Quiet Mornings

Quiet Contemplation

I’m thankful for the mornings I have with God. It makes a huge difference to start the day off that way and I am constantly reminded that God’s more interested in me than what I do.

At times it does seem counter-productive to start the day off this way but wouldn’t it be arrogant to think that we can take on all that life throws at us without Him? I recognise the bankruptcy of myself without God and that we are precious only because God has given each of us intrinsic value & purpose; after all He was the one who made us. Here’s what David wrote in a Psalm about God’s careful eye as He made each one of us.

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

Psalms 139:13-16

Here’s why my mornings with God are so precious:

• I am comforted in my struggles by His Presence.
• I get guidance from His Word.
• I can pour out all that’s in my heart to Him (the challenges in my life, my frustrations, my hopes, my dreams & more)
• I have opportunity to pray for those that I care for.
• I learn daily how to hear from Him through words & songs that He places in my heart as I quiet down (I’m still learning how to do this; am not very good at it yet tho’)

Why don’t you take a minute today to quiet down before God? Or better yet build the discipline of spending time with Him daily. It really does make a difference.

Like Rats in a Maze

Caught in a trap.

It’s easy to get caught in a performance trap. How many times do we find ourselves comparing ourselves against others? We’re like rats in a maze trying to outperform one another. It’s not enough to just be us but humanity somehow finds it needful to put others down to stroke one’s ego. The other extreme is true too. Some of us feel constantly down when we look at the successes of others.

What is the answer? I often write about contentment in this blog and I think the answer to getting out of the the performance trap can be found in these verses that I read today.

If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing,
he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions.
Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing
himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.

Don’t get me wrong. I think we should look around us and still take stock of our lives but I think there is a huge need for us to stop putting others down or feeling really crappy about ourselves if we aren’t doing too great in some areas of our lives. The bottom line is that the only person who can do something about anything is us and the route we take to get to any destination in life is unique to each one of us. The question we need to ask ourselves is this.

“What would we come to regret on our deathbeds?”

It’s a somber question but asking it would help us determine our priorities and what we wanna do with our lives today. Life doesn’t pass us by cos’ we are the ones who choose to sit on the sidelines in our obsessions.

Just a lil’ something to think about as we head into the start of a new work week tomorrow. Have a great Sunday and if this post is too heavy for ya have a read of my last post on comic books and video games.

Deadbeat Blogger

A random image off the web!

Strangely enough I don’t really have the desire to express myself too much … I guess being a writer at work I use up my entire quota of words in the office which doesn’t leave much for this blog. Ha ha! But I guess it’s also because I keep a daily journal (almost!) which does it’s job of getting things out of my system.

Why is blogging such a big thing now? I believe that most people blog to express themselves because I think at the heart of it blogging fulfils a very human need to be connected. We all want to be understood by others and we want to feel as if we’re not that alone on this blue & green marble of a planet.

Nobody wants to be just one of the crowd. We all want to feel special. Significant. We want our lives to mean something not just to ourselves but to other people too. Human beings are a strange lot in that sense – we want to be significant but yet so often we remain trapped in self-centredness. It takes great effort to look outside of one self really.

Why do I still blog then? I guess it’s because I hope that my experiences can help others work out things in their own lives. We do not have to make mistakes to learn from them. Why not learn from the experiences of others and in doing so grow a notch in our own lives? I was having a chat with my colleague Jason about writing and doing something that makes a difference and I’ve been thinking more seriously about penning down my thoughts properly into a manuscript. I have an idea for a book somewhere inside me and instead of writing disjointedly in this blog I should start on something right now. Shopping around for a publisher can wait … or perhaps I should just self-publish the book. Ha ha! Would anyone buy it? Hmmm … maybe, maybe not … but we’ve all gotta start somewhere right?

So what does my post today say about my blogging style? I’m a functional blogger … I don’t blog to express myself anymore … I think I blog because I wanna share something important to others about life. And I that’s what my book will be about really … life. It’ll be a book with pretty pictures too I hope … ha ha. I read nothing but comic books these days and find it uber difficult to finish a text-filled tome lately.

Anyways, till next time. Vaya con dios amigos.

Are We Meant For Greater Things?

There is something about destiny that captures our imagination. Everything from movies to games depict life in a grander scale. It explains why some of us enjoy these things so much. Normal everyday life in retrospect is boring & most times stale. After all how many of us lead lives that are exciting and filled with adventure like the characters we see portrayed in the latest Star Wars flick for example.

The search for meaning in life is prevalent in every form of media. Most forms of media have the central theme of wanting something more out of life. A young farm boy at the edge of the galaxy dreams of being a Jedi Knight. A man convicted of the murder of his wife & lover dreams of freedom and escape. A reporter ever searches for that big scoop and finds herself embroiled in the schemes of a mad doctor bent on destroying the world. That’s just the movies mind you. Look into books, comics and video games – you’ll find that this same theme exists. What is it about destiny that so enthralls us? Are we meant for greater things on this small blue planet that sits 2 planets away from the sun?

I’d like to believe that we are meant for greater things. Our existense here on earth cannot be something more than a fluke of chance. A random sperm fertilisation that caused us to be created in the wombs of our mothers. Don’t all of us have this deep sense of destiny? But as life goes by we let LIFE itself quell it. We blind ourselves with cars, the latest gadgets and perhaps that latest fling we’ve just had; not realising that our lives are being wasted. I for one don’t want to fall in that rut. If like me you believe in a God then don’t you think that He has a purpose for us here on Earth? It feels at times like this purpose is elusive; as if God means for us to seek it out in the deep recesses of our psyche. Like Dr. Henry Jones Jr. we go on a quest to search out that ancient relic in the catacombs of our souls.

I don’t know about you but I know I’d want to discover MY purpose in life. I’m still figuring it out and deep down I know that the journey is part of the process. Give this a thought today. Do you know what your purpose on life is? Are you willing to make some personal sacrifices to find that out?

Carpe Diem.