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read my profile sign my guestbook Name: debs Birthday: 7/10/1985 Gender: Female Message: message meEmail: email me Member Since: 8/9/2003

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Monday, January 04, 2010

The one important thing

At church yesterday, Graham preached on Mary & Martha.
Thinking about it, it's like deja vu. My last entry was about the woman in Proverbs 31, and not too long after, I'm reminded about Martha. Chickadees if you're reading this - deja vu?! I feel like I'm reminded of what we've learnt from cell group last year. In a certain sense, maybe it's a test to see if i really did learn anything from the character studies we went through!

Anyway, i felt it was really appropriate that Graham began the year with the story on Mary and Martha and how Mary chose the 'only one thing that is important' compared to Martha who was concerned about serving Jesus when he visited their home. The sermon was about choosing to fill your life with the important things first, and then the less important. I liked the analogy he gave about the science teacher who filled a cylinder with rocks and asked his class if the cylinder was full. He subsequently added in little rocks, and then sand, and finally, water. Only then was the cylinder really full. The moral of the story is that, the big rocks wouldn't have fit if he had filled the cylinder with sand, the little rocks, or water first. Hence with our lives, we need to fill it with the 'rocks' first, i.e. the important & urgent things, then we can fill it with the other things.

In Luke, before the story of Mary & Martha was the passage about the greatest and 2nd greatest commandment - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself." Graham brought to our attention that the Parable of the good samaritan was to show how to love our neighbours, while the story of Mary & Martha was to show how to love God wholeheartedly. Well, I came home feeling a little perplexed as to why Martha's actions couldn't have been out of wholehearted love for God. In my mind, I had these questions: Martha could have loved God wholeheartedly to want to give Jesus her best possible, couldn't she? Her actions could have shown that she had chosen the 'one important thing', couldn't it?

So I discussed this with yy and he reminded me that Jesus probably saw through Martha's actions, looked into her heart and saw that her actions were not out of wholehearted love for God. I used to read this story always ending up asking myself if I'm a Mary or a Martha, and I never once got an answer. Perhaps I was in denial before that I'm more often a Martha than a Mary and I did not like it!

But recalling cell group last year, I remember that we read a subsequent passage about how Martha loves God and had such faith in Him. I think Jesus' loving words to Martha brought her to a turning point. Jesus loved Martha! (John 11:5) With this, I'm convinced that it's ok to be a Martha as long as I remember this: God sees the very depths of our hearts no matter what we do.

Let us love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength!

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The true tai-tai

When we were younger, Joanne & I used to joke that my ambition was to be a tai-tai. Back then there seemed to be a trend... my friends and I used to dream and drool about being able to be free all day to play mahjong, to go shopping, to go yum-cha etc. I really wonder how this dream got into our teenager heads! I'm thinking it could be because we're a generation who grew up watching hk-dramas that were aired on sg tv, and we are also the generation that LOVED shopping together. I also come from a generation that used to think that if you marry a doctor or lawyer, you will live a blissful life and would fulfill your dream of becoming a tai-tai. So naturally, when I married one, some of my friends said to me 'you don't have to work already! just stay at home, play mahjong and go yum-cha with your friends!'

Well, I'm glad that somewhere along the way someone had me introduced to the true tai-tai. Here she is:

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.

She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.

She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.

She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.

She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.

In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

{Proverbs 31: 10-31}

The true tai-tai inspires me. She is the exact opposite of what we thought of as a 'tai-tai'. She works hard, makes wise decisions, is trustworthy, generous and compassionate, and she loves God. Another thing that stands out to me is that she is a woman with such great confidence, and no regrets. She can 'laugh at the days to come' with no fear of what is ahead because she is well prepared. Her role is not easy, nor idle, nor relaxing, but I believe she is blissful, very happy and clothed with a strength that no other woman can comprehend.

How can one ever become a true tai-tai? Proverbs is a book in the Bible that teaches us to seek after wisdom and thereafter, to live wisely. It begin by listing the many many benefits of wisdom, and thereafter comes the verse "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ... ". Huiran pointed out at cell group once that there's something very interesting in Proverbs: the true tai-tai sums up this book of wisdom well. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom - she feared the Lord, sought after wisdom, lived wisely and was praised.

With no doubt about it, the true tai-tai is who I want to become!

9:49 AM - 1 view - add eprops - add comments - email it

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Life down under

Being here for 3 months now, I must say I have gotten pretty used to things around here already.
Initially when I was settling in, I found I had so much time on my hands [and loved it], but now it actually doesn't feel that way as much! Time seems to pass by really quickly now, with my life circling around housework, cooking and baking, mentoring, babysitting and most of all, hubby-sitting! I still love it though :)

I've experimented with some new dishes and recently, I've been trying my hand at baking and I've been pretty excited to baking something new each time. No pictures yet though, I still have lots of room for improvement! So nothing worth showing yet really :P

Lately, I've been babysitting more hours than usual. This is the little boy I babysit twice a week.

