on keeping our eyes upon God

Read this psalm this morning.

Psalm 63

A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

O God, you are my God,
       earnestly I seek you;
       my soul thirsts for you,
       my body longs for you,
       in a dry and weary land
       where there is no water.

 I have seen you in the sanctuary
       and beheld your power and your glory.

 Because your love is better than life,
       my lips will glorify you.

 I will praise you as long as I live,
       and in your name I will lift up my hands.

 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
       with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

 On my bed I remember you;
       I think of you through the watches of the night.

 Because you are my help,
       I sing in the shadow of your wings.

 My soul clings to you;
       your right hand upholds me.

 They who seek my life will be destroyed;
       they will go down to the depths of the earth.

 They will be given over to the sword
       and become food for jackals.

 But the king will rejoice in God;
       all who swear by God's name will praise him,
       while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

Taken from http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=23&chapter=63&version=310
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haha, am just amazed by the depth of devotion in this psalm. On my bed, I'll probably think about God for the first 10 minutes, and drift off to lala-land after that. :p


may you be inspired to give God praise today!

Rambo (2008)

Rating:	★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

Too much gore and carnage, and a bit too close to real-life for comfort.

Official site:
http://movies.break.com/rambo/

IMDB Entry:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462499/

Wiki Entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambo_%28film%29

on finding rest in God alone

Read this psalm early in the morning:

Psalm 62 (NIV)

My soul finds rest in God alone;
       my salvation comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;
       he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

How long will you assault a man?
       Would all of you throw him down—
       this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

They fully intend to topple him
       from his lofty place;
       they take delight in lies.
       With their mouths they bless,
       but in their hearts they curse.
       Selah

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
       my hope comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;
       he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God ;
       he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
       pour out your hearts to him,
       for God is our refuge.
       Selah

 Lowborn men are but a breath,
       the highborn are but a lie;
       if weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
       together they are only a breath.

 Do not trust in extortion
       or take pride in stolen goods;
       though your riches increase,
       do not set your heart on them.

 One thing God has spoken,
       two things have I heard:
       that you, O God, are strong,

 and that you, O Lord, are loving.
       Surely you will reward each person
       according to what he has done.

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I thank God for His faithful reminder again this morning...

on sacred space within yourself*...

ok, the training session in the second half of the day was pretty interesting, in the sense that it talks about using art therapy to come to terms of healing within oneself. It was more free flow and kinda "stream of consciousness" style, as the trainer is a abstract artist by training, and she uses art to help people to draw out their inner emotions. So to use words to describe what she's doing is pretty limiting. Nonetheless, I think I managed to get a sense of where she was going with her "ministry". I think it's wonderful how the Lord allows her to use her talent of just welcoming people into her studio and using creative means to just paint out their lives. Sometimes words are really just now adequate, and one needs to let the emotions come out.

As usual, I went off tangent again, by thinking," Hmm, maybe we just want to be like our Heavenly Father in that respect, in wanting to create something..."

Amazingly, the trainer also talks about the art of solitude, and the importance of self-care. She said in day-to-day life, we are being assuaged by chatter in our minds, and not being present to ourselves or others. She commented we have lost the art of being still and waiting upon the Lord, or something to that effect. We need to create a space that is within us that can connects to others, and not being so obsessed about us. 

Again I was reminded of the picture of a vessel that's already filled with water and covered up. If you try to fill it up with more water, without removing the cover, then the excess water will just wash over the whole vessel, But if you remove away the cover, and poke a small hole at the bottom of the vessel, then fresh water can come in and be poured forth from the opening...

I think one of my co-worker connected beautifully with his analogy of looking at space within places of worship. In a temple, mosque, or cathedral, you usually have a large space within it to contain a vast volume of nothingness.** It's to remind the worshippers when they're inside on the vastness and infinity of God, to convey that sense of majesty and glory, even though if it's within a confined space of finite measurements. So space is important, to have that within ourselves, so as to allow God to come in and fill us.

The trainer was struck by this analogy, as she said it brings to her mind about how Jesus refers to our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit...

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*sounds New Age-y, but is not, i assure you :P

** Sorry ah, I not architecture student, so my terms will be insufficient to describe.  

on wanting healing without the pain...

or wanting "NO PAIN, ALL GAIN", when one need "NO PAIN, NO GAIN".

Yeaps, this tiny fact was awakened in my memories again, even as the trainer talks about how emotional wounds heal. Basically he was saying it's just follows the law of recovery in nature, which is to say it's akin to how physical wounds heal. When you have a physical wound, you must take care to keep it clean and let the body heal itself. Basically, as the wound heals and closes up, you will feel pain; but it's normal to feel the pain. If the feeling is successful, the pain will be gone and all that's left is a closed-up wound, or scar. The scar is not painful, but it's there to remind you that you've been wounded.

Similarly, for emotional and mental wounds, you need time for the injury to heal and "close up". Many a times, we just tell the injured party to just forgive, thinking that's it's only a point of decision in time. While it is a point of decision, the trainer was saying forgiveness and healing comes at the end of a process. The injured person have to have time to "grieve" and have his moment of catharsis, and appropriate help in due time of course.   

As usual, my mind went off tangent during the lesson. I was think of more how many a times we just want healing without the pain. It's like praying, "Lord, heal me! But dun let me have the pain!" I'm not being masochistic here, and wanting to have more pain than  what we can bear. But if I'm hearing the trainer correctly, pain is part and parcel of the healing process.

Ok, I'm overshooting again. In a nutshell, don't be afraid to embrace pain! Sometimes the healing is painful but necessary.

on a long long day in training...

My company has decided to engage two professionals today to talk to us about mental health, mental well-being, as well as communications method. Found it to be a very fruitful and enjoyable session. Think a break from routine is good once in a while. Even though we're kinda busy at the start of the year, it's great that the organisation takes time to learn together as a community certain truths together. I give thanks to God for providing this opportunity to be jogged in my memories about certain truths which has been long unused. Will probably write about the lessons revisited in the next few postings, so stay tuned.~

27 Dresses (2008)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Romantic Comedy

ok, so it's a chick flick. But not a bad one. I admit the main draw was that it's from the people who have us "The Devil Wears Prada" (TDWP). I wanted to see if they gonna quirky characters as TDWP. Well, 27 Dresses does have its merits, but somehow it's not as engaging as TDWP. There's no rating for 3.5 stars, so I'll just round it up to 4 stars.

oh, but you'll sure get a laugh over the 27 dresses... ROFL

Official Website:
http://www.27dressesthemovie.com/

IMDB Entry:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988595/

Wiki Entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Dresses