Let go

Mom thought I had real nice long fingers, fit to play the piano. ( I was a teen then) She made me go for piano class near home. More than learning music, I was eager to go to the class early and wait. Why? My teacher has a stack of Guideposts on her living room. I used to be a voracious reader then, and loved reading that magazine.

Below is a poem I read one day, that has stuck with me all these years. You probably have heard me say this as a story more than 100 times ( with exaggeration and a lil twist). But here it is again, believing that this lesson on trust that I learnt more than 15 years ago, which had imbibed in me ( inspite of my terrible memory), will also help you in your walk and that I won't ever forget again.

As children bring their broken toys,

With tears, for us to mend;

I brought my broken dreams to God,

Because he was my friend.

But then instead of leaving him,

In peace to work alone,

I hung around and tried to help,

With ways that were my own.

At last, I snatched them back and cried,

"How could you be so slow?"

"My child," He said, "What could I do?

You never did let go...."

Poem's called 'Broken dreams/broken toys/let go and let God.' Looks like my memory is not bad after all!

Jammed.

Thanks to my carpool friend, who took leave today, I had to take the train to office. Nothing had prepared me for what I experienced. I knew it would be crowded, but not to that extent. I did not have to ‘get into’ the 7.40 AM train, People behind me, just pushed me into it. The complete 60 min travel, was a sandwich of human bodies.

Fortunately I found a place to stand, leaning against the wall of the seat. But I quickly found it was a wrong place to stand. People getting in and out automatically, magically move in and out. And you have to be flexible yet be rooted like a wall, to prevent being swept away into the current. I could smell the shampoo of a girl in front of me. And what was that? Body lotion or deodorant? It smelt good. Her hair was brushing against my nose. I couldn’t blame her. She was sandwiched by 6 women, whereas I was by just 3.

With nothing to do, all you could do is observe. Curly hair, short hair, long flowy hair, big eyes, squint eyes, blunt noses, sharp nose, cute earrings, bracelets. Sad eyes, scared face, worried eyebrows, Tired faces, Anxious faces. There were college students, school kids and ofcourse, my fellow co-workers.
Learnt one thing for sure. When things corner you, against your will, it sure is hard, yucky and painful. But you get to see things you have never seen before. Especialy from someone's else shoes.
Heard this at church today, that sometimes God puts you in a pressure cooker. You know what happens to the chicken inside? The meat comes off the bones. Sometimes God gives us pressure cooker situation, for a total surrender to God. To humble and remind us of his might, power and love and beauty!

Know that you know?

I couldn't stand it any longer. How can he get away with every nasty thing he does?! Not fair at all. He can break things, throw things, crumple a book, tear a paper, shout and scream when he want to, and does any body stop him? All that I have been hearing is, 'Oh, it is ok, he doesn't KNOW it is wrong. He doesn't KNOW anything' Ha! Anything? I know he is a brat. If he can throw temper tantrum, when he doesn't get what he wanted, and put on that cute face and do something that he is not supposed to, with such a lovely smile? You can see Meulah writing this. Meulah or Beulah, its all the same.

I was reading 1 John. Well, Adam, in his terrible two can do get away. But not Beulah.
Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. ( I John 2:4-6 FULLSTOP. Aint that pretty clear and straightforward?
He goes on to say, 'I do not write to you because you do not KNOW the truth, but because you do KNOW it and because no lie comes from the truth.'v21. No one needs to teach me about anything, because, God with me, teaches me about all things!v27 ( How I wish I only listen!)

21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” II Peter 2. Now that's a warning!

What's that stench?

I entered my apmt an hour back, and couldn't even breathe. The stench was so bad. I turned on the AC. ( Its 47F/8C outside), finaly I had to open the door, and let the cool air in to take the stench out. So what was that stinking smell. The trash can was empty. Did I leave any leftover food on my coffee table. No. Toilet? No. It was really sickening as I had company. My friend looked over the kitchen and said, that's where it comes from.

Strange. For I haven't been cooking regularly.Yes, there were few dishes, that I had not washed and were in the sink. After my friend left, I decided to see if she was right. She sure was. There were not much dishes. I just finished washing them. Took 10 minutes to wash them all. But they had remained there for...errr... 4 days, leading to that yucky smell.

Lesson learnt: Never let your dishes pile up. No procrastination. God reminded me of my quiet time. It was seriously getting shrunk. I once had my alarm at 6.15. Now I get up at 7. It won't take long before my life gets yucky and stinking. Good wake up call.

Love and Respect

"Women need love.Men need respect.It's as simple and as complicated as that.— Emerson" This is on their home page of www.loveandrespect.com. So simple and clear, but why does so many marriages fall apart? I read further.

LnR is rooted from Ephesians 5:33. A verse that I have had trouble with before. Lady respect your husband? Why not vice versa? I never realised that men regard repect more than love. Kind of weird.

