do I have the time to pray for all the people I have committed to pray for?
I am learning to feel comfortable walking long distances in the predictable rhythm of the routine, but still ever ready for the short, unexpected, dance of spontaneity.
