a silhouette of myself in my life-long pursuit to know me and how I relate to others so that God in my life will be glorified...

Sunday, February 17, 2013

My thoughts on Love


Love is a word that is commonly and loosely used these days. I have learned that love can be classified as eros (physical), phileo (brotherly) and agape (godly).  To many people, however, love is mistakenly equated to lust.

Sometimes, I find it complicated and confusing to set  apart or differentiate love from all other human emotions. Some emotions, for example, like jealousy, envy, hate or  anger, are sometimes difficult to manage or control.  What about love?

Love, however, is more than an emotion.  It is  a commitment based on will.  It does not depend on one’s physical appearance, performance and possession. This is like him saying,
... even if your hair is everywhere and unmanageable, and not silky and blonde as Kimberly, I still love you. But I  hope you'll go to a hairdresser, though." 

By the same token,  it is like you saying, "because I care about you, I am going to fix myself so you'll be proud to walk with me." 

And in worst scenario, it is like you or him saying "now that your hair is thinning and I know you will soon become bald because of the chemotherapy you are undergoing, I love you just the same.

Love embraces even the worst in the beloved. It holds on-- even when aspirations and dreams fail. 'Even if  you lose your job and we have to tighten our belts, yes, we surely can make it because we'll join hands ... and we will survive.

Love is not to be concealed.,  but rather demonstrated—both in words and in actionsHow can you say you love me when you would not even lift a finger to help me in the lawn? How could you say you'd take a bullet for me when you could not even get up in the night to take me to the hospital?

As I grow in my walk with Christ, I have learned that there is no better way to know and experience true love than knowing God on a personal level through Jesus Christ.

As sinful as I am and deserving to die, God sent Jesus His only Son, to die on the cross on my behalf....  This is love—it is willing to give even to the point of sacrificing what I treasured most."

Love is J..O..Y...- which means setting our priorities straight.  Jesus, Others and You.  In other words, we are to seek God's will in all our interactions with others in every situation at anytime, and this includes even all the mundane trivialities surrounding our relationship with our family, friends and the greater community.

Because I love God, I am concerned for your welfare as I am concerned about mine. Just as I cannot do the wrong thing by myself, I will not in any shape and form do the wrong thing by you... I will give you this Christmas a well-thought gift.  If I do not have the money, I may not give you anything material, but I am giving to you my sacrificial love.  I am going to lop your gigantic jacaranda hoping it will not fall on my head.  If it does, then at least you know that I have proved that your concern is my concern. "

Through Jesus, God sees me as a brand new creation.  The past is forgotten. There is no more condemnation.......  This is love—it is willing to forgive and forget the worst.

 
How many times shall I forgive you? Up to seven times? How many times shall you forgive me? Up to seven times seven? Hang on a second... Is that right?

Jesus said, about forgiveness, I should forgive you not up to seven times, but seventy times seven.  And you should do likewise. 

Through Jesus, I became a member of God’s family.  Like me, you also become a member of God's family.  Through Him, God adopted you and me so we may also share in the inheritance promised formerly only to the Jews...... This is love—it is willing to accept you and me and bring us into the family so we don’t have to feel alone.  His Love assures us we belong. 

In practical terms, it is like you saying...'How about we have a snack together at McDonalds." Yes, because we all have become friends and there is a bond of love between us,  the basic thing we can do is to eat together.  You and neither I, will not want to eat with an enemy, would we?  


Monday, February 11, 2013

One Train Ride...

The sun rays filtering through the corners of the train's window pane were blinding...just like the glories of yesterday? Yes and how satisfying  it was to dwell on them..

How would such thoughts, however,  have bearing on today's struggles and stresses though? Not really much....


Beyond the distant thick clouds I saw seemingly hallways of emptiness and longing, as well as barricades of tears and disappointments.  In a vision I saw my house  lonely,  my  garden weeping...the grasses growing tall yet quickly scorched by the heat of the sun.

I saw life in silent pain............Is this all there is to it?

I had watched the silky oak tree then--grow slowly month after month until it reached its maximum height of 25 metres or so. Through hail or windstorms, it stood unaffected...determined to stay strong... unlike the Canadian maple which just decided to die.  How could it prevail against Eren and his axe?  I could curse Eren if not crack his skull for killing my beloved tree! I wouldn't see a crown of red and golden leaves this autumn nor a crown of emerald green leaves in summer.  I wouldn't have a sea of autumn leaves at all!  It is all his fault!

Or should I blame myself? Well, I shouldn't have hired Eren to dig a hole. Was it his fault if he miscalculated the blow of his axe that hit the primary roots of my maple tree?  Ah,  I shouldn't have aspire to plant a tamarind tree, after all, I wasn't sure if this exotic tree would thrive.

As the train moved along, I saw in my mind the pretty but thorny sight of  the  bougainvillea running along the fence perpendicular to my street. In no time, it filled up the entire fence.  Ah... that was beautiful indeed! The old fence  certainly was a thing of light purple beauty!....until one neighbour (from my own country of origin!) complained! She feared her eyes could one day get prick by the thorns.  And I would get sued... ? Yes,  only if she was foolish enough to walk so close to the fence! Why? of course,  there was about half a meter of pathway she could walk on.... and,  away from my fence.

Then on my mind, I saw the infected wattle tree yet full of yellow blooms leaning more and more obtuse, threatening to fall on the three-stage compost bin my significant other built on my birthday week.  Did he build it because he knew I was crazy about gardening or was it his way of telling me I was still special---after all the storms that have threatened to ruin the beauty of my surrounding?
Just like the microbial activity in the compost bin, things go slowly..in my life.  I could not complain. It is rather difficult to hear the whispers of the stars in the night sky and see what the future holds.