A forward received in my email today

GOOD DAYS GIVE YOU HAPPINESS, BAD DAYS GIVE YOU EXPERIENCES. BOTH ARE ESSENTIAL TO LIFE!

One day I decided to quit...I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality... I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God. "God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

His answer surprised me..."Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo."

"In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo."

"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would not quit."

"Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant...But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle."

He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots? I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others."

"The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful. Your time will come", God said to me. "You will rise high"

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can?" I questioned

"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

I left the forest and bring back this story. I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you. He will never give up on you. Never regret a day in your life. Good days give you happiness; bad days give you experiences; both are essential to life

Thank you

Wow!
Don't really know what else to say, cept THANK YOU to all those brothers and sisters!
To those who do read this blog, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Everything's been so unexpected these days, quite overwhelming actually. Leading up to getting baptised...gave my testimony today at the English Service, pretty emotional. I looked around the hall, and im so grateful (and overwhelmed) for everyone there...so much love, so much support...wow

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:7-10

Ulysses

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour’d of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!
As tho’ to breathe were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle–
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro’ soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me–
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads–you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

- Alfred Lord Tennyson -


If u didnt read the whole poem, read at least the bold part. Hehe a part of this poem was quoted on the last episode of Frasier...i was like wow! Maybe it's time i delve back into poetry =)

confusion at the crossroads

Lemme clarify: no, im not a schizo
to explain briefly, before heading back to studying....so much to study for grrrr
(far out, should've studied more last night, but i was really really tired and lost motivation...think my body's trying to tell me something, and although i have a clue as to what it is, it must keep working and keep pumping it out for the next few days!! ill look after u later hehe)
anyway, december will definitely be a busy month this year. we'll be moving to our new church building! besides that there's going to be quite a lot on, including spending half the month in hk, mnay important decisions made, planning and thinking about the coming year...in ALL fields of my life pretty much. sorry for such a fragmented blog....guess it reflects on the mumble jumble of things bouncing around in my mind at the moment. but first.....back to studying >.<

Crossroads

Should I? Should I not?
Do I? Do I not?
Why? Why not?
Really?
How?
Like this? Like that?
Now? Later?
arrrrrgh
Back to studying!

Really....

Quote from an academic source regarding our welfare state:

"People who are moderately physically active, that's 30 minutes a day three or four times a week, are eight times less likely to die than people who are inactive."

wow ... and here i was thinking that death is one certainty for everyone ... mad ...

The Three Trees

As i was going through some of my old old emails just then, i came across a bunch of emails from a primary school friend. Back in yr10 we exchanged emails quite frequently which was really great. Reading them made me quite nostalgic, partly cause even though we were quite young then, still teenagers, the content in the emails was pretty mature. There was also a sense of "innocence" to things, a sense of wonder seeping through. I don't think my friend and i have changed much since then, but he has definitely matured in faith and it makes my heart glad to see him embark on a mission trip this summer. Anyway, what's of more importance is one of his emails, which contained the following story:


Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods.

They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty."

Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull."

Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me."

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter," and he began cutting it down.

The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree the woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true.

One of the woodsmen said, "I don't need anything special from my tree, so I'll take this one", and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.

The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.

The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark.

The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. T

he man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do.

The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it hadheld the greatest treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said "Peace" and the storm stopped.

At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill.

When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

"God will never let you down; He'll never let you be pushed past your limit; He will always be there to help you come through"
1 Corinthians 10:13

Our worst circumstances may be God's best opportunity to bring new meaning to our lives. God is telling us softly, "Let me into this mess.Permit me to change you rather than your circumstances"

only 23 hrs left >.<

With all my assignments over and done with (finally!) i can focus on studying....23hr countdown >.< so stuffed for this saturday's exam...sigh
we're allowed to take some notes in but that makes the exam heaps harder (last year's one was one example). not only do we have a limited amount of time, but the stuff asked is not straightforward at all....so not only do we need to know everything about those pathways we've been taught (this is biochemistry by the way), but we gotta apply that knowledge to twisted questions! not direct at all =(
but yeh many thanks to people!!
thanks for making my birthday so special. as some of u know, it was a pretty dramatic day hehe =P more about that later
really wanted to thank some ppl who've been sooo supportive so far. without stuvac at all, and 3 assignments due the day before my first exam, life has been filled with late nights, frustration, tiredness. many thanks to those ppl on msn who are always saying hi, asking about how im going, asking about my assn, motivating me to do them and to study...and many many thanks for ur prayers! thanks for ur emails too! Donna S, Anmo, Hannah, Shu, Zuo, Mayz, KC, Jason, Peter, Carmen, Gloria, Jono, Johnson, Henry....don't think that's everyone...sowi about all those convos in which i take like 15 mins just to reply, and then it's a rant about how stoopid my assns and exams are. thanks so much for putting up with it all! really appreciate it
gonna head back to cramming for tomolo....and to squishing as many words into those pages we're allowed to take in as possible! tomolo night i shall write those emails that i owe some people, some of which are about quite important stuff too...sorry about taking so long!

early rise!

hehe didnt end up pulling out an all-nighter, went to sleep for 4 hours last night....was so hungry at 4am! hmm its weird though how i never feel like eating in the middle of the night, despite my friend telling me how great Spanish cuisine is! maybe that's why i tend to concentrate better in the night, that and the fact that everyone's asleep, minimising the noise level in the house. my family's been really supportive though!
yeah talking to people can be distracting sometimes when trying to cram or piece together certain words and phrases for a 2000 word essay, and sometimes i reckon i should hop off msn, but then these days when im on busy, i don't talk to more than 2 people at once, and there's nothing like having someone there to keep u company through the early hours of the morning! for once time differences between different countries is great =)
was encouraged by the verse Matthew 11:28-29:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

thanks for being the pointer Hannah!

stress stress stress >.<

argh
3 assignments due next week, before my first exam next saturday !
so stuffed, with my 2000 word essay yet to be started (writing of it, been doing the readings)
sigh
no excuses, once again i started studying too late >.< stoopid me never learning
really sorry if i ignore u on msn, cos sometimes im on busy to discuss group assignments etc, but sometimes im too busy listening to online lectures to respond immediately
biochem lecturer rocks!

hehe day was brightened when i received this cute Pooh bear in its hunny jar in the mail thanks =) hehe so cute ... i can put it into the soft toy jar at night and take it out during the day =P so cute! it makes me smile every time i see it!

anyway gonna finish off listening to the lecture about type I diabetes then hopefully start my essay >.<>.<

Love

Paraphrasing from Disicplines of a Godly Woman:

Too often these days we hear of love that is only conditional: "I'll love you as long as you love me." But real love stands apart from circumstances and sees the object of love with all its flaws - and loves anyway. Real love is intentional, an act of the will. It's respect that is given because it is the Lord who requires that respect be given.

WOW =)


very thankful for my safe trip home tonight! for the first time, my parents let me go to St John first aid meeting all by myself. pretty tricky way there and way, and especially seeing how it's dark and all, was surprised and happy that they trusted me enough! ohhh might be off my probationary period sooner than expected! i think u normally have to be a probationary member for at least 6 months, but they said something about me possibly becoming a full member in less than 3 months, once i complete another few duty hours!! mad! if i pass the assessments at the end that is (i think)