Like a little child

And so I have reached the end of a fast-flowing, ever-changing and full year. The year 2018 has been wonderful and horrible in parts, full of joy and laughter, but also tears and mourning. In short, it was a good year.

It is therefore fitting to end the year in the spirit of Christmas, which means to rejoice at the hope of my salvation, and the joy of the Word made flesh. Jesus is born, not just over 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, but today, in my heart, and as a child of God, and Bride of Christ, I give thanks that light and joy are my inheritance. I can, therefore, be joyous even in trials, and I think I have managed to lift up and lighten dark moments in the last year; bringing peace and harmony where it is needed. 

Certainly I can do better, and I would like to think that all my tears of frustration and pain shed over the months have borne fruit, given me wisdom and new insights while enriching the tapestry of my life, making it more beautiful and pleasurable to my Father. 

Just observing how the little grandson has been growing has been educational. No wonder Jesus tells us to be like little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. J simply is, and because he just is, he is a delight. He is a truly happy baby, full of curiosity and awe at the world around him. He brings joy because he smiles with such sweetness and laughs with such unrestrained glee. He does not acknowledge failure and the countless times he stumbles or falls on his tiny bottom despite wanting to stand up does not deter his indefatigable spirit. He knows what he wants and likes, and communicates it quite clearly. He has no filters and when he shows affection it feels as if you have won a prize for you know it is genuine, unadulterated love. He is joy personified. Aside from learning about joy, freedom, contentment, wonder, curiosity, perseverance and love from him, I have watched his teething pains with interest. 

First of all, teething pains are real and truly a pain. They cause great discomfort and happen from time to time as his little teeth erupt from the gums. So the truth is that growing up and growing involves pain, and it is not a one-shot deal but a process of a lifetime, so it seems.

Growing pains are part and parcel of life no matter what stage of life we are in. Even when we reach adulthood we never stop growing, one hopes not just sideways, but also in our dreams and aspirations as well as our mental and emotional maturation.  

So to expect life to be painless is unrealistic for the dynamism inherent in living, both the biological and metaphysical aspects require us to struggle and evolve all the time. Do not run from the pain, neither obsess about or wallow in it, but accept it as part of the process and mine the wisdom all painful experiences offer. The pain will pass as my father used to say. Instead, find the joy in the pain, the little treasures of pure gold. As my SD told me this year: make it a joyful love, not a painful or difficult love, even when loving cuts you to the core. This is one of my nuggets from 2018.

Loving the people around me deeply and wholeheartedly can be painful at times, but I can choose to respond in an easy and joy-filled manner. 

I can choose to bring a comforting peace into fear and sorrow; walk always towards the light of Christ and be the witness of light rather than be defeated by the surrounding darkness.

I can choose to turn the other cheek in conflict, forgive and bring harmony rather than a harsh justice to the situation. Being right isn’t everything, but being loving is. 

I can choose to die to my hurts and fears and act inspired by the Holy Spirit. Mercy is the water and fertiliser needed to bring about new life where only barrenness was found. 

I can choose to be patient and assiduous in my efforts, allowing God to come into the dead spaces to breathe His brand of mysterious miracles, making the impossible possible. Wait on Him, even if it takes years...

I do not know what the new year holds but I do know that joy will feature a great deal. I will live as Baby J does, knowing I am greatly loved and trusting fully in the goodness of God as demonstrated by the people around me. I thank God for all I have received in this year, the very many gifts, and I await with eagerness the new year. 

Immanuel

Who has Jesus been for you this Advent? A question asked at last night’s reflection before midnight mass. The last half of Advent has been a period of inner struggle, of trying to make peace with the realities I am facing, of preparing my heart to make a home worthy of the Christ child to be born in. I felt I was somewhat lacking in charity, my efforts at being a good Christian disciple lacklustre. I was truly in darkness. I just couldn’t see the gold from the dross. So who has Jesus been for me? He is the light, of course.

I was reminded just before Christmas who He was when T asked me what my favourite Scriptural verse was. This popped into my head Isaiah 61:10 (I was actually trying to remember Isaiah 54:2). Never one to remember references well I was intrigued. When I looked in the Bible this was what I found:  

I delight greatly in the Lord;

    my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation

    and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,

as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
 and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

That is right. He is also my Bridegroom, even though He is the Suffering Servant, and the invitation to follow Him requires me to suffer at times. I had forgotten to rejoice so focused was I on my difficulties. I had forgotten I was loved greatly in my attempts to love others. I had lost the joy. I could only see the shadows. I was living in the shadows.

