I love my mommy!

My mom was my best friend. She knew all about me, and we talked, laughed, and discussed about everything under the sun.   But now I realize, we dint talk about many things. Now I have a list of questions to ask, had she been around, I would have bombarded her with my queries.  I wonder how she would have answered. Her point of view. What she thought about things.  How she handled, reacted to situations.  What she would warn me about. What her guidance would be..


Looking back, I realize she has taught me a lot. She taught me to smile always. To be positive and trusting God in each and every situation.  She taught me to forgive people instantly and forget the bad things. Not to make fun of anyone. To be happy in any situation. To respect others.  To be honest. To enjoy each other fully.  And I take great pride, when people tell me, that I resemble my mom. Isn't that something?


But will I be a good one like my mother? I seriously doubt.  I hope and pray that God helps me to be one! 

Stealing friends!

My brother does that.  Many of my friends, school and college and workplace, have turned out to be good friends of his!   He not only stole my friend, but my elder brother’s friends as well.  It feels so awkward, to be in the sidelines.

But I guess, that’s how we should be. Not in the limelight, or at the center, but in the sidelines, to let the Master take over. How often do I like that?

Fragrance

Its so easy to spread poison- just a drop is enuf.

A little thought. A small word. A little grimace.  And that's all that's required.

But spreading fragrance - needs much more than that. The Axe effect would last, only as long as  you keep spraying... To keep your minds tuned, synced up, and in constant practice.  Demands lot more effort, lot more thoughts, lot more words, lot more people, to keep you going. 

Childhood

I don't remember who, but some one said, that I had a 'wonderful way while growing up!' Looking back, I see how true it is.

Having such wonderful parents, I had such a gift that I need to thank God daily for. Mom was never in a bad mood. I have never seen her angry at dad. ( I wish she was there to teach me how!) She always had a smile for everyone. She voiced her thoughts easily ( Guess I got that in me :P) She was talented, wise, and patient.

I have the best dad too! Strongly rooted in Christ, he has taught me by his life and his words. The family prayer time, has been the blessed time I had ever known since childhood. I can safely say, that I got saved in living room, years ago, as a kid. His daily dosage of mission stories, anecdote, his childhood stories, has laid a strong foundation in Christ. To know, that Dad is calm amidst the storm, is so reassuring and sometimes, very unnerving!  

I have wonderful brothers, to fight, to argue, to discuss, to blame, to admire, to be proud of, to punch and to get punched.  


I thank God for an amazing, exciting, beautiful, too wonderful childhood! 

Be at it, Beat it !!

I was a voracious reader then. Ready to devour any books I can lay my hands on. I had a friend at school, and she always beat me reading any novel.  I must have been in Class 8, when our neighbor lent me the book by Norman Vincent Peale. The power of positive thinking. I guess that paved a good foundation in my childhood.

 

So when I heard it again at office last week, I was intrigued. Be at it, Beat it. It was a session by a Police officer. I was all ears.  So what did he say?

 

Breathe in positive and breathe out the negative.  You can't keep seeding, but have to do the weeding.  Only positive cannot survive for long, but the conscious effort of removing the negative, must be at work, to effectively live.

 

It was quite interesting.  He gave the acronym All time Meditation for ATM, and asked us to practice in anyway the VAKUM - Visual,Audio,Kinethetics,Understanding,Modeling.

He also talked about how our soceity has built its foundation on SPI - Substance, Performance and Image, whereas it should be IPS, making your foundation on belief, character, attitude and then comes Performance ( skill) and then the Substance( Money etc). That leads to "Be more, Do more, have more. "

and so here's some of the tantra. 

Be calm, Beat Anger

Be strong, beat weakness.

Be joyful, beat sorrow.

Be successful, beat failure

Be selfcontrolled, beat smoking.

SMACK@#$!@%

I remember seeing a cartoon picture on a book, some 10 years ago. It had a pretty smiling face of a boy in his early 20s. Like an angel, he has a halo around his head. He has a big grin, kind loving eyes, cheerful cheek and a pleasant, gentle handsome face.

In the next picture, there is a hammer on his head which has ‘TEST’ written on it. SMACK! The impact of the hammer on his head makes him scowl. SMACK! SMACK! You can see the pain in his eyes. SMACK! He is yelling now. A big smack at that I guess.

The third and final picture, shows the same boy, but his face is dark. With eyes glaring, and eyebrows hostile, gritting his teeth, and fumes from his ears. His hair stands straight out. His face seems bellowing from the picture.

Transition from Beulah to Meulah I guess. Will Beulah survive the test?

I corithians 9:26,27
Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Flint Stones

I love Flintstones! Fred, Barney and especially Wilma.