Like any other job, this job has its ups and downs too. People say it's easy and fun, but every session varies based on the child's mood. Babysitting baby W for 2+ mths now though, I think he's getting pretty warmed up to me and hence more fun! He's also very good with holding a conversation, so talking to him is very enjoyable! My latest discovery is that he LOVES posing for photos. He would strike a pose [as you can see from above] and ask me to take my phone out from my bag, so I can take a shot at him posing! He can be really cute and fun to play with! That's one obvious reason why I like the job. But another main reason that I do, is that I get to observe a lot about a child, and also about motherhood. I learn a lot from my conversations with his mom when I go to work, and she inspires me from her example, to really work towards being a wife and [future] mother like the woman from Proverbs 31. So there's a glimpse of my part-time job :)

Now there's something i also want to share about my 'full-time' job at home... One night when yy was on night shift, I was getting ready for bed when I suddenly noticed a spider web circling the perimeter of the ceiling in my room! I thought 'Eeeew! Gross! We've been sleeping under a spider web!' But I also starting wondering how come I never noticed it in the last 2 months whenever I vacuumed the room. Then the morning came and I realized why. When I switch the light on in the room at night, the light exposes the web in a way that the daylight does not. So whenever I vacuumed my room in the day, I could not see the web on the ceiling.

This interesting incident brought to mind a verse from Ephesians 5: "But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible." Surely God knows our every hidden deed and will expose it on the day of judgement. How could we ever thank God enough for the gift of His Son Jesus, and the cross that paid the price for all of our sin! God's kindness to us should lead us to repentance and gratitude. May we never lose sight of His kindness in our lives, and let it draw us closer to His side.

9:40 AM - 1 view - add eprops - add comments - email it

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Ashamed of the gospel?

Romans 1:16 "I [Paul] am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."

Many times, we are tempted by fear to be ashamed of the gospel, i.e. the fear of rejection; the fear of making a fool of ourselves; the fear of not knowing how to respond etc. In those instances, we tend to lose sight of Romans 1:16. In explaining this verse at Bible Study 2 nights ago, Ps Ron shared with us his encounter with a salesman several years ago. It went something like this:

[Doorbell Rings]

Man: Hi! I'm checking out vacuum cleaners. May I have a look at yours?

Ron, knowing that he was a salesman: Sure.

Man takes out a clean dust bag, and puts it into Ron's vc. He marks out a square on Ron's carpet, and then vacuums that area 4 times, with Ron's vc. He then takes out the dust bag and empties the bag onto a white piece of paper. Some dust comes out onto the paper.

Man: This is what your vacuum cleaner does. Let me show you what mine does.

Man takes out his vc, and also using a clean dust bag, he vacuums over the same area just once. He does the same thing - empties his dust bag onto another white piece of paper. A little hill of black dust is emptied onto his paper.

______________

Ron used this story to explain to us Romans 1:16 and I thought the analogy was very thought-provoking.
The salesman was not ashamed of his vacuum cleaner because it was powerful, and it worked.
Similarly in Romans, Paul was not ashamed of the gospel, because it was powerful! It was mighty to save! He knew that people get saved by hearing the good news, and God works mightily in their hearts and gives faith.

The gospel is powerful! Let us not forget this verse, so that when instances of fear come along, we may overcome it and be like Paul, saying 'I am not ashamed of the gospel!'.

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Monday, October 05, 2009

The "Jesus necklace"

My hubby was off today, so we took this day to visit a friend in the afternoon.
She has a 4-yr-old daughter who is really chatty and she got really excited when she knew that guests had come.
While juggling between entertaining her and talking to her mother, she suddenly caught my attention by her very cute and innocent question: "Why are you wearing this Jesus necklace?"

It was interesting, first of all, that she had observed my necklace (of a cross) and got curious about it. But it was intriguing to me, that she asked me why I was wearing a 'Jesus necklace' rather than simply asking why I wore 'a cross'. I must admit, it stumped me at that moment! I wish I had found the words to respond to that question. Maybe it was because it's the first time someone had ever asked it to me in that way, or maybe because there were too many reasons to explain to a 4 yr old or even perhaps it was because I'd forgotten its symbolic significance to me.

Anyway, so I came home thinking about my "Jesus necklace" and its significance to me.
I got this necklace from my mother since I was 15 yrs old, and I've been wearing it ever since.
From time to time, there have been quite a number of people who have asked me the same question (in the more "normal" way) and I recall responding 5 yrs ago that the necklace is a symbolic reminder to me that I am to walk with Christ daily in devotional times and prayer. So in the past, whenever I saw the necklace on my neck in the mirror, I asked myself from time to time "have I been spending time with God?".

But I think for me now, the necklace doesn't quite symbolize that anymore. Now, I wear it for these reasons: firstly it has become something of sentimental value to me, secondly it reminds me that I am a Christian, set apart to live for Christ and thirdly it is sort-of a public declaration to people I meet that I am a Christian. (I am of the view that although some people wear such necklaces for beauty, majority of those who do actually are Christians. Of course, whether they live their lives to the glory of Christ or not, is another issue.)

Yeah so there you go... the story of my "Jesus necklace" :o)

9:41 PM - 1 view - add eprops - add comments - email it

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