Day by day...

We have not been going to church regularly... not even Cell Group. Sometimes I was working on weekends. Sometimes post-call ward-rounds. Sometimes we were too tired (and church sessions too long). Sometimes we went outstation (balik kampung).

I try to make up a bit for the lost sermons via Uncle Tong's sermons online. (Am I glad that my parents sent me for Mandarin education!). And the one that I've listened today really touched where it hurts.

So... though I should be doing something else, I think I would blog about it first, for the benefit of anybody who cares to read on.

I've been feeling a bit down, coz the work is eating up lots of my time and energy. And the days seem like a meaningless circle of going to work and coming back from work and getting a bit of reading done and sleep and the next day starts again. So it is with my loupo. Taking care of little boy (who is constantly asking for attention except when he is sleeping) and house-making and sleep and the cycle goes again. Life was once more interesting not too long ago. We had great time of fellowship with church friends, serving people. Now, life seems routine, dull, and lack of meaning. Is life just about work, and child-rearing?

Here's the gist Uncle Tong's sermon:

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

A religion's greatness can be reflected in how it teaches it's believers to pray. An ordinary religion or faith, teaches about praying for health, peace, success, prosperity, wellbeing of loved ones, wealth (we Chinese even have a God of Wealth hehehe...).

See how that contrasts with what Jesus teaches about prayers. It starts with putting our eyes on God's name, God's kingdom, and God's will. And it ends God's kingdom, power, and glory. Talk about priority.

What about OUR NEEDS??? Isn't that oh so important? Well yes, but there's just one line for that: Give us this our daily bread. Note: our daily bread. Yup, NEEDS indeed, and that's about it. Not more. Nothing said about asking the extras for a taste of luxury, or a nicer-looking bank account.

Why do we become so calculative about money, and mourn over its lost; yet feel no remorse over wasted time and lost days?

Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
Job 14:5

Our days are numbered. Isn't then a person's greatest assets his time and his days? All other worldly assets are secondary, and perishable, and can't go with us beyond the grave. You don't have to be religious to know that. (Sorry, we Chinese prefer to think that we can burn paper cars and credit cards and hell bank notes for use in the after-world... yet we never burn paper petrol for the cars.)

Some people die in their twenties. Some live till ripe old age. But the former may have lived more meaningfully and impactfully in his brief twenty years, than the one who live up to his nineties. It's the content that counts.

A heart of wisdom is very different from a head of knowledge. How so? I leave you to figure this out.

Now how much time have I wasted writing these. Hmmm.