Sunday, October 21, 2007
@1:00 AM
I'm back!Thank you so much dear friend for bringing some measure of revelation into my life. It helps to have someone I can call and be so open with, to share my joy, happiness; struggles and tears with (even though sometimes I feel bad for disturbing your moments with your dearest friend). Haha!
My apologies to everyone who has been reminding me about the lack of updates on my blog. Alot of entries have been saved in my Drafts folder, but as to why it failed to appear as a Post, I shall not elaborate. ;0
Anyway, a subject close to my heart which I have been thinking alot about is
Perspective. Alot of times, we are very much like Jeremiah in the bible. In Jer 12:5, it says that
"If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If they have wearied you in the land of peace, what will you do in the floodplains near Jordan?". Sometimes we have so much on our plate to think about and do, that it seems like we are moving from clearing struggle to struggle. Like I told my cg, when was the last time you probably sat down for a cuppa coffee and watch the world go by? Have we become too jaded? Are we ahead of our age till we lose sight of why we do what we do?
Sometimes, we try to clear negativity that sets in by burying them with positive thoughts, trying to psycho ourselves that we can sleep through the problem and it will be a better day ahead. One day, this will tire you out because you realise that the next day, the same issue will probably come and say 'hi' to you in the face again, perhaps this time, in an even greater magnitude. And through the past month, I've come to realise that it is not about a whole psychoing process, but about taking a brand new perspective in the way I view the problem itself.
Indeed, the
difference between a someone who experiences accelerated breakthrough versus someone who borders on mediocrity lies in the perspective they carry. Truth be told, sometimes I get so tired fighting till giving up seems as close at 90% an option. Yet, it is always at the most opportune time when I am at my lowest and most desperate that God shows up and offers a new way to look at things. Suddenly, the bottleneck loosens up and the joy and strength of God begins to flow and empower me. Back to Jeremiah, if he complained of the former days being difficult and refused to allow new perspectives from his leaders and God into his life, then God could never have been able to use him in the hard times for the greater things ahead.
Job had friends who didn't support him but put him down, and worse off, he had a wife who told him to 'curse God and die'. Yet through it all, what sustained Job was not just a heart right before God and right attitudes, but it was an eternal perspective that he carried.
He guarded his eternal perspective closely and did not allow natural circumstances to come in and cloud it. When I look back at my christian walk and ministry, I do have certain regrets which if time was turned back, I would have been more open to opinions and suggestions by my leaders and peers. Then, the stubborn me resisted change and maintained my own way, because I have resoluted that that is the way the truth and the life. If I had been more flexible, how may things have turned out? Interesting to think about...
Anyhow, I am thankful to have a friend and leader in Jialing. It's an awesome privilege to know a wise woman like her, and to have someone always a stage in life ahead of me. When I was a JC student, she was an undergrad. When I grew to undergrad life, she was experiencing the working world. And now, here I am in the working world, she has moved on to married life. There are so many things she has shared with me during our conversation that I may not understand at a stage lower, yet I trust her because her being there and tasting that stage and emerging triumphant amidst the challenges simply shows she is able to preempt me what to expect and what to focus on.
And I guess that is how God and our leaders will speak to us time and again: in ways sometimes beyond our comprehension. And it's only for the risk-taker who dares to trust and obey that will find your accelerated growth.So, when was the last time you moved up a new rung in the ladder in your walk with God?