I simply remember my favourite things, and then I don't feel so bad...
I normally don't do these things, but I need a bit of cheering up. (thanks Jason for the idea)
Instructions: Name ten of life’s simple pleasures that you like the most, then pick ten people to do the same. Try to be original and creative and not to use things that someone else has already used.(I don't even think ten people read this blog, so let's forget that bit.)
1. Little tiny things that show someone's got you in their mind - a post-it note on the fridge, an SMS before an exam, or a gift because ages and ages ago you mentioned something about you loving this particular thing but could never find it anywhere...
2. Sleepover conversations.
3. Eating out.
4. When the sales assistant says "oh this is actually on sale, it's now only... " when you're at the checkout.
5. Being appreciated.
6. A kiss on the forehead when you're sad.
7. Finding a parking spot *right* outside where you need to be in the CBD.
8. Catching your bf's eye when you've just walked into a crowded room. The wink that he gives you. The massive grin that you try to suppress.
9. Reading in the bath.
10. Massages. Neck ones, head ones, back ones, feet ones. Ohhh they are all so good...
Providence.
Sometimes I can't help but smile in awe of God's providence. He has spookily great timing.
Literally seconds ago I was typing up this very very ranty post about the mess in my head since the beginning of this month. It got heaps worse since last night with the "Intern Allocation Night" - everyone asking everyone else where they're going to go next year. So where do you want to go? Well, do you know if you want to specialise? Do you want to move out or do you just want to go somewhere local? Do you want to stay in NSW or work interstate?
There's only so many times a person can say "I don't know" before the panic sinks in.
So anyway, here I am, Friday afternoon, Googling up the hospitals, the intern pay rates, rent prices of different places, the AMSA careers info stuff, wondering if I should do a DipEd or BA in Journalism instead... pondering, stressing, freaking out....
Then the Gmail envelope turns blue on the bottom righthand corner.
From someone I haven't spoken to in months. The last person I'd expect to email me.
My dear Gracie, there’s much we don’t know in life. That’s so true. For me, in these times of doubt & uncertainty, it does, as you say, come down to a question of trust.
Trusting that God is good and loving.
Trusting that God is sovereign, knows our future and has a plan for us.
Trusting that God is working in our lives to complete a good work in us.
Trusting that ours is a God who reveals his plan to his children… in his time.
We often already know all these truths inside out… but to hang onto them on a cloudy day seems.. just not enough.
But it is.
And we want to trust in him.. anything or anyone else would be too insecure and scary.
You cannot walk out of his will Grace as long as you take every step with Him in your heart.
I pray that the Spirit will enable to you to block out any unnecessary worldly pressure and fears that may cloud your judgements.
Let’s keep persevering with joy and transcending peace, dear sis!
Where did the email
come from? How did she read my mind?
Times like this God just takes my breath away... okay God I'm listening. Thanks.
A story of love.
"Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another
." John 13:34-35
Let me tell you a story.
It begins in a town in China, in the anxious years of the Second World War. There is a man and his wife. They have two boys. For reasons unclear - the chaos of war, the threat of unemployment, the tension of marriage - the man moves to Hong Kong. She hears no news of him.
The man meets another woman there. They fall in love.
The wife in China pines for her husband. Someone tells her the good news of Jesus. "I'll believe in Jesus when he brings me back my husband!", she retorts haughtily.
In Hong Kong, the man and his lover marry. Children arrive quickly - two boys and a girl. This woman doesn't want to be a mother. Everyday the resentment grows, until one day she leaves without a trace. A man with three toddlers; three babies without a mother.
As the war subsides, the Chinese wife moves to Hong Kong to look for work. The man hears that she is in town. He is desperate - he isn't coping with three kids and a job. He pleas with his first wife to take him back, help him out.
She is shocked to hear from him. She thought he was gone forever. In dumbfounded awe, she remembers her words about Jesus. "You are real, Jesus", she sees. She follows Christ from that day on. She brings up the three children as though her own.
A year on, the wife falls pregnant. They cannot afford a sixth child. Her friends tell her to get rid of the mistress' children. They are the evidence of his infidelity! Take them to the orphanage! Leave them on the street!
But she does not.
As God gave His son up for her, she gives birth to her sixth son and gives him away.
She does so so that she could demonstrate her love for these three kids.
She does so so that she could demonstrate God's love for these three kids.
Many years later my godfather visits from Hong Kong. He's a big famous preacher there. I ask him innocently about how he became a Christian. He tells me, it was from the love that his stepmother showed to him and his brother and sister in his fifty years of life.
By this shall all men know that you are my disciple, if you have love, one for another.
Just one day.
Wake up in the morning and make breakfast. Fluffy hot pancakes with Greek yoghurt, fistful of walnuts, fresh pears diced up into little cubes, drizzled in real maple syrup from Canada.
Read the paper from cover to cover while cupping my hands around a piping hot skim latte. No, make that a mocha.
Rollerblade around Centennial Park against the winter morning air. Bathe in the sun and picnick by the lake. A glass of red; good pita, sundried tomato dip and Italian olives. Falafel and Greek salad. White grapes. Lindt Intense Orange. Marvel at how well dark chocolate and red wine go together.
Lie in the sun and finish reading Catch 22. Laugh out loud when I get to a funny part.
Spend the afternoon at Kinokuniya. Bury myself in a maze of fiction, cookbooks, coffee table books, art books, travel books, Italian and French phrasebooks... pick out the perfect book for a birthday gift. Think of something witty to write on the inside cover. Spend an hour picking out a card at the QVB card shop.
Take a contemp jazz class at Sydney Dance Company. Stroll down the Rocks, awestruck by Sydney Harbour at sunset. Walk past the hole-in-the-wall French patisserie and reminisce dreamily about Paris.
Come home and make chirashi sushi, spontaneously thrown together with the carrot, egg and avocado in the fridge. Lots of Japanese ginger and wasabi, sprinkle of black sesame. Quick game of Scrabble over dinner.
Curl up with a woolen throw and finish watching Hitch over sips of green tea. Laugh out loud when I get to a funny part.
Take a long bath and breathe in the candle scent of gardenias.
Think to myself, so this is what it's like to not have to worry about study every waking increment of my life.
Just one day. One?