Just last week, I came across a phrase 'their hearts were hard as flint' and that's when I looked it up. Flint is hard, much harder than bronze that they used it as knives in olden days.

I always thought hard hearts are those which are ARROGANT, PROUD and STUBBORN. ohhhh...Not me. I am not like that.

But you know what, sometimes hard hearts are slowly formed. It takes lot of time. When you don't get your way, you could be silent, and composed, but if you don't treat it, it slowly makes your heart hard. Hard as flint. Once harder, it is difficult to penetrate, melt or break. You get it?

The struggle to keep it soft, simple and light is difficult. You should forgive instantly, forget immediately, you should not pile it up, but instantly remove it from your mind. Its kinda funny. You can't take instant decision, and neither can u process it for too long. The former would be reckless, the latter could end up being vengeful, which is worse.

What did Jesus do? Did anyone encourage him, love him, thanked him, understood him ( for the right reasons?) He came to serve and not to be served. That stops the loose talk.

To 'die to self' everyday, every moment is hard, but it is important not to pile up regrets, anger or fear. Remember you are one step closer to becoming a flint. FlintStone :)

Remembering the sufferings on the cross, helps. 'Don't let your heart be hardened.. Don't let your love grow cold... May it always stay so childlike - may it never grow too old... ' Love this Petra song :)

Zechariah 7:11,12 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.

Greek?

'Whoaaaww' I heard my niece exclaiming loudly. I did not turn around. I was typing something on my laptop. She brought my 7 yr old nephew along. And they both were talking in high pitched tones. Suddenly she closed my eyes. She said, ‘Keep on typing’. I stopped after few seconds, and turned around.

They both were giggling. I said, ‘What’s so funny!?’. Both were so excited, they were jumping around and talking at the same time. My niece, then stopped him and said, “YOU can type without seeing the keyboard!”

Oh really? That was news to me. Using the computers for years now, that I never realized I can type without seeing. I bet most of us do that with ease now. I still remember the time, when the keyboard dint make sense. Why dint they put all alphabets in the right order? Searching for each and every alphabet, seemed to take forever especially when you are in a hurry. how I need to extend my little finger and forefinger together to type something like ‘&’. I never learnt typing.

But now, it is so easy. If you ask me, I don’t think I can ‘say’ where each key is. But I ‘know’ where it is. Right from your password! Your finger just moves! It is quite irritating when you use another keyboard, or a different laptop, where your backspace or delete is all messed up. Or talk about using a Mac, where I am back to square one.

So, it leads me to conclude, that you learn, you adapt and you master it. Takes time, and probably effort and difficulty at the beginning. But then a piece of cake. Looking around, can you count the number of things we have learnt, adapted to, and are expert at?

OHOOOK!

I picked a book, out of sheer curiosity recently. “Power at the Bottom of the well”, Bottom of the well?? I flipped through it, it talked something weird about translational analysis, I was about to put it back, when something caught my eye.

It said, everyone of us have PAC Ego; Parent-Adult-Child ego in us.
P- Parent – That which we inherited from our parents, kind of a rule book. Do this, don’t do that.
A-Adult – Which analyses, understands, and decides based on the finding( much like a computer).
C- Child- which dreams, fantasies, fancies, feels, and responds – a bundle of emotion, faith, and child likeness.
We all have this inherent in us, and we show forth or act in a particular way. If you think Adult ego is the best, you are wrong. It has to be a blend of all 3 egos.

It also talked about 4 types of people.
1. I am ok, you are ok .
2. I am ok, you are not ok. (Prideful)
3. I am not ok, you are ok. ( inferior/self pity)
4. I am not ok, you are not ok. –(depressed)

What am I ? How do I react to others?

I wish I had more time to read it. I told my husband to read it, which I am sure won’t happen. So if you are on a look out for some crazy good books. This one sure, will make an interesting read.

Actions speak louder?

Not really! I was as surprised. ‘Actions speak louder than words’ is true, but more that that it is ‘Reactions speaks louder than Actions!’

Reactions! The first 10 seconds. Your eyes, your lips, your brows, forehead, your tone – reflects them. A reflex action!! You may do something, unwillingly. Without your heart. Without your desire ( do something u hate) without your mind in it. And it shows!

If you are snapping, growling, agitated, it shows. Like a mirror. You may look like an innocent kitten. But it does show! :) The tone with which you speak, reveals. The book said, the communication is 7% Words, 38% Tone of voice and 55% Non-words(Facial expression, Gesture, Posture) This is more true among families, than at work place.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our heart, be acceptable in your sight, our Lord our Redeemer. Psalms 19:14