august all girls

It's confirmed. I am not patriotic. I am going to be out of town for two of the nation's most important events: National Day and the inaugural YOG.

I am going to miss Mr Jang. But Paris Paris here I come (with mum)!

The battle of the generations, or Mother-daughter bonding time?

To be continued...

9th attempt at sharing

Was having a little bit of indigestion due to overeating when I went to church today, so imagine my surprise when the sermon was on "avoiding gluttony". How apt.

Recently, I had a hard time controlling the amount of food I eat. No, am not pregnant. But my appetite has definitely increased by 30-40%. It's like even when I am not hungry, I will feel the urge to buy food and stuff it into my mouth, esp fried/oily stuff. I think that was what Rev Gan meant when he said "letting our desires run out of control".

The pleasure of eating is one of the blessings that God has given us. It is OK to eat. The bible talks about feasting in the context of a community/celebration. But it's different from gluttony i.e. eating without control or being satisfied . Our body is the temple of God, and we should glorify God with it.

Btw, having just finished reading the book which Faye gave me last year - Drawing Near by John Bevere. I confess I'd never thought I could finish the book (mainly because am not really a reader of christian books) but something inside urged me to do so. I haven't fully comprehend the messages behind but one thing is for sure - it provided a deeper understanding and I am hungry to know more.

I also recalled Faye saying that God is doing something in your heart and don't let this season pass you by just like that. Hence, have passed it on to Hwei whom I feel the same way towards. I'll just end with this song which I really like:

Holy Spirit, Come
Make my ears to hear
Make my eyes to see
Make my mouth to speak
Make my heart to seek
And my hands to reach out
And touch the world with your love

做好事,说好话, 存好心

Have been watching 宫心计for the past few weeks and admiring 三好's motto of "做好事,说好话, 存好心".

Let me add that doing good deeds, saying good things, and maintaining a good/kind heart is not as easy as one thinks and takes a lot of courage. Also, better make sure that what you believe to be"good" is really good.

And just this week, the lyrics of a hymn I used to sing a lot popped into my mind when I was feeling a little down and uncertain again.

"Grant that I may never seek, so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love with all my soul."

Beautiful words that teach us not to be self-centred and seek everyone to be on your side of the argument, but to constantly try to help others by giving consolation, understanding and loving whole-heartedly.

Jiayou jiayou!

8th attempt at sharing

Sloth

"Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it." (James 4:17)

It's common sense not to be indifferent to another person who is in dire need of help and comfort. In theory. But in reality, a lot of factors affect whether we would do/say the right thing for another person, even when we know our slothfulness can lead to his/her destruction. Most of the time, the easy way out is to avoid.

But doing the right thing is a reflection of our love for God, and we must live this love over and over again, day after day.

Lust

Lust resides in the heart of everyone. While conventional wisdom tells us that it is alright as long as we don't get physical, the Bible says that unseen thoughts are equally guilty. There is a difference between looking (admiration & respect) and lusting (letting your imagination run wild).

Bible's advice to curb lust? Cut it off. In another words, don't look, don't touch, don't think.

The act of sucuumbing to lust will never satisfy your feelings of insecurity and emptyness!

workaholic?

Am so in need of getting used to the fact that my workload has been tremendously reduced due my posting out (again) soon. Just felt weird to be able to do things at a leisure pace without having to cut short conversations, stay back late etc etc. Not that I mind. Just felt a sense of...

guilt? unease? uselessness?

Oh, crap. Cut it out. Stop thinking about thinking about work all the time. And curb that constant need to be doing something. Try doing nothing for a change. Enjoy the evening breeze for once.

Reminder to self not to let life just zoom by like that. Take time to feel and enjoy it.

best (or just slightly better) graduating student

I apparently won a gold medal or something for being the best graduating student in my grad dip cohort from NTU. Truth is, the whole grad dip "cohort" only consisted of me and my colleague. The rest are masters students. And I know my results were not that fantastic either.

Er... I guess, I am only the slightly better graduating student?

Er...

Shanghai Jun 2010

There are too many photos to upload re the Shanghai trip, but here's a glimpse of what happened during the 4D3N stay at phua phua's place: good food, good company, and good fun. :) Sis the rain fairy brought rain throughout the entire trip but that did not dampen our holiday spirits!

the official pardon

Last week, just before I was about to knock off from work, the director came up from behind me and said "Grace."

Nearly made me jump. And so the awkwardness came again. Was wondering what she was going to say again this time round.

Turned out that she was ok with me leaving the organisation by the end of July (as originally agreed) and that she had gotten over it. Nobody wanted it to turn out this way, so no hard feelings, she said.

I really didn't know how to reply. So after opening and closing my mouth a few times, I just said "thank you", knowing that I looked and sounded rather stupid.

Sigh. Actually, if anything at all, I am my harshest critic. I am ten times harder on myself than anyone else.

Now that I have received the official pardon from the director, I have to work on the next person that really needs to learn to let go. Myself.