Recently I watched an Inspired video shared by D on Facebook that showed colour-blind people who first saw in colour. Their reactions was immense joy that often brought them to tears. Their delight was palpable. I was reminded this was me when I first encountered Jesus in an up close and personal fashion. Jesus was my vision. He gave me the ability to see in colour and it was, is, truly amazing. 

I was also reminded that despite my deep happiness and contentment at my first homecoming, taking up my cross and following Him has not an easy process through the years, but it was, still is, worth it. Today I KNOW I still want to follow Him, but in order to do so, there will still be sacrifices to be made, and the path marked out is tricky and occasionally devilish. And yet, the view continues to enthrall. 

Just as my eyes are attracted to the delicate beauty of the weeds I find on my rambles, and I delight in the colour and symmetry of the unremarkable and the common, I can do the same wth whatever life throws at me. There is joy in the pain, great beauty in the loving, poetry in the brokenness. I just need to train my eyes on the precious baby wrapped in swaddling, resting on the hay in the smelly manger surrounded by livestock. He is my treasure!

No matter how dark the valley may be at times, the Christ child, Immanuel, God is with us, is with me. He and His inestimable mother Mary and stalwart earthly father Joseph walk with me. Christmas is here, and my soul rejoices.

Our Lady’s blessings

P and I were in Chiang Mai and it was a wonderful break from our usual routine. The weather was ideal for walking, sunny yet cool and dry, and in the evenings, the temperature dipped further. So we did a fair amount of walking, together with the requisite eating and shopping.

Again we were blessed to have a church nearby to attend mass. I was pleasantly surprised to bump into Father Olivier last Sunday at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Father O was my SD when I went for my silent retreat at Seven Fountains some years back. Thus my memories of Chiang Mai are always coloured by Jesus, for in this place He spoke to me so vividly and lovingly all those years ago. 

On this trip, P and I have experienced the Lord’s blessings, not just in our sumptuous accommodation (many thanks to P’s Chairman for her generosity), but also His protective hand when we trekked around Doi Inthanon National Park, enjoying the beauty of nature. 

We celebrated two years of marriage yesterday and I have a sense of deep gratitude for Mother Mary’s gentle guidance and protection. Consecrating ourselves and our marriage to her was the best thing we ever did for she has helped us along the rapids of marriage, easing the pain of misunderstanding and miscommunication, while enabling us to build stronger bonds through the days and weeks of living, loving and laughing together.

Loving is not always easy. Much as we desire the good of the other, we invariably end up hurting the other at times. The only way we can move forward unhampered by past blunders and failings is to seek with sincere hearts to first love Jesus before we try to love each other. Somehow this intention is important for it is only through the Lord we are able to renew ourselves individually, and subsequently, the marriage of two become one. 

The sacramental nature of marriage is the supernatural glue that unifies two very different people by dissolving all the inevitable pain and frustration suffered, while binding and healing bruised hearts, fashioning them into a whole that speaks of God’s true nature to the world, love, in the very fundamental and vital vocation of marriage. 

Mother Mary has brought us time and again back to her Son, and she has whispered words of wisdom, urging us to deeper intimacy with each other despite our fears and baggage. She has taught us to walk softly and hold each other’s heart with open, gentle and forgiving hands. She is our Mother guiding us forward to embrace our mutual vocation of marriage with joyful resolve.

As we continue to walk forward, we do so, hand in hand, hearts entwined. We thank Our Lady of Guadalupe. who is our Patroness as we were married on her Feast Day. for inviting us into her womb that we may be born anew together with Her Son, incarnating Him to each other and to the world around us.  

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Mother most dear

Blessed Virgin Mary

Pure of heart and mind

Conceived immaculately

The perfect vessel

Full of grace

Epitome of receptivity 

Thank you Mother Mary

Your unrelenting yes and

Your gentle heart transforms me

You have taught me to ponder more

Seek softer ways to act:

Righteousness wrapped in compassion

Goes down a treat like honey

Easy on the ears, spreading joy

Simply good for the soul

No wonder many have found their way

To Jesus through Mary

The radiant light of the moon

Humbly I ask:

Mary, Mother of Jesus,

Please be a Mother to me

So I can be an awesome child of God.

