Merry Christmas!! Ho-ho-ho!

Xmas pageant at SFA by St Joseph's Home

2008 is coming to an end?!
Omg...
Reflecting back, 2008 was supposed to be full of hypes and promises.
By the world, by Singapore.
A lot of buzz going on with Beijing Olympics being the highlight.
Which truly was spectacular and memorable.
To round the year off, we ushered in Recession.
One of the worst nightmares to happen.

Xmas season despite being joyful, always reminds us of our human failures
and how fragile our lives are.
A couple of years back we have the Tsunami,
and now we have a human disaster, Recession.
Christ was born at one of the most darkest periods
and we look upon Him during this season for hope.
Just imagine this year end with no Christmas,
with no hope for the coming of our Lord,
with no Christmas Sales and the yuletide gay,
the world would have been in deeper sorrow and mourning.

At church, many things were going on.
Having to juggle between choir, youth ministry and also
wrecking my brains over thesis, it's sure taxing.
Was I then spiritually prepared for Christmas?
Though I did not actively make a great effort to prepare myself,
our loving God has kindly helped me to do so.
By showing his immense love and mercy at my recent confession
By revealing to me the beauty and sweetness of love
Of tolerance, of patience, of forgiveness.
Anticipation and hope for the future (my pay, competition, reimbursements)
Affirmation and rewards of my hard work (dissertation)
Opened eyes and heart to new perspectives
on needs and wants.
Little little insights gained here and there in the span of one month
has been fabulous but hopefully it'll continue to reside in me.


Xmas dinner at Home

Christmas parties and feasts
All the fun and food, babes and hunks
shopping and more shopping
Will it seemed to mask the meaning of Xmas?
What about those people suffering?
God has given us the greatest gift of all
His beloved Son
This is certainly something to celebrate and be joyful of
Haha, shopping malls and some retail shops seemed to
adopt the colours of Advent (purple and pink)
and they've been playing Xmas carols that announces and rejoices
the birth of Jesus. Really hope this will somehow "brainwash"
people or have some kind of influence on them.
And it also reminds me of how universal and omnipresent our God is.

As 2009 arrives, I just continue to pray to be a person of hope
and the world will continue to give people hope
and not try to dramatize and emphasize the darkness and sadness
and may the oppressed be freed spiritually and not indulge in protests and terrorists' act.

Running 21 at the age of 25

I've told myself before that the Army Half Mara that
I ran during my officer days is my once and for all experience.
Never knew I wld "break that promise" to myself
and running for this yr's Standchart Half Mara.

Was very skeptical about this run ever since I signed up
I just wanted to run with the gorgeous and
fulfill her dream of running 21 again.
I knew I need a lot of time and training to build up my stamina

3 months...with less than 10 runs
And off we go...to challenge our limits
7 Dec 08, 6.30am.
The ambience was great and it's really enjoyable to run with so many people
Scenery and weather were good.
Felt bad tt i've to leave gorgeous at the halfway mark
and carry on by myself in hope of clocking under 2:30
The last 7km was a mad dash for me
Dunno where I garnered the energy from
Was madly whizzing past people
and my knees were madly in pain too
but i thought to myself...since i'm already in this madness
then just go for it!
Looking at my watch, i thought I still can make it.
The last stretch for the Padang was quite shiok,
running along the F1 racing track route
and I gladly finished in 2:24.
Though slower than my AHM of around 2:05
it's still a feat for me
For i'm now 25
With no 5BX every morning.
Happy for gorgeous who came in with 2:45
and thank you for bringing me to this race.

Full Marathon?..hah...let's see....

2nd Sun of Advent....summary of Cell Group @ Lighthouse

Started with a song, "Father We Come to Worship You".
One of my favourites.
And the five of us gathered in a circle on a colourful rug
Candles lit, books ready and wondering where's everyone else?
Hah...well it's the season of Hope anyway.
Be it two, three or ten people, we'll just do our bit to share,
to listen and to prepare.



Somehow, started off talking about what's God's hope for us?
Fr Michal sums it up with John 10:10
"I came so that you may have life."
Certainly, God wants us to live our life to the fullest.
And this fullness of life and knowing what's the Truth will fulfill that.
Nevertheless, He wants us to receive the gift of salvation.

And then we digressed a bit further and talk about God's will.
Well, we often question if we say that God has given us free will,
then why is it that we still talk about God's plans for us?
To make things less complex, this free will given to us,
if it satisfy certain "criterias" of God's will, then we won't go wrong.
Again, Fr Michal interprets God's will as what prophet Micah has said in Micah 6:8.
- Act justly
- Love tenderly
- Walk humbly with our God.
and this reminded me of the song "Companions on the Journey"!...

AND so...moving on to the Gospel reading...
Prepare the way for the Lord's coming...
How to prepare?
Hmm...we were asked to identify the "poor" and "afflicted"
in our societies. Not necessarily physically, materially, but also spiritually and emotionally.
What about ourselves?
Have we felt "poor" and "afflicted" at times?
Has any form of help been offered to me? Any comforting words from people?
Did we see hope?

As we continue with this Advent journey,
let's think how we can offer a certain hope to people around us
People whom we might not know, people we are "poor" and "afflicted",
and maybe ourselves even, to stretch out our arms to receive some kind of hope from others too.

May we pray and ask the Spirit to increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and find joy in fulfilling God's will and yearning for God's hope in us.

1st week of Advent...reflection

Did a posting on BLYM blog...so just copy and paste here....:P

~~~
Just a reminder, our Friday CG in the Youth room has stopped for this year and in place is our Advent Cell led by Fr Michal at Level 3 St Mary's Room. Do come as it's a wonderful preparation for Christmas! =)

Ay, here's what we started off with.
Discussion on "Hope".
What does 'hope' mean to us?
Some said there's active and passive hope.
You either sit there and dream about it
or you do something about it.
Fr M said there's secular and christian hope.
And here in this christian community,
it's the christian hope that we shld hold dearly to.
So what is this Christian Hope?
It surely is the yearning for a fulfillment,
the fulfillment of the fullness of love from God,
the perfect love, the everlasting and eternal love.

Ha...we also discussed a bit about people of other religions,
what is their hope then?
Ultimately, we believe that it's still the same God,
and we have the similar fulfillment that we're all yearning for.

And what about "hopeless" people?
In God's creation, there's nothing hope-less.
We're given the Gift of Life from Him,
to lead our lives fruitfully and meaningfully
and to be people of hope.

How do we remain hopeful?
The gospel reading of this Sunday tell us to
"stay awake!" and be watchful.
For the first time, I actually interpreted it directly
that I can't sleep! Surely, it's not about that. lol...
It's about us not indulging in the secular world and
not falling asleep in the christian world.
We ought to hear out for God's voice and the
opportunities that he has given us.



We're all beautiful seeds of the Sower
Tiny as it seems
Let it grow and flower
Bearing fruits of hope.