"The physical reinvention of the world is endless, relentless, fascinating, exhaustive; nothing that seems solid is. If you could stand at just a little distance in time, how fluid and shape-shifting physical reality would be, everything hurrying into some other form, even concrete, even stone.
//Mark Doty; Dog Years: A Memoir
If twentyonine was a journey, then twentyten was an exploration in every sense of the word. Twentyten was a year of firsts and lasts, beginnings and endings, and sometimes, most of the time, it was both. It was a year just like I hoped it would be and more and because of that, I am amazed by the grace and glory of the one who leads me. For I am reminded of how little I know, how little I can see beyond the tip of my nose, that he who sees me from start to finish should say in my quiet moments, you see I knew how it would turn out all along.
So thank you for the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood. Thank you for late-night mugging and the reward exceeding everyone's expectations. Thank you for unending beaches, lovely sunsets and beauty beyond imagination. Thank you for the people who saw me through, held my hand and picked me up at every curve and bump, every up and down of this year.
Thank you for twentyten, in the end I enjoyed every single minute of it. Have a blessed next year, I can hardly wait :)
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. [...] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
//Isaiah 9:2, 6
Time and again, I am reminded that this is a journey, this is a season of my life, this is a fraction of who I was made to become. This December, I am thankful for Eps and the Hoyts who have taught me that by grace, one can accomplish so much more than the human mind can ever imagine. And I am reminded of the parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl. That the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Reminded that I must know where my treasure truly lies, for where my treasure is, there my heart will be also.
And my treasure is not what I read, not what I think, not who people think I am, not my grades, not my friends, not those who came in or passed me by. My treasure is you and you only. For everything that has been given to me by grace and favour is not for my pride nor for me to boast in, but everything I am, for your kingdom's cause.
Lifted high, in the only place that feels right. Blessed Christmas to one and all :)
"I can only imagine/What it will be like, when I walk by your side I can only imagine/What my eyes will see/when your face/is before me I can only imagine/I can only imagine."
//Mercyme; I can only imagine
Even what I can imagine will not be able to contain the wonder of who you are to me. Beyond, so way beyond what my heart and mind will ever be able to contain.
"Love is divine only and difficult always. If you think it is easy you are a fool. If you think it is natural you are blind. It is a learned application without reason or motive except that it is God."
//Toni Morrison; Paradise
I enjoyed the one-and-a-half months that I had the whole bedroom to myself but I love the time we spend together as a family even more, way way more. Here's to jokes, songs and all sorts of quirks that only we will understand.
"Another turning point; a fork stuck in the road. Time grabs you by the wrist; directs you where to go. So make the best of this test and don't ask why. It's not a question but a lesson learned in time. It's something unpredictable; but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.
//Green Day; Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
I learnt one important lesson from Eps and Bang that followed me through this whole December at all the places that I stopped at: Favour, What is favour? It is when you receive something that you don't deserve. And when I sit back and think through all the amazing experiences I've had this past month, I can only say it was all by your favour. Thank you for the lessons, the hand-holding and the growing. Thank you for the tears, the laughs, the goodbyes. Thank you most of all for the people I met along the way, for Dan, Oli, Eps, Bang, YH, Koh, Chew, Ange, Carolyn, Christina, Deep, Prof and everyone else in between.
"Love is the kind of thing that's already happening by the time you notice it, that's how it works, and no matter how old you get, that doesn't change. Except that you can break it up into two entirely distinct types -- love where there's an end in sight and love where there isn't."
//Goodbye Tsugumi; Banana Yoshimoto
I've learnt today that some solutions to dilemmas are truly irretractable. That once it is given, there may no longer be a way back. That there is really no give between two choices. That the only real giving is the question of who will eventually give in first. And, in the end, all that we strive to do is just to postpone the inevitable. Which leads me to wonder, maybe the decision that you made to save the world from heartache was right in the end. Maybe we always begin with a tenacity to work things through but in the end, mere tenacity is never enough, not when there is a real choice to be made between two equally conflicting alternatives, not when sooner or later, we all are forced to face up to the things we pretended didn't matter but always knew that they did.
