"你想[薰衣草]，怎麽长起来。不劳苦，也不纺线。然而我告诉你们，就是所罗门极荣华的时候，他所穿戴的，还不如这花一朵呢" - Luke 12:27
On Sunday, when my younger brother and I took Pa and Ma out for Mother's Day at Pagi Sore in Taman Jurong (they were reluctant as always to go anywhere too far from their place), it struck me how life has changed so much just in one decade.
On Sunday, when my younger brother and I took Pa and Ma out for Mother's Day at Pagi Sore in Taman Jurong (they were reluctant as always to go anywhere too far from their place), it struck me how life has changed so much just in one decade.
Ten years ago at this time, when bro and I were still in university, life was quite different then. It was not an easy time, with Pa being diagnosed with diabetes and being essentially forced into early retirement. We have never been rich, indeed, much of childhood witnessed my parents trying hard to make ends meet. We got through school with scholarships and bursaries, and with his illness ten years ago, it meant growing up even more quickly. First, giving up a place abroad to study, then working part time during university vacation while friends went on European holidays, and giving tuition in the afternoons instead of taking driving lessons. I would be dishonest if I said I didn't feel short-changed and sometimes even resentful when comparing myself to other more privileged classmates (of which there were seemed to be plenty in law school).
Well today, my family and I sit in a nice restaurant, with bro and I each having our own car parked outside, discussing Japan vacation plans for all of us. Bro has started working for a few years, and seems to be doing well in his architect firm, travelling in the region and managing projects. I have gone to and come back from Hong Kong, worked in the world's largest law firm and am now counsel in an investment bank, that unreal universe where people speak in billions.
But I look at us again, and I think - though circumstances have changed, what they used to be have also shaped us in an indelible way. Pa and Ma, of course, still have not changed their simple ways, ordering the food on the menu with usual circumspection - Ma commented that the signature Otak Fish was really too expensive at $16 - she could whip up the same dish for $5 at home (and I completely believe her, she being the smartest housewife and best cook I know). Bro is still the quiet, down-to-earth person, and the more stoic and sensible of the two of us.
And so, how has the past, as well as the changes in the present, shaped myself? Has it made me fear going back to the insecurity of the past, and will I cling on the present and what I possess? Am I able to live a simple life by the world's standards and find richness only in my relationship with God? It is possible to proclaim this too easily. Only the ongoing circumstances of life will reveal what's going on in the heart.
The only thing I would say here is that I have been made aware of, again and again, in the past 10 years, how God's hand clearly and definitely brought about all these changes, very often in incredibly miraculous ways. Each time that I had been blessed with a material thing, whether it be a job, an opportunity, or even for things as trivial as the location of the first property purchase and the model of the car, - I always felt as if God was telling me (and I am writing as a conservative, non-Pentecostal Christian here hor),
"Remember the time where you asked why you didn't have this thing or that thing? I am showing you now that it is completely within My power to give anyone anything I will. And you should see that you have never lacked anything from Me in your life, and everything that was given or not given to you, was because of a definite purpose, and My timing is always perfect."
So, the only question left I could ask must be this: " Am I then far more interested in what God is doing to my character, then to my circumstances, which He has already proven beyond doubt are completely within His power to change? Do I want more the security of the present, or the knowledge of being more like Christ?"
Please do let that same power change what is within.
(Photo: Hokkaido lavender fields, if God wills, to look forward to later this summer. Verse from the 新譯本 for mom.)
Well today, my family and I sit in a nice restaurant, with bro and I each having our own car parked outside, discussing Japan vacation plans for all of us. Bro has started working for a few years, and seems to be doing well in his architect firm, travelling in the region and managing projects. I have gone to and come back from Hong Kong, worked in the world's largest law firm and am now counsel in an investment bank, that unreal universe where people speak in billions.
But I look at us again, and I think - though circumstances have changed, what they used to be have also shaped us in an indelible way. Pa and Ma, of course, still have not changed their simple ways, ordering the food on the menu with usual circumspection - Ma commented that the signature Otak Fish was really too expensive at $16 - she could whip up the same dish for $5 at home (and I completely believe her, she being the smartest housewife and best cook I know). Bro is still the quiet, down-to-earth person, and the more stoic and sensible of the two of us.
And so, how has the past, as well as the changes in the present, shaped myself? Has it made me fear going back to the insecurity of the past, and will I cling on the present and what I possess? Am I able to live a simple life by the world's standards and find richness only in my relationship with God? It is possible to proclaim this too easily. Only the ongoing circumstances of life will reveal what's going on in the heart.
The only thing I would say here is that I have been made aware of, again and again, in the past 10 years, how God's hand clearly and definitely brought about all these changes, very often in incredibly miraculous ways. Each time that I had been blessed with a material thing, whether it be a job, an opportunity, or even for things as trivial as the location of the first property purchase and the model of the car, - I always felt as if God was telling me (and I am writing as a conservative, non-Pentecostal Christian here hor),
"Remember the time where you asked why you didn't have this thing or that thing? I am showing you now that it is completely within My power to give anyone anything I will. And you should see that you have never lacked anything from Me in your life, and everything that was given or not given to you, was because of a definite purpose, and My timing is always perfect."
So, the only question left I could ask must be this: " Am I then far more interested in what God is doing to my character, then to my circumstances, which He has already proven beyond doubt are completely within His power to change? Do I want more the security of the present, or the knowledge of being more like Christ?"
Please do let that same power change what is within.
(Photo: Hokkaido lavender fields, if God wills, to look forward to later this summer. Verse from the 新譯本 for mom.)
