Spirituality
Category
Happy New Year!
Christmas time had passed and the arrival of a new year is just around the corner. Wow! Time and tide wait for no man. Another precious year of our life has passed out. Some of us have travelled more, others less on the way to our cherished Home. We should do our utmost to achieve the object before us. And my best wishes are with each one of you.
Nothing stays the same…
“Life will never be the same again life is changing”… what a fantastic saying and an awesome song by Haddaway… You’d think after my years of living that I would get used to the changes. I’m not! Some times they still hit home to me.
Christmas & Memories
At Christmas there is much intermingled – children – innocence, expectancy; love ones – homecoming, happiness and mellow moods; for many people it would mean loneliness – serious concerns; of course there are ‘SOME’ generosity in some areas, it makes me wonder though why we couldn‘t do it everyday. This is the time when we find some emerging of our ‘Better Selves’ – and so much else besides – all intermixed with a measure of ‘Forgiving’ and ‘Forgetting’ – and with memories from all past years that merge and mixed with the present moment.
Karen’s Secret
The story is told about a young lion that asked his mother: “Where is happiness?” The mother lion responded: “On your tail.” Upon hearing this, the young lion started chasing his tail, and spent the whole day doing so. Seeing the young lion tired and exhausted, the mother lion said: “Son, you don’t chase happiness. Just keep moving forward, and your happiness will follow.”
Snares and Traps
“I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:22). A friend of mine was telling me once about this interesting system they use to do for capturing monkeys in their province of Leyte, Philippines. Because they don’t want to kill them as they feel that it is cruel, their goal was to take the monkeys alive so they can also sell it as a pet or release it back into the jungle. In an extremely humane way, they use large coconut, with a small hole, into which they deposit a handful of food, which the monkeys like.
The Man In The Mirror
“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,…” (Proverbs 21:2). We are often very quick to judge other people on what they do or by how they act or lived. But perhaps we should also do our own examination of ourselves.
What Matters Most
While I was studying in high school I use to watch this old man in the City for many months, with dirty turned out clothes he mostly wear. I use to pay a lot of attention on people’s faces as each one of them looked at him with scorn. He did not hold a sign up, on the corner where he stood begging for food or money, like others like him would. He is also an alcoholic and I found out later that people use to call him ‘POWER’ as his nickname.
I Dreamed a Dream…
When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds. Your mind transcends Iimitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.
Hang in there…
It is not enough to just exist. We must GROW, and PERSIST. Yes, we must remain in God and bear fruit. We must not just be “living branches.” We must be fruit-bearing branches. For those who are still alive, and who perhaps are living abundant lives, the question remains: Am I living a fruitful life? Have others benefited from my life?
Practice what you Preach
There’s an old saying that goes…’we should practice what we preach’. It seems very profound, subtle and simple. But I wonder why for some reasons or another not all of us seem to know what it means. Or…(maybe) doesn’t want to know.
I, I who have nothing…
These are all false standards and false dichotomies, but they are so common and so ingrained that we sometimes believe in them without even realizing it. And this leads to a mountain of insecurities, because nobody measures up to these crazy standards (and nobody should).
Saying… “I’m Sorry”
We sometimes assume that we have fully repented and made amends when we have said we are ‘sorry‘. But there is a side to being sorry that is more serious than mere polite apology. And there are circumstances in which much more than ‘casual regret’ is called for.
Pain Is Part Of Life…
“Pain and death are part of life. To reject them is to reject life itself.” – Havelock Ellis It’s very easy after suffering an incident that caused pain, to just give up and say we won’t ever go there again. Maybe it’s a relationship issue and we just want to crawl into an imaginary shell and hide from the world and the thought of any future romance in our lives.
My Friend Harry
I have met Harry when I first arrived in Australia almost 19 years ago. During that time I was living on my own and he use to clean the glass at this place where I worked. He had long wild grey hair and long grey beared, always wore a flannelette or dirty white shirt and brown pants with holes in it and he always carry a few white shopping bags with him – full of his belongings. All these years that I knew him I never once saw Harry wear a pair of shoes. Rain or shine, Harry will be barefooted. This is all he wears for these many years I’ve known him.
The Place To Begin…
“The Past isn’t here to speak for itself, and hence gets a better reputation that it deserves.” Strange is this quality of human nature, which decrees that unless we feel a future before us we do not live completely in the present… (Human nature)…always must look forward.