"The physical reinvention of the world is endless, relentless, fascinating, exhaustive; nothing that seems solid is. If you could stand at just a little distance in time, how fluid and shape-shifting physical reality would be, everything hurrying into some other form, even concrete, even stone.
//Mark Doty; Dog Years: A Memoir
If twentyonine was a journey, then twentyten was an exploration in every sense of the word. Twentyten was a year of firsts and lasts, beginnings and endings, and sometimes, most of the time, it was both. It was a year just like I hoped it would be and more and because of that, I am amazed by the grace and glory of the one who leads me. For I am reminded of how little I know, how little I can see beyond the tip of my nose, that he who sees me from start to finish should say in my quiet moments, you see I knew how it would turn out all along.
So thank you for the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood. Thank you for late-night mugging and the reward exceeding everyone's expectations. Thank you for unending beaches, lovely sunsets and beauty beyond imagination. Thank you for the people who saw me through, held my hand and picked me up at every curve and bump, every up and down of this year.
Thank you for twentyten, in the end I enjoyed every single minute of it. Have a blessed next year, I can hardly wait :)
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. [...] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
//Isaiah 9:2, 6
Time and again, I am reminded that this is a journey, this is a season of my life, this is a fraction of who I was made to become. This December, I am thankful for Eps and the Hoyts who have taught me that by grace, one can accomplish so much more than the human mind can ever imagine. And I am reminded of the parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl. That the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Reminded that I must know where my treasure truly lies, for where my treasure is, there my heart will be also.
And my treasure is not what I read, not what I think, not who people think I am, not my grades, not my friends, not those who came in or passed me by. My treasure is you and you only. For everything that has been given to me by grace and favour is not for my pride nor for me to boast in, but everything I am, for your kingdom's cause.
Lifted high, in the only place that feels right. Blessed Christmas to one and all :)
"I can only imagine/What it will be like, when I walk by your side I can only imagine/What my eyes will see/when your face/is before me I can only imagine/I can only imagine."
//Mercyme; I can only imagine
Even what I can imagine will not be able to contain the wonder of who you are to me. Beyond, so way beyond what my heart and mind will ever be able to contain.
"Love is divine only and difficult always. If you think it is easy you are a fool. If you think it is natural you are blind. It is a learned application without reason or motive except that it is God."
//Toni Morrison; Paradise
I enjoyed the one-and-a-half months that I had the whole bedroom to myself but I love the time we spend together as a family even more, way way more. Here's to jokes, songs and all sorts of quirks that only we will understand.
"Another turning point; a fork stuck in the road. Time grabs you by the wrist; directs you where to go. So make the best of this test and don't ask why. It's not a question but a lesson learned in time. It's something unpredictable; but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.
//Green Day; Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
I learnt one important lesson from Eps and Bang that followed me through this whole December at all the places that I stopped at: Favour, What is favour? It is when you receive something that you don't deserve. And when I sit back and think through all the amazing experiences I've had this past month, I can only say it was all by your favour. Thank you for the lessons, the hand-holding and the growing. Thank you for the tears, the laughs, the goodbyes. Thank you most of all for the people I met along the way, for Dan, Oli, Eps, Bang, YH, Koh, Chew, Ange, Carolyn, Christina, Deep, Prof and everyone else in between.
"Love is the kind of thing that's already happening by the time you notice it, that's how it works, and no matter how old you get, that doesn't change. Except that you can break it up into two entirely distinct types -- love where there's an end in sight and love where there isn't."
//Goodbye Tsugumi; Banana Yoshimoto
I've learnt today that some solutions to dilemmas are truly irretractable. That once it is given, there may no longer be a way back. That there is really no give between two choices. That the only real giving is the question of who will eventually give in first. And, in the end, all that we strive to do is just to postpone the inevitable. Which leads me to wonder, maybe the decision that you made to save the world from heartache was right in the end. Maybe we always begin with a tenacity to work things through but in the end, mere tenacity is never enough, not when there is a real choice to be made between two equally conflicting alternatives, not when sooner or later, we all are forced to face up to the things we pretended didn't matter but always knew that they did.