Anticipating Advent

The word advent is defined as coming into a place, view or being; arrival. For Christians, Advent is the season before Christmas, about a month of preparation and waiting expectantly, not just to celebrate the birth of the Christ child in the world, but also to mark the return of Jesus in the Second Coming. 

The first exhortation is stay awake, for we do not know the hour the Son of Man is coming. We are close to the end of the calendar year, where spirits tend to flag, and we may have lost a little of our zeal to bring God glory, weighed down by our recent failures and our own self-indulgent ways, so the liturgical wisdom of Advent is timely. Wake up from our distractions, prepare our hearts to receive Jesus, allow Him to be born within us in new ways. 

Physical and mental exhaustion have left me in a rather blasé state of mind, so I welcomed Advent with hope; hope for my own renewal of spirit, hope to release my disordered attachments to the Lord, and hope to be restored to Righteous Peace and Godly Glory promised in Baruch chapter five, verses one to nine. 

The readings at mass have been rich, brimming with God’s true intention for humanity: the physical and spiritual healings, the miraculous feeding of the hungry thousands, the reminders of how much God loves us all and how He wants to shower us with blessings. We need only turn around and return into His loving arms to experience all His promises.

Certainly it can be a mite challenging to do just that, return to Him, stay awake and hope for a better day tomorrow when our hearts are aching with sorrow and loss, and we feel battered down by life and all the evil we seem to be surrounded by, and yet, this is the true beauty of being Christian, we have an ace in the hole in the Christ baby. 

He will be born to share in our humanity wholly, experiencing all we ourselves experience. He will take on all our failures and sins by the horns and fling them where they don’t matter one smidge, and we will be rewarded with a redemption that wraps us in loving arms and unifies us with our Maker. We will live forever in glory, beyond the limitations of our current existence.

Advent encourages me to think with that long term view of eternal bliss and to transform my heart and mind now such that I can experience a foretaste of future glory by living as closely as I can with Jesus in the here and now. This intimate relationship with the Lord is what will give me the ability to be alert and not falter presently, to be one with Him in heart, mind and soul. 

We will pass this way but once, YOLO as it is often tossed around, so make it a great life, a great day every day, live as Jesus did, in close communion with the Father, acting with righteousness and compassion to all He met, with no exception. There are great rewards for doing so, not just in the future, but even now.  

So heed the call and act on it. Shake off the tiredness of body and heaviness of heart and serve with enthusiasm and good cheer. He was, is, and always will be our Saviour King, God who is with us. Welcome Him come Christmas Day with grateful hands and a joyful heart.

Humble, awesome pastors

I attended Father Gerard Keane’s funeral mass last Friday afternoon and it hit me emotionally without me quite understanding why. I didn’t know Father Keane that well but he is the last of a group of Irish Jesuits who were the mainstay of the Church of Saint Ignatius during my formative years. I would say my faith and spirituality has been shaped a fair bit by the succinct and reflective sermons of this particular cohort of Jesuit priests that spoke of God’s mercy and forgiveness to me.

He was the last of this cohort of Irish men who gave their lives over to God in order to pastor sheep in a foreign land, making this land so unlike their native land a home. With Father K’s demise, I feel as if a precious piece of my childhood is gone forever and that saddens me. Those were days of innocence and a mundane, much simpler existence. And yet, the fruitfulness Father Christopher spoke of remains although the man has departed. He and his brethren have made many of us Singaporeans devout Catholics who understand the joy of being God’s children. They have given us a sense of belonging. We have experienced a gentle, loving Father’s guidance in our lives. We have sought Him in the silent landscapes of our hearts and met Him. We have found Him in all things, especially the humble, very human man Father K was, who had a heart set on His Father’s heart.

Just this morning I awoke to news that Father Ignatius Huan had lost his battle with cancer in the wee hours of the morning. Again I am saddened greatly. Having had to privilege over the years to attend retreats and seminars facilitated by Father Ignatius, I feel the loss of this humble, gentle, and wise priest. He was such a wonderful teacher and a great example of a man who walked to the beat of the Lord’s drum. He gave me heart to walk the narrow path and be a powerful witness, a sign of contradiction in today’s world: to love as Jesus loved without caring if everyone else thought I am foolish or overly rigid to follow the precepts of Mother Church so wholeheartedly.

