Pass on the blessing

Bad moods tend to catch me unaware! I got an email this afternoon from a friend who expressed his disappointment that i had forgotten his birthday, or rather, that an entire group of us had kinda forgotten about his special day. I felt really bad initially, but with the airconditioner in office not working, the guilt turned quickly into hurt, and before i knew it, i was furious and disappointed.

Whilst i apologised to my friend, and prayed a prayer of blessing for his birthday and the year ahead, my alter-ego tookover. Thoughts flew through my mind, and i started justifying to myself why it was an immature accusation.

"Why get so worked up over a small issue?"you ask?? I guess being a sensitive person by nature, i took it quite personally - hence this became a blog-worthy post! (So, friend, before you get upset with me for blogging about this, let me clarify, and plead with you to read the blogpost to the end. God, in His grace, turned this into a lesson for me! and hopefully for you too. =) )

Through out my life, those close to me would testify that i am one person who makes an effort to remember all my family and friends' birthdates. Call it weird, but i think i've quite a knack for remembering numbers and dates. I used to make personalised greeting cards and gift-wrapping presents during my free-er days of school and Uni. But now with work and the busyness of life, i still try to make time for an sms, a call or an e-card.

I guess why i felt deeply hurt and disappointed was because both YY and I have invested a lot of our life, our time, our money, and often sharing a meal and our home with the young people in our midst, my friend included. We are not filthy rich, but whatever little that we have, we gladly share. Not that we are asking for thank-yous or favours in return, but our deepest hope and desire is that those who have been blessed will be grateful, be inspired, and pass on the blessing to others whenever they have the opportunity.

Perhaps it is a generation gap. For me, i have always been taught me to be grateful and thankful for what i have been given, to find every opportunity to pass on the blessing to others. I note with dismay that this current generation is more self-centred and expect blessings rather than seek opportunities to bless.

Anyway, as i poured my disappointment to God on my drive back home, it dawned on me that I too have been a forgetful, thankless and spoilt brat in my walk with God. Every day and every moment, God pours His abundance of love and blessings into my life, but the single unanswered prayer or a thorny situation encountered, and I throw my tantrum, and accuse God of being unfair, distant and unloving. I guess God allowed me to see and feel the pain of a thankless effort to remind me to be a more thankful and grateful child.

May each one of us learn to appreciate the blessings that God has poured on us, and also to be thankful to the people who invest and share their lives with us. May we pass on the blessings at every opportunity.

Shouting Whispers

No, you read it right.. I purposedly titled this blogpost Shouting Whispers.. because it dawned on me that in a lot of our daily life, nature is screaming back at us, somewhat shouting to remind us of who their Creator is, and what is He like.. To the one who will wait.. and pause.. and reflect.. they whisper, "Come, let's bow and worship Him! Here is the true and living God, He is mighty and majestic, He is faithful forever!"

Day after day
Night after night
In melodic harmony
In tandem beats
As if dancing to a worshipful song
The waves roll across mighty oceans
And bounce across billowy seas
In constant cycles
They crash upon upon the sand on the shore
And rush back to start their song all over again..

Dawn after dawn
Dusk after dusk
In rising, you inspire renewed hope
In setting, you proclaim timely rest
As if bursting forth to shout out praise
Each beam shines across hills and mountains
Over valleys and streams
Proclaiming the grandeur of His majesty
In radiant faithfulness they worship..

With Gingko & Walnuts

I still remember
The time you fed
Me from under the table
When Ah Di was a little toddler
And i was being naughty

I still remember
The time you sat
Beside me on a trishaw
For my first day at school
Thank you for accompanying me

I still remember
The time you sat
Hours at the table
Preparing the best food
For us to enjoy as a family

You asked if I still remember
The time you took me for a walk
By the hillside and the valley

You asked if I still remember
The time I saw the big mansion on hill
And i promised to build you one beside me

You asked if I still remember
The time you took me to the kindergarten
And i introduced you to my teachers, my friends and their family

You tell me your memory's fading
It's no longer as good as it used to be
I begin to wonder
if you will still remember me

You tell me your memory's failing
It's not as clear as previously
I begin to wonder
if you will still remember
You are the special-est of grandmas there can ever be

With gingko and walnuts
A prayer and a plea
I ask with all my heart
That God will be super close and extra real to thee

With gingko and walnuts
A prayer and a plea
I ask that God will show Himself
Faithful and true
A maker and a friend
A saviour and a king

With gingko and walnuts
A prayer and a plea
I ask that God will sustain you
With good health and memory
With joy and with peace.

Of Cuddles and Mr Buttons

Two weekends ago, I had the blessing and privilege to take 2 lovely girls from church for their Chinese New Year shopping. Their daddy hadn't been well, and so i figured they most probably hadn't had time to shop for their new clothes. Yong Yi was supposed to chauffeur us, but decided not to at the last minute, so that we girls "could have a girly-day out".

It was my first time in ages that i had gone shopping with girls apart from my close girl buddies, mum or aunt. The three of us had a fun time walking from one end of Midvalley to the other end of the Gardens, picking out clothes and trying out clothes from the adults racks to the kids racks and back to the adult racks. We also had a great time laughing till we cried over a super-heavy lunch. =) And it *still* brings giggles each time we think about it.. Three girls, one pasta, one pizza. We returned the pizza moments after it arrived, coz we were way too full from the huge spaghetti meatballs.

During the 4 hours we spent together, i gleaned some precious lessons from the two girls.

