Meeting her friends ...

It's been yet another rejuvenating and rousing evening from God. Met June and two of her buddies, Zhishan and Claire (not to be confused with Claire Yeo Jingyu of my cell group), in the heart of the city. Really happy for June that God has blessed her with a time of fellowship with these friends after a long span of separation. Was even casually suggesting to June that we could contemplate outreaching to both of them in time to come. :P

Sped up to Bishan for dinner. We went to a brand new cafe-bar owned by a former colleague of June from Outsiders'. This cafe-bar is located at Bishan Sports Hall (2nd level), and is known as Swing In Cafe & Bar. As our timely visit conincided with one of the cafe-bar's opening days, we were treated to a FREE-OF-CHARGE spread of sumptuous and savoury food. Yum yum!!

We really admire Eugene's (the ex-colleague) entrepreneurial spirit and God-given culinary talent. It is indeed a tumultous challenge these days to prosper in the cafe industry. Well done, Eugene! Consolidate your foundations, and you can soar to newer heights in your business!

The Bird, the Cow and the Cat

A little bird was flying south for the winter.

It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the Story -
[1] Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
[2] Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
[3] And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut! (if need to call for help then how??)

Feel so Blessed!

I really wish to thank God for His guidance and devotion to me, an unworthy soul, in personal problems that surfaced recently. I'm glad that He has provided a trigger point for both of us to share our weals and woes openly together, that we have emerged stronger from this situation, not only in our emotional bonding, but also our spiritual bonding. From this episode I've learnt four things:

1) To be more sensitive to her feelings, in terms of my actions and reactions to external situations;

2) To discern between what is biblically right and what others presume to be right;

3) To not try to please everyone so readily, to learn how to say 'no', even when the people that try to give their 2-cents worth on personal relationship matters are spiritually misguided and self-righteous;

4) To understand that church is not an end to itself, church does not revolve around designated entities. Church equates our faith to the Lord, and that we have to demonstrate by loving the world He has created, not the things and values of the world, but the values that He has imparted to the world.

The Law of the Seed

Take a look at an apple tree. There might be five hundred apples on the tree, but each apple has just ten seeds. That's a lot of seeds! We might ask, "Why would you need so many seeds to grow just a few more apple trees?" Nature has something to teach us here. It's telling us: "Not all seeds grow. In life, most seeds never grow. So if you really want to make something happen, you had better try more than once."

This might mean:
· You'll attend twenty interviews to get one job.
· You'll interview forty people to find one good employee.
· You'll talk to fifty people to sell one house, one car, one vacuum cleaner, one insurance policy, or a business idea.
· And you might meet a hundred acquaintances just to find one special friend.

When we understand the "Law of the Seed", we don't get so disappointed.
We stop feeling like victims. We learn how to deal with things that happen to us.
Laws of nature are not things to take personally.
We just need to understand them - and work with them.

IN A NUTSHELL
Successful people fail more often. But they plant more seeds.

When Things Are Beyond your control, here's something that you must NOT DO so as to avoid misery in your life:
- You must not decide how you think the world SHOULD be.
- You must not make rules for how everyone SHOULD behave.
- Then, when the world doesn't obey your rules, you get angry
- That's what miserable people do!

On the other hand, let's say you expect that:
- Friends SHOULD return favours.
- People SHOULD appreciate you.
- Planes SHOULD arrive on time.
- Everyone SHOULD be honest.
- Your husband or best friend SHOULD remember your birthday.

These expectations may sound reasonable. But often, these things won't happen!
- So you end up frustrated and disappointed.
- There's a better strategy. Demand less, and instead, have preferences!
- For things that are beyond your control, tell yourself:
- "I would prefer "A", but if "B" happens, it's OK too!"

This is really a change in mindset. It is a shift in attitude, and it gives you more peace of mind ...
You prefer that people are polite ... but when they are rude, it doesn't ruin your day.
You prefer sunshine...but if it rains, it is ok too!
To become happier, we either need to change the world or change our thinking. It is easier to change our Thinking!

In summary
It is not the problem that is the issue, but rather it is your attitude attending to the problem that is the problem.

It's not what happens to you that determine your happiness. It's how you think about what happens to you!

Plans to work on a book

I have to, yet again, apologize profusely and embarassingly for my perennial absence from the the world of blogging. It always does seem that my soul ain't captured in this blog, eh? Well, at least, for a long time now I'm back. And I just wanna proclaim that I've been inspired by God to work on a fiction tale about forgiveness. I'll be, therefore, be intertwined between writing, reading from time to time. Hence, I'll probably continue to apologize over my blog periodically. :P