had a short conversation with my dad at the kopitiam in SGH after visiting Aunty Yoke Lin. she had a blood clot in the head removed after a recent fall, and is now in the ICU. heartbreaking sight, and it reminded me of my little cousin phoebe when she was in the ICU back last year.
back to the conversation. we were talking about how important working life is, and how having and working a job is important in maintaining one's dignity. i noticed how a few of my friends and even my mom or relatives seem like the kind who wouldn't be able to survive if they didn't have their job, and i'm not talking in financial terms.
my mom actually believed and told us that she would get some neurological disease if she stopped working for too long. maybe dementia or Alzheimer's. but that goes to show how we're made to do work, and if we stop, it'll really kill us from the inside if we don't do anything that we find meaning and purpose in- and whether we like it or not, always are searching for something in whatever we're doing.
"This is the mystery of the human spirit, that God never intended for us to live hopeless lives. When we treat the future as something that happens to us, we become passive, apathetic, and even paralyzed.... When we embrace our unique place in creation, when we believe that God has created us to create, it begins to change everything for us. Not only our lives, but the lives of everyone we could affect for good.
To live an aimless life is to live an unfulfilling life. You're not just wired to give up on life. The best evidence that your soul craves a destiny is that when you no longer believe you were created with a purpose and for a purpose, your soul is never satisfied with the life you have. You can't get enough, make enough, or buy enough to pay it off. Your misery owns you.
To go beyond feeling, to go beyond compassion, you have to believe that it was right to act, that you were created to bring change. If Jesus was nothing else, he was an activist for change. To be a follower of Christ is to believe that everyone's life can be different. No one is defined by the status of birth. Our destiny is not limited to our pedigree. Every human being is of equal value to God."
that's one of the few things i read and agreed with when i read Erwin Raphael McManus' book 'Soul Cravings'.
the back of the booklet contains the topics that have intrigued me ever since i knew how to think.
i'll blog about what i've learnt and a few excerpts from the little booklet whenever i can.. it's such a powerful read though it's really not thick at all. and i feel like highlighting the entire book.
gonna be a mind-boggling sem for me as i take an einstein module on quantum mechanics, a philosophy module, and a media writing module as electives on top of my 2 math modules- advanced ODE (which my friend kindly misheard for OCD) and numerical analysis. i always tend to get myself into modules like these. hahaha. love a challenge. or 5.
started reading Isaiah 2 days ago. and being the logical analyst that i am, i need to plough through the text and understand what's really going on, so hence i'm only at chapter 8. i'll update on the insights i've gotten from reading about disobedient Judah and how God treats His children justly and why we may misunderstand Him for being uncaring if we're not careful with the way we think. God is always Just. and we can never argue His wisdom and decisions based on our finite human knowledge. who are we, anyway, for someone like Jesus to die for us?
listening to the soul-wrenching soundtrack of 'End of the Spear'. the story and movie never fail to make me tear time and time again even though i do lack in tears.
greater love hath no one than this- that He would lay His life down for His friends.
like the author of 'Soul Cravings' wrote, "if you believe in love, you should- and probably would- believe in God."
back to the conversation. we were talking about how important working life is, and how having and working a job is important in maintaining one's dignity. i noticed how a few of my friends and even my mom or relatives seem like the kind who wouldn't be able to survive if they didn't have their job, and i'm not talking in financial terms.
my mom actually believed and told us that she would get some neurological disease if she stopped working for too long. maybe dementia or Alzheimer's. but that goes to show how we're made to do work, and if we stop, it'll really kill us from the inside if we don't do anything that we find meaning and purpose in- and whether we like it or not, always are searching for something in whatever we're doing.
"This is the mystery of the human spirit, that God never intended for us to live hopeless lives. When we treat the future as something that happens to us, we become passive, apathetic, and even paralyzed.... When we embrace our unique place in creation, when we believe that God has created us to create, it begins to change everything for us. Not only our lives, but the lives of everyone we could affect for good.
To live an aimless life is to live an unfulfilling life. You're not just wired to give up on life. The best evidence that your soul craves a destiny is that when you no longer believe you were created with a purpose and for a purpose, your soul is never satisfied with the life you have. You can't get enough, make enough, or buy enough to pay it off. Your misery owns you.
To go beyond feeling, to go beyond compassion, you have to believe that it was right to act, that you were created to bring change. If Jesus was nothing else, he was an activist for change. To be a follower of Christ is to believe that everyone's life can be different. No one is defined by the status of birth. Our destiny is not limited to our pedigree. Every human being is of equal value to God."
that's one of the few things i read and agreed with when i read Erwin Raphael McManus' book 'Soul Cravings'.
the back of the booklet contains the topics that have intrigued me ever since i knew how to think.
Intimacy.
Love.
Ambition.
Destiny.
Origin.
Meaning.
Life.
Death.
i'll blog about what i've learnt and a few excerpts from the little booklet whenever i can.. it's such a powerful read though it's really not thick at all. and i feel like highlighting the entire book.
gonna be a mind-boggling sem for me as i take an einstein module on quantum mechanics, a philosophy module, and a media writing module as electives on top of my 2 math modules- advanced ODE (which my friend kindly misheard for OCD) and numerical analysis. i always tend to get myself into modules like these. hahaha. love a challenge. or 5.
started reading Isaiah 2 days ago. and being the logical analyst that i am, i need to plough through the text and understand what's really going on, so hence i'm only at chapter 8. i'll update on the insights i've gotten from reading about disobedient Judah and how God treats His children justly and why we may misunderstand Him for being uncaring if we're not careful with the way we think. God is always Just. and we can never argue His wisdom and decisions based on our finite human knowledge. who are we, anyway, for someone like Jesus to die for us?
listening to the soul-wrenching soundtrack of 'End of the Spear'. the story and movie never fail to make me tear time and time again even though i do lack in tears.
greater love hath no one than this- that He would lay His life down for His friends.
like the author of 'Soul Cravings' wrote, "if you believe in love, you should- and probably would- believe in God."
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