(i) Simple faith
The two girls have the blessing of very godly parents who have imparted much godly values to them. Even though their dad is unwell, they confidently tell me that "daddy is better already. He is recovering. God is already healing him and will one day completely heal him. "

(ii) Simple joys
The two girls sat buckled in the back seats of my car, and through out our journey back and forth, they chattered about everything under the sun. "Leader Sharon, what's the name of your teddy bears?" they asked me as they got in. I have two teddy bears sitting in my backseats. One was a gift from a colleague when i first joined Cadbury, and another is a gift from YY during one of his trips to Bangkok. "I haven't thought of any names, yet, le. Why don't you help me to name them?" I told them. It was all they needed. They excitedly cracked their heads, throwing interesting, adorable names. Fluffy.. Fiffy.. Rover.. Stories flew of how we named our other soft toy pets.. Our favourite names for dogs, if we ever owned one.. Our first soft toy.. Our favourite soft toys.. Suddenly one of the girls flipped the tag of the purple teddy and said, "Cadbury Cuddlies! But, Leader Sharon, Cuddlies doesn't sound too nice, eh? How about Cuddles?" "Perfect!"I exclaimed, "Cuddles it shall be. What about the other red one?"

We continued to grind our heads to think of bear names - cute, adorable, perfect names. "How about red Rover?" i asked. "That's a name for a dog, Leader Sharon, not a teddy bear!" Red Jack..Teddy-Love.. "What's on it's tag?" I asked. Sighs.. this bear didn't have a tag. "What about Buttons?" I asked, since it had little buttons on the vest. "Yeah! Yeah! Perfect!! Mr Buttons, it's a really cute name." And so it was, Cuddles and Mr Buttons have their names. We were overjoyed.

On the way back, Cuddles and Mr Buttons had fashion revamp. Cuddles' purple scarf became a turban and then a pair of shorts. Mr Buttons got undressed, which was really quite obscene. Haha.. I guess that's what you get, when you put two girls together with a pair of teddy bears. It was really fun!

In the short time that we spent together, i realised that children have very good memory. The girls remembered and recalled vividly wat i had said to them a couple of years back. It was both amazing and also sobering to think that everything we say and do, in some way and measure influences and impacts the children. I pray that through my life, my words and deeds, I will always be a good testimony of faith and positively influence the children in church and in my family.

Snippets of December & January

Since returning from my holiday in Australia, it has been a busy month of January. So so so much has happened, but i haven't had the time to blog about it. This post is going to blog the snippets of my January going-ons.. =)


(i) Ah Di's graduation - As per my last blog, it was an AMAZING time. Watching Ah Di's OCF and Uni friends drop by Uni just in time for a photo to celebrate this momentous occasion, having dad, mum, YY and me applaud Ah Di as he walked up the stage and receiving his scrolls, me going trigger happy all around Uni Melb ... it was amazing! It brings tears to my eyes thinking of God's faithfulness and providence. I know i've said/blogged this before.. but being there and knowing that God has literally carried us through the past 7 years! He's amazing, our God!





(ii) Family Holiday in Melbourne & Tasmania- We had a superb family holiday in Tasmania. The weather was lovely - cooling with a tad of sunshine. It was a very scenic holiday driving around Tasmania. It was mum and YY's first time there.. Since Ah Di & I had been there, we short listed the favourites to visit. I have never trekked so much in my life - and mum - she was amazing! She was always ahead of me. The beautiful beaches, picturesque mountains provided the perfect backdrop for a great time of rest, recreation and reflection.

It was also a great catching up with old friends too - ex-OCFers. It was encouraging and heartwarming to see friends who were still passionately serving Christ, through student ministry, cell groups and children ministry.





I brought YY, mum & Ah Di down my Uni days memory lane - walking the routes and paths that i had walked for 2 years during my studies in Monash Clayton. So many sweet memories just kept flooding my mind as i walked and talked and showed them my favourite spots, etc. The lake where we had our mini lantern festival/feed-the-duck sessions, the halls of residence room where i stayed, where Rowena and Bawani - my (3musketeer buddies) stayed, where we cooked together, the Normanby house we went for our chinese takeaways, the Menzies building where we had our classes, the library where I had accountability sessions with my cg leader Jaime, and subsequently with my juniors, my 2/18 house, the highway i had to cross each morning and night, the 1/4 OCF headquarters.. =) So many things had changed, part of me wished they didn't, but then, that's life, huh? Things move on.. New memories are made as we live each day purposefully and joyfully.


We also made a day trip to Great Ocean Road as a family. It was a very very sunny day, i had the opportunity to tan myself quite a bit. But the scenery is simply beautiful!






It was a joy to meet Sue Anne, Ah Di's girlfriend, in person for the first time too.. She's certainly a lovely and godly girl. We thank God for her, and pray that though both of them have to be apart for the time being, their love for God and each other will continue to grow.



PHOTO LINKS: Graduation, Tasmania Holidays, Great Ocean Rd, Docklands.


(iii) Wedding Anniversary - We flew back from Melb on 31st Dec. And recalled that YY and I have been married for 3 years! It's amazing just reflecting on how much we've changed (or not!) over the past 3 years. But i truly thank God for a loving husband and a soul-mate. As we continue to pray for God to bless us with a child, we truly thank God for the many things that He has already blessed us so graciously with.



(iv) Grandma's birthday - Grandma celebrated her 97th birthday on the 19th Jan. It was a big celebration with her many grandchildren and great grandchildren around her. Grandma has already said the sinner's prayer to accept Christ as her Lord and Saviour. But every now and then, she goes back to her old ways of chanting and meditation on her Taoist books. I know it is not easy to let go of her past, but our prayer is that she will make a bold step of faith to be baptised this year. We are certain God has blessed her with such longlife for a reason and purpose - for His glory and kingdom.

PHOTO LINK: Grandma's birthday