Yep, i’m a failure and i’m proud of it, because then, i’m a humble vessel for God to work through.
By casting our cares on God, it is easy to say, "Okay God, the ball’s in your court now. You handle everything," and sitting back and waiting for a miracle to happen. It doesn’t work that way, i can vouch for that. For the many times i’ve wished my lecturer’s would miraculously forget the mountain of work i’d yet to hand in, i’ve failed subjects that many times as well. Seriously.
What action do we take while trusting in God? We have to live different. Something has GOT to change.
Poncho Lowder once said that “You can’t leave here [from an experience with God] and go back living the same [lifestyle] expecting a different result. You have to live different.” C.S. Lewis wrote, “We’re like eggs at present, and you can’t go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”
Fair warning: For God to grow us and be our strength, there will be plenty of opportunities for us to practice. When you ask God to help you with impatience, there will be opportunities for you to practice patience. Well, practice makes perfect, and although we may never get it exactly right, everyday we grow a little bit more with just a little bit more practice.
Quoted from theRebelution,
Doing hard things means being diligent in the small. Getting across an ocean means many strokes of rowing. Changing the world means changing our everyday actions. These are the hard things that we need to be doing if we really want to make a difference - the small, seemingly unexciting tasks that we so often procrastinate on, or ignore altogether.
So for me, remembering that i was made for the glory of God helps me attack the mountain of work with gusto - just a little bit everyday - and well, more often than not, the mountain soon becomes a molehill. And i live in praise of the Lord who enabled me to learn diligence and responsibility.
Here i was all nervous for nothing. I was worried whether people would like what i did, whether i’d get my stuff done on time etc… Had a good long chat with God today, about Erin and i’ve come to realise that in so much that i try, i will never be strong enough to handle things on my own, so why keep on trying, only to come to such fruitless ends. Relying on God, who has strength enough for me and the rest of the world, would be the smartest thing to do, but it doesn’t come easy. Sometimes my quick temper gets in the way, my impatience screws things up, my laziness makes me guilty and my irresponsibility just adds to the tension. But my God is perfect, slow to anger, patient as ever, the most trustworthy, so really Erin, why don’t you just lay it all at His feet, and take a chill pill.
The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him… (Psalm 103)
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (Ephesians 6:10)
Cast all your cares on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)
Here’s a story, a parable if i may say, of a master and servant. The master gives orders and the servant tries his level best to carry them out. The servant tries and makes mistakes in the process, so he goes to his master and apologizes, saying he will try again. And so the servant continues to obey and tries and tries again.
Now another master and servant, a similar situation; The master gives the orders and the servant tries to obey them. He makes mistakes and goes to the master, apologizing but he’s not really sorry and doesn’t try again.
Who deserves forgiveness? The servant who is sorry but tries again OR the servant who doesn’t? That, is for you to answer…
They say it’s natural vegetable dye that won’t harm, but still. For crying out loud, they don’t need the "bright fun" color to attract kids, the chicks are cute enough the way God made them. Jeez.
Place no.1:
Just a place i’ve been going to once in a while, i thought i’d let everyone [at least my loyal blog readers] know about it. Food Foundry, pretty nice and cosy little place, found in the most obscure spot where i don’t imagine anyone would consider opening a restaurant in. It’s in Section17, amongst some apartments that don’t look all that nice. I come back loyally for the Aglio Olio here, it’s sooo sooo yummy. I’ve tried Aglio Olio elsewhere too [like in Delicious *yuck and boring* and other places] and this one still is the best. I realise that Aglio Olio is intended to be just tossed with olive oil and garlic, but this place makes it so good! They put capsicum [normally i hate capsicum but this is an exception you’ve GOT to make] and meat of your choice [beef or chicken: i prefer beef]. They also have pretty good deserts: the Mille Crepe cake is yummy [i recommend the chocolate one; they have it in many flavors]. So if ever you’re in Section17, drop by to see this place. Leave a comment if u want directions, but i’m warning u: i’m pretty hopeless at directions.
