Faith, hope & love

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love”~1 Cor 13:13

All three virtues are valuable and essential, but the greatest is still love. I wonder if it could probably be something to do with the effects that love has on us. Compared to faith & hope, love has the wider influence in the world as it is what brings about unity in our diverse community today. It not only unites us with God, but also unites all of us, human beings, as a family. As such, we see love being the most fundamental element that enables us to enter into the very nature of God’s kingdom, bringing all of His creation into a harmonious blend.

Although faith, hope and love may co-exist with one another, faith & hope are perhaps only more helpful in building up individual needs, serving only one man’s interests. On the other hand, love encourages us to take care of one another’s needs, taking into consideration other people’s interest and to put others’ desire above our own. This is how we are to live, loving everyone with a sacrificial love with no boundaries attached, but much sincerity wrapped around it.

Nonetheless, be careful, for the devil is a clever one. He tries to stop us from loving each other and God with his deceptive ways. He haunts us with our past, reminding us of our failures and shortcomings, and he makes us question about the future till all the uncertainties start clouding our hearts with worries.

Perhaps that’s why we need the essence of faith & hope co-existing with love as well. Faith takes care of our past for we know that our sins are forgiven; we no longer need to be ashamed of our past. Hope secures us of our future because we know where we’re heading to. Thus, if we’re no longer haunted by the past and not worried about the future, that leaves us with love in the present. And that’s exactly what we’re commanded to do- love God and His people.

God wants us to enjoy the sweetness of every moment we have in life. We may not know what will happen in the future, but that’s OK for we know for sure that the living hope of God is true and certain. He’s here with us, right here, right now, and that’s all that matter. It’s the now that He’s concerned about. And so, let’s continue to let our hearts remain in love and mind in faith & hope that is cemented in His Word, shall we?

Like a little child

Like a little child, we can sometimes be so attention seeking. We fight for the fullest attention we can get from people. We demand for things to be done our way. We insist that we get what we want. Sounds pretty self-centred, don’t they? But, like little children, we can also be easily frightened when lightning strikes. We tremble at the first sound of roaring thunders. We cry when we fall. We feel as though it’s the end of the world when we come out last in a competition.

Like a little child, we’ll then run into the Father’s arms. We’ll crawl up into His lap and lay our head upon His chest. We’ll lie there long enough till we fall asleep. No need for words, no speech required; just letting Him hold us as close to Him as possible, close enough to hear His heartbeat, close enough to hear Him whisper assuring words. He’s always there to support us. His arms are forever held wide open to give us a warm hug of comfort, security and encouragement whenever we need them. That's just how amazing our heavenly Father is.

Like a little child, I hope that I'll always have that kind of feeling where there's an earnest longing for tomorrow's 'nap time' to come, for you know that that's going to be the best moment of the day. It is probably not just about finding rest, but also about listening closely to His heartbeat to know the plans and things He wants us to do for Him in life. Thus, I pray that I will never grow weary of going into a sweet, intimate and refreshing moment daily with the Father. May I never doubt the spring of life that continually gives me water to my soul.

My life's best man

He loves me, and will continue loving me all the way;
He’s committed to care for me as far as my life will take me.
His hands reach down to pull me up when I fall;
With a firm grip, he holds my hand, gently affirming me that I’m not alone to defend for myself in this insecure world.
As long as I need him, he will always be there for me.
He’s known me all my life-the good and the bad; he knows them all; yet, he accepts them as his own, for he loves me so deeply and dearly.
He’s always looking out for me, making sure I get the best.
Because of all these, I know that he truly means it when he says to me, “I love you, sweetheart.”

It’s not a poem, neither do I intend to make it sound like one. There’s just so much that I wanted to say about the best man I have in my life and I didn't know where to start from. So, I just listed whatever that came into my mind as my thoughts rolled.

It’s dad’s 52nd birthday today and I just want to thank God for His gift of life; for giving me such a wonderful dad. Dad has taught me many things in life, but I guess the one most valuable lesson I have learnt from his life is learning to see God in His loving heavenly Father nature; after all He embodies all qualities of earthly fathers in their highest form. This is probably why whenever dad gives, I am reminded of God’s generousity that is so free and ever-flowing; and whenever he holds my hands, I can imagine the warmness of God’s hands upon mine.

He doesn’t have to be the king or the president of the country to be the best man in my life. To me, he’s the best because he has already won the most important title that any man can ever achieve in life, “Dad”.

And oh, did I forget to mention that I love my dad? I love everything about him, very very much indeed.

Excellence vs Perfection

I want to excel in my studies, I really do. But what is it that defines my excellence? Straight A’s, High Distinctions, or maybe a perfect score? Yea, I used to think that grades were the most important; pretty impressive to get high grades, isn’t it? But perhaps excellence is not all about grades or getting the perfect score; it is different from perfection. In God’s eyes, being excellent doesn’t require perfection; it is doing the best we can with the resources we have at hand.

In life, we work hard to advance as far as our abilities can take us and I have no doubts that God wants us to work hard. But, I also believe that God does not want us to work ourselves to the extent we start losing the joy and happiness in carrying out the responsibilities we have. We all struggle to meet different demands from different people and at times, the expectations people have on us can be pretty draining on our time and energy. Suddenly, words like joy, rest, and freedom are lost because we consider them to be things that can only be done later.

I still have the tendencies to fall back into the trap of perfectionism. Whenever I realize that impatience and worries are starting to cloud my heart, I need to stop whatever I’m doing and remind myself that God doesn’t call us to perfection; after all, only He can be perfect. He only calls us to maturity and a balanced life. Studies and work are important, but so are the physical, social and spiritual aspects of our lives. In every aspect, there are duties which we are called to do and no one aspect can dominate all of our time. The best way out is probably to just do the best we can in the time allotted for every portion of work we have.

With exams coming nearer, there is certainly a higher demand on time and energy. Yes, there is a necessity to place greater emphasis on higher priority tasks and let lesser priorities slide a little. But maybe relaxation and joy need not wait till exams are over; we can still have fun while studying; it is God’s plan after all that we enjoy every moment of our lives with Him. In times like these- the ‘stress’ season, I pray that God will continually help me find joy in whatever circumstances I may be in and may this joy give me the strength I need to persevere through any hardships. I want to trust God, the One who by His power holds all things together- the moon, the stars and all of creation, to also hold my hand as I walk through this journey of life set before me.