In the climate of paedophile priests and priests who behave without integrity and Christian love, I salute priests like Father Keane and Father Ignatius, and I thank God for their lives which have been poured out as an offering to Him. These are men who put their talents to good use, never allowing pride to affect their judgement, and who remained level-headed and humble. They went boldly where few would have trodden. There were huge sacrifices and immense personal costs they undertook willingly. Lonely days and nights were a surety. They were His missionary disciples who have transformed the world and made it a better place. Good and faithful servants!

Thank you dear Father Keane and Father Ignatius. Rest in peace, in eternal rest and perpetual light. Till we meet again.

Honouring myself

You need to honour yourself, give yourself the time and space to be you, if not, you will get burnt out and lose yourself, she told me. Hmmmm, sage advice, and I have, most recently, been trying to do just that, that is, finding the right balance between honouring my spouse and my marriage, and myself. 

It has been my wont to go full speed ahead and throw myself into life wholeheartedly, often to the detriment of my own well-being. So why would I stop when I got married, especially since married life opened the door to a whole new world of complexities in a alien landscape?

Trying to acclimate to this new environment has been fraught with struggle, and I suspect I will never stop struggling just because that’s what participating in life, being fully engaged in relationships means. There’s always something new ahead, there’s always something that will pull the rug from under your feet just when you thought you have a handle on life. 

Determined to love in a vulnerable, open, giving, selfless manner as described by JP2 in Theology of the Body, I have subsumed my own needs greatly, which was the right thing to do in these first two years of marriage in order to bring unity and harmony, and to bond not just with P, but even Max, the family dog. I am grateful for all the blessings, all the joy, even all the frustrations that have come it of this period of my life. 

When I fall into the abyss of despair, I remind myself first of all, this is not where God wants me to be, living life to the full means much more than just honouring my gifts and talents as a disciple of God, it means a willingness to allow myself to be moulded and refined, which is often not an enjoyable or pain-free process. Mary was told explicitly her soul would be pierced with a sword for being the Mother of Christ and she experienced just that, all the way to Calvary. But just as loving involves pain, sorrow and loss, it also encompasses joy, laughter, fulfilment, a richness in living out the Kingdom of God actively, and finally, the deep satisfaction of self-actualization, of becoming who I am created to be.

Thus I need to keep on relying fully on God, and God alone, to lay my head on Jesus’ chest and wail out my sorrows, and to say to our Blessed Mother the words Saint Teresa of Calcutta highly recommended: Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me.

So to honour myself, I will take more QT (quiet time) breaks to water my soul and strengthen my spirit, and to do what gives me joy more frequently such as reading, baking, playing with baby J, and spending time with my Mother. I will honour myself by loving myself more for if I cannot love myself, then I will not have the wherewithal to love others as they deserve to be loved. 

Stop and smell

What are you doing Daughter asked puzzled

Two old ladies stopping stooping over the roses

Communing with the pretty velvety faces

Resplendent in ruby, buttercup and cotton candy

Why we are smelling the roses of course

Contemplating their delightful perfume

Drinking in their gone tomorrow beauty  

Life is good He made it very good

Shouldn’t we celebrate

He’s given us at least five senses

Using them makes perfect sense

How else can we thank Him

For His Floral Songs that enrich our lives

Pleasure is a damask rose in bloom

The scent of my mother’s gentle heart 

Remember to stop and smell

Horrible as life is all will be well

Making marriage holy

Sometimes I feel like how Saint Peter must have felt when he was older and experiencing what was prophesied about him, that he would be led to go where he did not want to go. Married life is a little like that. And sometimes, it is a lot like that. 

My time is no longer my own. I have to consider a whole lot more than just my individual wants and needs. I even have to do things I would normally avoid just because I really don’t like doing them, but now, it isn’t really a choice if my preeminent choice is marriage. It is definitely character building. More importantly, it is what it means to be a practising Christian which is what I have tried to be, especially in these last 15 years. NB: it doesn’t get easier with the years.

Following Christ means I don’t get to pick and choose what I like to do, I pick and choose what He wills in my life, and that often means I have to go out there and stretch myself. Get uncomfortable, even completely stressed out. At times, suffer consequences not of my own making. Sacrifice my personal preferences and tastes in order to build relationships. Deal with the inevitable tensions of living under one roof as a family.