Place no.2:
Cupcake Chic, just opened in The Curve. I’m not exactly raving about it yet [RAVING would be like the review above] but what i’ve tasted of it so far is pretty good. As usual, the current trend: Cupcakes with delish looking icing and decorations with witty sassy names, sold for a big price for all that creativity. Oh well. So i purchased Fatal Attraction [made of chocolate, are you surprised?] and some other chocolate one [possibly To Die For, i mean the taste, not the name]. It was meant for Qian, her birthday was on the 23rd. Anyway, packaging made it look oh-so-pretty, very girly. Adds to the adorable-ness, i’m not saying i’ll buy the cupcakes cos of the box but it helps *grin*. Yummy factor: Definitely a fatal attraction to both cupcakes, for me and for my other friends. Josh the chocolate lover, who took home a box of my mum’s very chocolatey cookies at CNY, helped himself to big big forkfuls [is there such a word? there’s spoonful…] of the one with the chocolate roll on top [pictured with the birthday girl]. Anyway, it’s okay la, if you’re willing to spend about RM4.50 for a cupcake. Me? I’d rather Mummy make more for me for free =)
Writer/director Joby Harold’s debut feature, AWAKE, is an unsettling thriller that highlights a deeply troubling medical problem. "Anesthetic awareness" is a rare but dangerously prevalent condition that affects nearly 30,000 individuals a year, in which patients who have been put under anesthesia before surgery remain paralyzed while still being aware of their present situation. AWAKE tells the story of Clayton Beresford Jr. (Hayden Christensen), a successful young businessman who lives under the roof of his overbearing mother, Lilith (Lena Olin). Afraid to expose his engagement to Lilith’s beautiful assistant, Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba), Clayton decides to do so when he realizes that, thanks to a rare heart condition, he might not live much longer. His best friend and personal surgeon, Jack Harper (Terrence Howard), supports his decision to take the plunge, and also advises him to get a much-needed heart transplant as soon as a donor is found. After he marries Sam, a donor arrives, but when Clayton is put under to receive the complicated surgery, he is shocked to discover that he’s still cognizant of everything that is happening to him. As he fights through the pain to hear the doctors’ voices, the more he learns about his best friend and his new wife, adding further trauma to an already horrendous situation. Featuring standout performances from the film’s principal cast (Christensen, Alba, Howard), as well as its supporting players (Olin, Fisher Stevens, Christopher McDonald), AWAKE is a tense journey through the mind of an innocent man who’s on the verge of losing his lease on life.
———–
I don’t usually watch thrillers. I don’t usually advertise them too. But this one was different. Somehow, this one got to me. At first i was grossed out by it [i have no constitution for horror/thriller/too much blood/anything with a mild boo!] but i ended up intrigued halfway through and got used to the other bloody bits. I’m not usually a sympathetic person, but oh i was frustrated for this person [and those who experience this horrifying thing] who being awake during the whole procedure and feeling everything, paralysed and not being able to do NUTS about it. I never knew about this "anesthetic awareness" until now and mind you, i certainly will be more cautious before signing myself over to anything.
There were some irritating bits though: the dvd i have sort of repeats a certain part in the middle of the movie so i was watching the same part, twice, but not daring to fast forward in case it was part of the movie. 5 minutes of my life, wasted. Haha. And things like leaving out the reason why he needs a transplant in the first place, they only mention he’s got a rare blood type. It just doesn’t help the movie along… And they never mentioned why *okay, CENSORED. I’m spoiling the story.
Watch it, you might like it, you might not, but that’s your prerogative =)
The Joy of Boredom
Don’t check that e-mail. Don’t answer that phone. Just sit there. You might be surprised by what happens.
by CAROLYN Y. JOHNSON
A DECADE AGO, those monotonous minutes were just a fact of life: time ticking away, as you gazed idly into space, stood in line, or sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
[Today,] these empty moments are being saturated with productivity, communication, and the digital distractions offered by an ever-expanding array of slick mobile devices. A few years ago, cellphone maker Motorola even began using the word “microboredom” to describe the ever-smaller slices of free time from which new mobile technology offers an escape.
But are we too busy twirling through the songs on our iPods — while checking e-mail, while changing lanes on the highway — to consider whether we are giving up a good thing? We are most human when we feel dull. Lolling around in a state of restlessness is one of life’s greatest luxuries — one not available to creatures that spend all their time pursuing mere survival.
To be bored is to stop reacting to the external world, and to explore the internal one. It is in these times of reflection that people often discover something new, whether it is an epiphany about a relationship or a new theory about the way the universe works.
Public health officials often bemoan the obesity epidemic, the unintended consequence of a modern lifestyle that allows easy access to calories. Technology seems to offer a similar proposition: a wide array of distractions that offer the boon of connection, but at a cost.
