Dear Mandy...

The last couple of days have been eventful, meaningful, and also challenging...

NDP rehearsal yesterday was tiring, but it was very endearing to see how the different motivators gathered together to rally around one another... but for my NYP motivators, I see them encouraging each other, pushing each other, and trying to bond.

Had an amazing time today at the Lion King Musical at Marina Bay Sands, Sands Theatre. It was a brilliant show! The songs, the dances, the props, the costumes... even the stage atmosphere. It was very African jungle-like, very tribal, very real. And though there were some parts that I wish could have been better, but I think that overall, the show was worth the $88 that I paid! =)

What encouraged me was that there were 13 people! It was quite a successful outing, I feel. I didn't have time to have dinner with the gang afterwards, but I'm very certain that they bonded, and God's presence was with them. =)

I went for dinner with Vonne and Kaiting! =) Two lovely friends who I've known since Year 2 until now. They're 2 of my closest friends about. Full of laughter and mirth, never failing to share their views, even if it's hilarious, or sarcastic, and real. What I cherish most about these two ladies, is how they take it upon themselves to look out for me. Sure they tell me stuff about their lives, but they always take special effort to make sure I'm not running myself ragged, and always concerned about how I'm doing, and where I am.


I praise God for them.
Because they are truly truly briliantly wonderful friends. =)

Dear Mandy,

I think that many a time... our perspective determines the way we see things. It's as simple as that. It is differing perspectives that can sometimes lead to war. Differing perspectives can see different sides to a piece of text. Different perspectives end in different results.

So perspective is a big word. Just today, at the divine healing seminar, PS Derek Hong said that the attitude that we adopt when we read the Bible makes all the difference. Attitude, perspective. They more or less affect the way we do things, the way we read things, and the way we live life.

An optimist may be far happier than a pessimist, but a pessimist is, in many a time, headed for less pain than an optimist. But an optimist finds joy within pain (or so, I believe). And perhaps, that's what's so lacking... we lose hope all too easily.

I don't know... but hope is essential I guess... hope may be frail, but there is always hope in Jesus. I'm actually quite a bundle of incoherent thoughts at the moment... and part of me wonders about the possibility of a world without hope... I guess that's quite impossible, because where there's love, there's hope. =) It's just... there. Giving encouragement, spurring dreams, making differences.

I hope. Do you?

Dear Mandy...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

Dear Mandy...

With the last paper on the 4th of May 2011, I officially ended the second semester of my 4th Year, and effectively, also, the last exam I'll ever take in NUS.. And I have mixed feelings. But as I reflect about this semester.. there's so much to say, and so much that I've gone through in this last semester, let alone these last 4 years, that I somehow feel that NUS has been an integral part of my life, much like how VS, VJC and NS have been. Funny how the older you go, the more lessons you learn, and the more significant each experience is for you. =)

This semester is the first, only and last semester that I overloaded on modular credits for the semester. 28 MCs... and a heck lot of work, and it was 13 weeks of non-stop running, most of the time. I found myself scrambling to find rest, rushing to get assigments and responsibilities done, finding time to get some exercise here and there, and basically forgot how to breathe.






This video really captured the essence of life for me. "But when we slow down, we discover that life has a natural pace. And it's good. We slow into a groove that's always been there. Life becomes better, more enjoyable and more fulfilling. We may do fewer things, but what we do, we do it well. We breathe" and also, "life is where you are and what you're doing right now." And as I reflected on this semester, I wonder... when was the last time in the semester that I actually breathed? Or slowed down to take a look around me? I realise now that last semester, I was more tired, a tad more cranky, more stressed.. but also.. more dependent on God.

But that's where my thoughts linger. As I read "When God writes your love story" by Eric and Leslie Ludy, there are many pointers that I come to know. I love the question they ask about "how far can we go to bring joy to our father's heart in this area (relationships)", so I extrapolated it to "in all the areas of our lives?" instead of just in the area of relationships. And I realise that when I come to a part where I'm dependent on God, I somehow miss the part whereby I know Him. Because I'm so caught up in doing my work, in serving, in doing ministry work... that I turn to Him because there's no other way. Not that God minds, because, "a broken spirit and a contrite heart, He will not despise", but then I don't experience and know Him.


I felt like the cartoon above.. I had to hurry up to slow down. But I'm thankful for the times that the Lord has brought me through this semester, and blessing me when I don't deserve to be, which is grace. But as I started the 40 days of prayer and fasting for TGIF, I knew that I can't go on this way. So I started reading a chapter of the Bible each night, on top of my daily devotion time in the morning. I know that I needed God more than ever... and at the end of the TGIF weekend, I think it was no wonder I fell sick... there were just too many things on my hand.




And so, in this season, I guess I'm trying to slow down my pace. =)
Is it wrong? I doubt it. Would people say that it's wrong? Definitely! But God never intended for us to run until we collapse out of sheer exhaustion. Jesus Himself went off by Himself to pray, and to communicate with God. He rested too. But the thing is this... slowing down is wrong if you slow down and do nothing. But if you slow down, in order to know our Father better, I think that it's definitely the right thing to do.

I value time for myself more and more.. and believe me when I say... it's still not easy. =)