There are days I get overwhelmed. And there are days when I am really not having much fun. This is when I have to remind myself to count my blessings, for the Lord has been gracious in His provender. I am dearly loved by the Father who has given me every good thing today. Never mind the occasional thunderstorm. It can bring relief of sorts and manifold blessings. The goodness is there even when I cannot see it or appreciate it as such in the present moment.

Having just celebrated the Feast of All Saints recently, I wonder how the saints did it? How does one live with constant physical pain or the emotional suffering that Saint Bernadette received at the hands of those who rejected and ridiculed her? How did Saint Monica withstand her violent husband and his pagan ways, and the apostasy of her brilliant son Augustine for long years without taking to her bed permanently? How did Saint Maximilian Kolbe make the decision to give his life up for another and live out those last excruciating 14 days of his existence in an underground bunker without food and water? How did Saint Maria Goretti forgive the man who almost raped her only to die from the 14 grievous stab wounds he later inflicted? How did Saint Teresa of Calcutta persist in her vocation so faithfully for years on end even when she no longer experienced the consolation of the Lord’s presence in her life? 

How does one cultivate the right disposition to always desire the better of the other, to subsume one’s own needs to the point where it may not be personally salubrious? It is clear that it has nothing to do with feelings but it is a daily decision, a willingness to act a certain way: to be holy as our Father in heaven is holy. This is our mandate as Christians, to aspire to holiness as a state of being that comes from loving God and others as much as God loves us. It calls, often, for death by crucifixion. It isn’t about putting on the benign and serene face we often find on a saint’s prayer card, but it means the willingness to choose a humiliating, ugly, painful and oftentimes inconvenient way of life.  Loving others requires purpose, courage and constancy to keep on doing what we are asked to do despite how we feel, especially when others are unappreciative and we are even vilified for doing what is right.

Yesterday’s first reading from Saint Paul’s letter to Titus (2:1-8,11-14) give us a good idea of what holiness entails:

But as for you, teach what befits sound doctrine. Bid the older men be temperate, serious, sensible, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Bid the older women likewise to be reverent in behaviour, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be sensible, chaste, domestic, kind, and submissive to their husbands, that the word of God may not be discredited. Likewise urge the younger men to control themselves. Show yourself in all respects a model of good deeds, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, and sound speech that cannot be censured, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us. For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

And as Luke chapter 17 verse 10 reminds us when we think we have done enough already, or reached the heights of holiness: We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.

It is never enough. Our duty is never done. We can always do more. Lest you begin to believe that loving God is all work, and all about carrying out good works, or that to live sober, upright and godly lives translates into a life devoid of fun, joy and pleasure, think again.

Jesus is my delight. He is the one whom I love for having loved me first with such tenderness and generosity. Following Him brings me great satisfaction, deep joy and peace of mind. I am happy to bring Him delight, not just to repay Him for all He has given me, but also because I love Him dearly and I want to please Him. So doing His will gives me pleasure even when it is challenging. This truth of joyful love is the hook I need to hang my aspirations of sainthood on.

While I may be a little stressed out right now, I recognize that marriage has been enriching, fulfilling, and has filled me with unimaginable joy. I know that even as good as my marriage is, as many pleasures it affords me, there are areas which bear improving, plus rough times ahead (no good marriage comes without those), while weeping tears of frustration are to be expected at times. When it gets too much, I just redirect control to Jesus by laying everything at His feet; my desires, my jangled emotions, my tears and all, and say to Him, do with it what You will, Lord.

I also remember to thank God every day for everything good (and bad) that has happened in the day, for all the people in my life now, especially P, and to keep on climbing the mountain to holiness. If I stumble at times, so be it. As long as I get up and get going again even when I feel like giving up, for I can do all thing through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).

Come what may, I will stand my ground and stay the course. Accept my crosses with passion, asking humbly for wisdom and mercy to know how to carry them. To be holy is to be so in love with Jesus that I would die for Him gladly. Give me the grace to die again and again for you, Lord, like all the saints who have before me. 

It is well with my soul

During my cell group meeting some Mondays ago, S commented that she felt the love of the community during the covenant celebration for everyone was just pitching in and doing what needed to be done so that it was a beautiful and meaningful Eucharistic celebration and ceremony. She was greatly edified. Being a busy mum herself, she was touched that K and S who are busy working mothers had taken time off their busy schedules to paint and create personalised gifts for those who were taking their covenant or commitment. 

