Archives for March 2011

Counting my blessings

Recently I experienced something that got me very indignant when I first heard about it. However upon retrospect, I realised that it was human nature to have got this sort of response from the other party and really it was expected. It is difficult to be able to meet all expectations all the time and to please everyone.

Experiencing discontentment. I am also guilty of it.

When we are single, we wish we are married, and vice versa.

When we are young, we wish we were older. If we are old, we wish we have youth on our side.

If we have $100, we wish we had $200, or even $1000.

If only my child is bigger/smarter/ more sensible/less fussy than her child.

And my perennial favorite, whenever I buy something or pay for a service, I end up with some dissonance or having something critical to comment about what I received.

What's wrong with discontentment? Is there anything wrong with expecting something better? Many will say that we should be expecting progress for everything, so there is really nothing wrong with a having a spirit of progression.

But if we look deeply into the root of discontentment, we will realise that it is fear that drives us to discontentment. The fear of not having enough, the fear of not being good enough, or worse still when we start projecting that discontentment on people around us.

No wonder Banjamin Franklin once said, "Contentment makes a poor man rich, discontent makes a rich man poor.” The root of the problem is really our heart, discontentment will never produce a joyful life, no matter what the circumstance.

So then what can I do? So do I just try not to'want', grin and bear through it, and ignore a discontented heart and hopefully move on to a heart that is joyful. I believe alot of us Christians are not fabulous role models in displaying our contentment either, since alot of us pretty much experience the same level of discontentment around us. So what's the problem then? The source of the discontentment is the problem. All of us seek contentment from the world around us, either from people, possessions, our circumstance.

So to start with, I have to learn not to look to the world to feel content and or stop looking to what I don't have which I think will make me joyful for my life.

Start by giving thanks everyday to the Lord for His blessings that He has so graciously given to me – I am thankful for a loving husband, an adorable son, not having to worry about food on my table and a comfortable roof over my head.

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Just this morning, I read something from a website that made me realised and so thankful that I am a mom in Singapore,

"Please imagine the agony Japanese mothers are undergoing at this moment. They hear their thirsty baby cry for water and looking at the tap, which may or may not be an enemy by now. What does she do? She needs to cook dinner and the stores are out of bottled water, and she knows that she only has three choices: pack up and leave her home for good, wait to feed her hungry kids for no one knows how long, or feed them and hope that what you are giving them isn't deadly. How terrible! Pray for these people!"The End Time Blog

And here we are on the never-ending chase for material wants, setting plenty of educational expectations for our children; hoping that our kids are able to read way before their peers, have the general knowledge of a little encyclopedia, even better, be fluently billingual in dual or triple languages in written word and speech before they turn 6. And you have the Japanese moms worrying for their basic survival. It's time for us to learn to be content with what we have and count our blessings everyday.

The next thing I have to think about what I value in life. For me, it is the relationships with my family, my loved ones and with God. Only when I act upon the existing state as being blessings; giving thanks for the daily provisions the Lord has given, and love and treasure the ones that have been placed in my life, that's where my heart  will change. For indeed it is God's will for His children to be content and filled with His joy.

1 Timothy 6:6-8 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

Hebrews 13:5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"

1 Peter 1:8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

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Not so fantastic 4

These days, I have been neglecting this space. It's getting harder to find time to structure a post that is worth reading, that will not bore me, besides I don't want to just use this space for regular ranting. Not that I have plenty to gripe about at this point of my life, but so many things are happening, so fast that it is hard to even keep up and jot them all down.

Things are going well as a parent, despite being woken up at least once a night by Kyle coming into my room, whose complaints will usually revolve around how warm or cold he feels in the room. Somehow upon turning 4, the boy seem to have morphed into this clingy, whiney, sticky child, totally out of character. He surprised me last week by whining "Mommy…Mommy…" and then clinging onto my leg, refusing to let go. Despite spending the whole week (March school vacation) in the mornings with him, bringing him along to run errands, and having our favourite Japanese lunches. Could it be that there are some emotional issues not being met, despite spending time with him? Maybe. Or he could just be going through some phase and exhibiting some behaviour that stems from his demanding little self.

At other times, he just turns into this toilet-humour loving and boisterous almost 5 year old kid :( 

Just last Sunday, he started laughing loudly and hysterically when hb said something humourous to him. Then when hb said something teasingly to me, he joined in and laughed hysterically at me. He loves toliet humour these days and finds all sorts of 'toilet talk' extremely funny. I just exclaimed to hb that our son is not cute anymore. I always have this fear that when he loses all his pre-schooler cuteness, he will be that loud and annoying kid that only his parents will like :(

'Bi-polar 4'…I don't really like u very much right now.

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Kyle is 4!

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Janae doing colouring at the Dino activity table

 

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Some toys to keep Seth and Joyce busy while waiting for their other friends

 

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Wayne and Kyle waiting to get their Dino 'tattoos' on their arms

 

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Alex and Kyle listening to the game instructions for the Dinosaur Hunting Game

 

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Alex : Yeah! I found my first dinosaur counter…

 

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Wait..is that a dinosaur hiding under the plant?

 

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Tim : Oh that's not my team's dinosaur, it must be yours

 

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Dinosaur's cupcakes time!

 

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Blowing out the candles on the cupcakes

 

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Game 2 : Pin the tail on the dinosaur

 

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Natalie : I almost got it right!

 

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Game 3 : Linda, the sleeping dinosaur and her colourful eggs

 

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Hb doubled up as the Balloon Man

 

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Joy on Alex's face as she tries to grab hold of a balloon

 

Thanks to family and friends who were at Kyle's birthday party, we had a wonderful time…despite the craziness of having all 13 children in a room :) After this experience of planning the party and having an overload of printing and cutting dinosaurs' stuff, it will be a while before I think of having a party for Kyle in the subsequent years.

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