Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Yellow Roses


This little ray of sunshine greeted me with a cheery "Good morning!" over the weekend.



They're so lovely and happy.


 
They instantly banished all feelings of frustration, and the all-consuming feeling of loneliness.





Thank you =)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Slow Down, You Crazy Child

If someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience? Or does He give them the opportunity to be patient? If they pray for courage, does God give them courage, or does He give them opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for their family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm, fuzzy feelings? Or does He give them opportunities to love each other? - God (err, as portrayed by Morgan Freeman) in Evan Almighty


This quote first came from a college friend who was among the pillars of strength I leaned on quite heavily as I began my journey to become a physician. Adjusting to the new uni, the new culture, the new people, the new system, and the new environment presented quite a challenge and became an additional source of stress on top of worries of the expenses my mum was suddenly incurring (after eight years on government scholarships) because of the shift from the state uni to a private uni. During one of our late night convos, my friend happily shared the quote above. At the time, I think I was too distracted by my moping around that I failed to see deeper into what was said; I merely thought it was a very beautiful and heartfelt expression of all things that had to do with God and human life. The powerful message struck home tonight and I just felt that all my prayers had been answered somewhat. I had always prayed for strength, courage, understanding, wisdom, and perseverance, and got frustrated because the prayers were seemingly answered in the opposite manner. Somehow, after getting frustrated day after day, I sort of gave up and took life's 'blows' as they came. I reasoned that there was no use fighting against them anymore, and merely waited for life to stop 'picking on me' even for just once. Somehow those 'blows' that I resented immensely became the opportunities for me to become stronger, braver, more understanding, wiser, and more enduring. An added grace was that everything seemed calmer. The greatest bonus for myself was that I found myself accomplishing things easier; perhaps I became more focused instead of remaining somewhat of a crazy child. For all these, I am thankful and I hope for the best for the next few years.







P.S. Cookies and props to anyone who can name the artist and the song from which I stole the title of this entry.


P.P.S. I've always thought that God would sound like Liam Neeson. Morgan Freeman does a pretty good job too. If God was a woman, I think she'd sound like Meryl Streep. :) (To which statement, my friend replies, "Duh, Liam Neeson is Aslan; Morgan Freeman is God," and to which I reply, "Aslan is sort of like the personification of God in the Chronicles of Narnia...so somewhat same, non?")