She contrasted it with past experience, where instead of cheerfully working together to get things done, people tended to avoid responsibility, especially for thankless jobs like putting out chairs and cleaning up after. 

I guess I am very blessed for I hit pay dirt the first time. I can still remember clearly when I arrived in Bangalore for the Pastoral Counselling School in 2003, how the smiling, friendly face of G greeted me at the retreat centre where we were staying and subsequently how everyone was so warm and hospitable. 

I felt accepted and loved for who I was, part of God’s family. I felt at home in the company of strangers which was a novel and wondrous experience for being highly introverted, I am never very comfortable with lots of people, especially strangers. E was the only person I knew there. It was the modelling of Christian love amongst the missionaries and attendees that showed me how the early Christian communities must have loved each other and those around them post-Pentecost. So this is how much God loves me, and this experience of the Father’s all-merciful love meant one thing only, I wished to dwell in the presence of the Lord, in His courts all the days of my life. 

So I found community and ministry, not just with the ICPE Mission, but within my parish as well. I was equally blessed to work alongside great people wherever I was involved. A and K showed me how mature Christian women bore witness to the world. Their deep love and passion for Jesus was infectious and inspiring. D and P revealed to me how good Christian men served the Lord with selfless integrity and gentleness, so unlike my experience of men who were selfish and harsh. No road is too rocky, no menial task so unpleasant, no hardship so insurmountable that it would be avoided or arrowed*. 

We go on mission, as Father Greg pointed out, with Jesus. Yoked with Him, things can be easy, our burden light. This does not exclude difficulties and suffering, far from it, for a follower of Christ has a cross, as Christ had one. But if we are willing to take up our cross and follow Him, we know, with surety, that the cross will always triumph and death will give way to resurrection. We know that eternal life will be rewarding because we ourselves have been privileged to have tasted the sweetness here. 

I first tasted God’s merciful, nurturing love in Bangalore and I was hooked. I finally realized my identity as a child of God and it was awesome. I discovered that Father God had always been looking out for me. Jesus had always been there, calling me by name, waiting for me to turn around and recognize Him. I was finally able to fully receive the gift of the Holy Spirit given to me at baptism and confirmation, and to allow Him to direct my days.

When one attempts to live in the Spirit, one is given insight to know what is the better option in any given situation, and to have the necessary strength of character to take it... eventually. Over the years, I have found myself able to make unselfish choices without resentment because my only desire is for the Lord’s goodness. It is still an uphill battle for knowing and doing are two separate things altogether.

Knowing what Jesus wants can be a burden at times; spirits do flag, dark nights do exist, and it can seem unfair and impossible to keep having to choose the better part. There are days I complain haven’t I done enough, why is it me who has to be the bigger person, who has to be magnanimous? Why? Must I keep giving my two mites, my livelihood, can’t I just reserve some for myself? 

I tend to forget that whenever I am generous with God, He outmatches me in generosity. His love is like the pouring rain last night, coming down in sheets of luscious raindrops, watering the arid soil of my soul such that it is well with my soul. Nothing can shake me. As D would say steady pom pi  pi. I am also reminded of the story of how Horatio Spafford who penned the classic hymn It is well with my soul wrote the beautiful lyrics after he himself suffered the death of his son, financial ruin, and, finally, the death of all his four daughters in an accident at sea.

Tragedy, loss and suffering cannot overcome us. Hardship and hard work are a given in this life, and yet, there are hidden joys and many benefits in overcoming hardship and doing a job well. So we stand and face our giants. We cast the puny stone with stout heart and the deadly accuracy given to us by the Holy Spirit when we reside within Him.

Cultivating a true missionary spirit such as Spafford had, and all the saints that have gone before us, requires only one thing: keeping our hearts, mind, soul and strength on Jesus; loving Him to the death of our selfish tendencies, our egos, so that we take on His demeanour when we love others. 

Through it all, whatever will come, we are saved by faith and trust in Jesus. When we internalize that faith and trust, we become great missionaries who are not afraid to humble ourselves and go the extra mile to the very end, wherever He leads us. This is how we can then love everyone in our families and our communities, armed with the supernatural grace of the Spirit. On our own, we are nothing, and we can accomplish nothing. With Him, all and everything is within our reach, very possible. 

* To wrangle out of and shoot across an undesirable task to someone else, making it their responsibility.