Still learning...

Learning to be patient with the 'now'
Learning to be patient with me

Not running ahead
Not lagging behind
But staying still

Not restless
Not impatient
But quietly waiting

Not moving
Not struggling
But gently trusting

Not looking around
Not searching inside
But beholding Him
Who was and is and is to come...

(De)vlaued

Why do we have to put a value on everything in life?

And why should that value be money?

It is actually devaluing...

p.s. - Thanks to Nancy for the conversation that led to this...

There's nothing easy about life…

It's easier

to complain than to appreciate

to find fault than to find the goodness

to hate than to love

to be bitter than to be forgiving

to be sad than to be joyous

to be ungrateful than to be thankful

But,

it is better to clean the closet every now and then than to let the dirty laundry pile up and make your life miserable.

These small negative minions come back to bite you in your back… and they bite hard…

Bungi's quote #1

The world is fat in some places and thin is some...

Surrendered Dreams

Dream your dream. After you are done dreaming, inhale a lungful of reality. It hits you hard, doesn't it?

The very nature of dreams is, it is above and beyond that which is. It is inspirational. It edges on the impossible. If it does not then it is merely planning for the future. It is not a dream really.

That is the sad thing about dreams too. It is something that is inviting. Something that you desire, something that would allow you to be you. Something that is just beyond the grasp. Something that could be… if not for reality.

Indumathi's Surrendered Dreams (தரையில் இறங்கும் விமானங்கள்) tells the story of dreams and reality. While the aspirations are high and visions propel a person, duty and obligation has the capacity to cause the dreams to come tumbling down.

Person after person sacrifice their dreams for the sake of the other in the family. This cycle of sacrifice doesn't seem to stop. Those who haven't yet sacrificed do not understand those who have and in fact, are disappointed that one so great has also succumbed to the ordinary. When the idealist becomes a realist, it seems to the world that he has stooped too low.

But is that so?

Those who sacrificed have entered a different league altogether. Although they feel the pain of surrendered dreams, they have become nobler people simply because they have put the others before themselves and even before their own dreams. They have become nobler also because they are now aware of their nobility…

The book meme

I was tagged by Sandy at Writing in Faith: Thoughts for the book meme.

Here are the rules:
*Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
*Find Page 123.
*Find the first 5 sentences.
*Post the next 3 sentences.
*Tag 5 people.

The book: Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

The sentences:
He told me several times that all he had heard others say and all that he found in books - indeed, all that he himself had written, seemed pointless in comparison with what faith revealed to him about the greatness of God and of Jesus Christ.
"He alone," he used to say, "is capable of making Himself known to us as He is. We search in reasoning and in the sciences, as in a poor copy, what we neglect to see in an excellent Original."

I tag all those who want to play this.

The dignity of giving

Giving is deglorified when the motive behind the giving is to glorify the self. Oftentimes, giving is goaded by selfishness. I give because it makes me feel good. I give because I want to stop feeling guilty. I give because I am generous - or so I think.

One does not become a true giver all at once. It is a process that is worked out in us provided we accept the challenge, be willing to stretch ourselves a bit more, to go the extra mile…

Truly selfless giving pinches. Makes you lose yourself in the process. You decrease and you let the other increase. It is something that we grow into.

It demands that you step down from the pedestal. (Who put you up there, anyways?) Demands that you not have just knowledge about the other's need and situation but to know it as your own. Demands that you stop looking at the other person and their situation, but look along with the person at the situation, at the world around. It demands that you journey with the other - walk in their shoes. Demands that you not only give, but receive - in all humility for you are poor too. It demands that you know your own inner poverty.

And when you give selflessly you do not take away the dignity of the receiver…

p.s. - The first part to this post can be found here.

The unique and the ordinary

It somehow seems easier to accept the ordinary, everyday people. And harder to accept those who set themselves apart. Apart in the way of dressing, in their attitude, in whatever else… Everything about them screams "I am unique and different. Notice me. Accept me."

Whereas the ordinary do not strive to establish that they are unique and different. Their flaws and quirks make them unique. That sets them apart from the rest. That makes them acceptable.

When you make yourself flawless it makes it difficult for me to accept you. For I am flawed. A flawed person accepts me as I am. A flawless one expects me to be flawless.

You see, the unique and the ordinary are not mutually exclusive...