Yes, love and trust are required equally by both. "Though we all need love and respect equally, the felt need differs during conflict, and this difference is as different as pink is from blue! " Conflict! that makes the difference! Aha! More than 70% responded that way states the website.

"A woman needs love like the air she needs to breathe. A man needs respect like the air he needs to breathe." It goes on to say, that they are connected to an air hose to a respect/love tank. When you step on the air hose, ahem you are choking the person!

"Unconditional respect is as powerful for him as is unconditional love is for her." Understanding it and practicing it through the Crazy\Energising\Rewarding Cycle does take time. The simple step towards it is, 'if you have bitterness or boredom or a conflict, trace back to see if you did anything in an unloving/disrespectful way. Set it right by giving 'unconditional love and respect'! ' Some wisdom! All the best to my married friends!!

Give up!

Give up? how rude! It is a huge graffiti on a building that I cross everyday to work. 'Give up' on the way to work is sure not helping!

But it made me think, what kind of signs do I put on, to people around me? At work, or home, do they see me as annoying/offending/proud person or an encouraging/humble/helping/ motivating person.

What do people read you as?

Bits of paper.

It was a huge building. A place that can easily hold 500 people. We had our christmas program there, and the crowd had just left after a sumptuous dinner. Nobody told us to clean up, but few of us started to pick up the trash.


In that huge room, left over cups, spilled food, drinks, scattered plates, paper napkins were all over the place. A huge mess all around. We started to clean. Some started sweeping, some on all fours, wiping a spill. some stooping with the dust pan. And it made me think. There was no specific method. No competition. No one to tell how to, or why to. No one to check if we did it well, applaud, or supervise. No one to compare who did better. But we were all picking up trash. We were moving fast, and we were trying to quickly get it cleaned up and we did finish up within approx 30 mins.

It made me wonder, if it was the answer I was looking for. In this world- like our huge room, we have trash all over. God has placed us in different places, in different situations. Could be a tough spot at work, a small help at church, a small chore for a friend, a phone call to a friend, a small prayer for an ailing friend, could be Houston, or Chennai. Different places, different need, different environment, problems, different situations. There is no competition, no comparison. No specific method. The only target is to help clean the mess. A servant attitude. To help as much as we can, as quick as we can in the harvest.

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. John 4:35b
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:37,38

Got Inheritance?

When a lil baby is born, everyone is anxious, and quick to respond who the child resembles. His nose is from the dad's side of the family. His dimple cheeks is from his great aunt. His thick hair is from her granddad.

On that Sunday, we learnt about Michael's grandpa. A hardworker, who shined his shoes and tucked his shirt every morning . He inherits that discipline and hardwork from him. But above all, he remembers his dad dressed up and sitting at his desk every morning for the quiet time.

I have never seen my mom, dad have a fight, not even raised their voices against eachother or at us. I have seen them handle disagreements in a calm, serene way. At any instance of pain or fear or joy or confusion ( wherever we are), I have seen them say 'Lets pray' and pray aloud immediately, as if God is right there standing next to you. I have seen my dad on his knees for hours every morning. With tears in his eyes praying, with his bible wide open. I have sneaked in on my brother to watch him on his knees, and even read few of his 'post it' notes- letters, he has written to God. I have seen my mom, instilling the power of family prayer every night. I have seen my brother on his knees, fasting and standing in the gap.

Looking back, I see that I have learnt more from observing my family and not from anyone 'telling me to'. That's the biggest inheritance I have got.

I dedicate this blog to all my friends who are mothers/fathers.
My pastor said, if you want a Queen for a wife, check if you are as responsible as a King. I think I can extend it to, if you want good, obedient, polite, smart and happy children, be sure what you leave as an inheritance. Little eyes are watching you.

Deuteronomy 6:7
7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Proverbs 22:6
6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Nourishing and Tempting

Ok, I accept. Most of the time I forget to pray before I eat my food. It especially happens when I am very hungry. I have caught myself chewing/gulping when I remember and start praying.

So it was a thunderbolt when a friend equaled that to what Eve did in Eden, with the fruit. "Good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes". Oh yes, nourishing and tempting that it can even cloud being thankful for our food.

Mom always reminded us of the thousands who have no food/no proper food. Lord, help me to be thankful everyday, for the food in my plate!

925 million undernourished people in the world today. Check where people are hungry in this map. Courtesy: Wfp.org
http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/communications/wfp229328.pdf

Christmas lights?

Oh they are beautiful! Lights everywhere. On trees, on the bushes,even on the tall buildings, on the fence, on the rooftops, the houses, the streets on either side of the roads! The whole city is lit up. I have never seen anything like that before.Red, green and gold!

I sure was carried away, by the beauty of all of it.

Amidst all the beauty, and the excitement, as someone who has seen the otherside of the world, I can't help but gasp at the huge diversity!

But seeing the below display, made me beam wide!