Trust

My lil has not been too well for past one month. We've started solids and I've joined office. Her cold, cough, fever, diarrhoea are all gone by God's grace. Weekends she's clingy to me. She's fine with selvi akka and her sisters. But if she thinks of me or sees me in the corner of her eye, she cries her heart out.

With me, she has to be held. If I place her down she cries. I thought it was the weekend effect... But  just saw her lips being red. Thought it was some toy that she had put in her mouth. Then noticed something white...and it wasn't milk and couldn't be removed. So me and her are on the way to hospital. It's half past 9pm.  She was wide awake. And didn't mind . No crying. We returned home midnight.

Just makes me wonder... How vulnerable yet trusting and confident she's on me! Even through the darkness, ( it was late night) and through different modes, she was calm.

And do I have that calmness or confidence when I go through life's darkness and storm? How much do I trust him?

2=1

When I did this poster, I was all in cloud 9. I knew life was going to be different...  A friend for life. A partner to walk with for the rest of the life....

What I did not know, was that there were lot of bumps, and pot holes along the way, and that I could trip and fall. Or that I could be rebellious, lazy,  and decide to drag or stop or worse turn around!

I was like a proud mule, trying to push, pull my own way for a long time.  And all that I had learnt before marriage was just so 'THEORITICAL'.

So glad God got me a husband who nailed it right in the beginning, that he was no friend, but a husband first. And 2. That I can't behave the same way I do at office. Both  of which shattered by heart and took months/years to get over it. But looking back now and seeing lot of families broken around me, I trust that was THE best hammer that got me down to reality and the beauty of submission. 

So ever thankful and grateful to God, for helping and molding and who united us saying you two shall become one. ! Happy Eighth !

Lesson from a senior

Was talking to a very senior person at work. He being a believer was sharing how much having a mentor in your life is so important to guide and teach in anyone's life.

Back in the early 90s, when he was in college, he happened to be in library and finish taking notes. He left the library around 6.30 PM and at about the same time a girl from another department also happened to leave the library.  Since their hostels were nearby they walked together talking.

Just when he reached his hostel, his guide called him to have a word with him. What transpired then, has been imbibed and lived upon for all these years. The guide said, you as a christian, a sports player, someone who had shared the testimony, someone who's looked upon, ought to live an exemplary life. It may have been a casual talk, but remember the only person whom you can walk alone or have coffee alone  is your wife.

Years later, he recollected the incident when he was at the Billy Graham museum. He always leaves the door open when he's talking with a lady.

This generation, might find it awkward. "What does a harmless, casual talk have to do. I know and God knows and isn't that enough?"  Not really. Eyes are watching and more than that, our heart is wicked " Jer 17:9 ⁹The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? " and  we are asked to guard it! Prov 4:23" Above all else, guard your heart" however  we could!

And in this age of unlimited internet access, when one can watch, meet, do and experience ANY thing, without ANYONE knowing, even with a parent or spouse sitting next to you, yes it is important to guard your heart. Be holy as I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16

Lesson from a hike.

I was so sure I had written this story years back...But unable to find it and hence penning it again.

These were years ago, when there was no roads to the mission fields and they had to walk across the jungle to reach the remote villages.

Dad was escorted by a local missionary and as they climbed, they stopped to get some breath. Dad spotted a beautiful jack tree with ripe fruits at arms distance and was surprised nobody had picked the fruits so easy to grab. Hugru as they were, he and his other friends immediately got a fruit down. The missionary did not comment anything and dad proceeded to clean and eat the first bite.

But the moment his lips touched it , he spit it out at the same speed. The ripe fruit was so bitter. Confused, he looked at the missionary who looked so amused! The missionary grabbed dad's hand and took him near the jack tree and pointed up to its branches...And there at one crevice of the same was a nice strong neem tree. 

A neem tree on a jack tree! Some crow must have pooped the neem tree on the crevice and that had indeed grown. The roots of the bitter neem tree had found its way into all of jack tree and all TS fruits remain bitter.

Dad narrated this with a laugh and taught us a valuable lesson. No matter how nice and clean and fruitful you are in Christ, if you let one small seed of bitterness in you, you can be rest assured that you'll turn all your fruits into a  bitter one.