Paradoxically, as cures for boredom have proliferated, people do not seem to feel less bored; they simply flee it with more energy, flitting from one activity to the next. Ralley has noticed a kind of placid look among his students over the past few years, a “laptop culture” that he finds perplexing. They have more channels to be social; there are always things to do. And yet people seem oddly numb. They are not quite bored, but not really interested either.
I read this on TheRebelution, they wrote some posts pretty similar to this one. I linked Bored? Read this! on my reading list on the sidebar, check it out.
Anyway, just a highlight to an interesting quote in the article above that i really liked : "If you think of boredom as the prelude to creativity, and loneliness as the prelude to engagement of the imagination, then they are good things. They are doorways to something better, as opposed to something to be abhorred and eradicated immediately." ~Dr. Edward Hallowell.
I just thought this was a good article for me and you, whoever is reading. Just for example, I hear so often people [myself included] calling others up and saying, "I’m bored," and go on into hours-long mindless chatter which doesn’t really stimulate the mind or encourage thinking. It’s just temporary entertainment that vanishes once you put down the phone. A truly engaging and worthy conversation that cures boredom would be one that leaves you questioning, pondering, satisfied, curious even!
Boredom is just your mind telling you it’s hungry, so let us not feed it worthless crap by "stoning" or surfing mindlessly and aimlessly on the net. Activate it into productivity and creativity!
Off theRebelution blog, some questions for you and i to think about:
Intruder alert! Warning! Warning!
Just click on the link. It’s pretty funny, and it’s okay for me to say so, cos i do not have the Y chromosome.
You know this new lifestyle i’ve been practicing…it’s pretty good. Wake up early, do devotion, then the devotion sorta not only devotes your time then in the morning, but also sis like devoting the rest of your day to God too. Then do all my other stuff/work/play/church and then sleep early cos i’ll be so tired by then. It’s great really, but in the process of making this a habit, i’ve been getting really tired in the middle of the day and really requiring a nap and then i crash into bed and zonk off til the next morning. The problem really is the middle of the day, where a nap would help, but in the working life, where would you have the time to nap in the afternoon? What is the answer? I wonder whether it’ll get less tiring as i continue on the same timing everyday. And now i don’t have to feel guilty for wasting the day away and i really go through it trying to be as productive as i can, in living to glorify God.
Ohhh…now i finally understand how my parents do it. Accountability is also very important i guess. Like my parents are sort of accountable for me and my sister [they needed to prepare breakfast and send us to school] so they made it their responsibility and duty to wake up early and prepare. It’s an obligation, not forced though. There is a difference; being obligated and willingly obliging. In my case, i willingly oblige myself to do this so i guess that helps me wake up every morning. I’m glad to do it and i try to keep my obligation as best i can.
Not to mention that the day is really different when i start it with God. It’s different from if you do it in the afternoon or evening. The rest of your day sorta falls in after you kickstart it with God right when you’re just woken up. "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul." Psalm 19:7. If your soul is revived way ahead before your day starts, wow. Canyou just imagine what the rest of the day is going to be like? All the possibilities! It’s like waking up and your petrol tank is FULL because you took the time to go and refill it before you did anything else in the day. You can go anywhere, do anything because your engine has its necessary energy and is pumped up and ready to go. Whereas if you wake up and ignore your empty tank, sooner or later, you’ll just run out and your engine dies.
So to wake up to the Lord, is sort of like acknowledging that you really need God. As human as we are, we cannot run on our own strength, as the car cannot run on its own [without petrol]. We need to be filled with the Spirit! Otherwise we will run on empty and die out.
John Piper says, "Entering the day without a serious meeting with God, over his Word and in prayer, is like entering the battle without tending to your weapons. It’s like taking a trip without filling the tires with air or the tank with gas. The human heart does not replenish itself with sleep. The body does, but not the heart. The spiritual air leaks from our tires, and the gas is consumed in the day. We replenish our hearts not with sleep, but with the Word of God and prayer."
A starving (okay!) not-so-starving artist, a fashion student, a crafty cat, a FunkyMonkey
I do not presume to know about a lot of things. I merely wish to promote good discussion about some topics that tickle my curiosity. I may be right or i may be wrong, but then, that's my prerogative, isn't it? *grin*
