080392
Parentheses - An interruption of continuity; an interval.
"This is one of the things I wasn't prepared for — the amount of unfilled time, the long parentheses of nothing" (Margaret Atwood).
“For every period of time when you exist, short or long, there is a temporal part of you that exists only then. And for any temporal parts of any objects whatsoever, there is a larger object made up of just those parts.” - John Locke
"Every time I enunciate 'I', even in my thought, an identity is assumed, and this identity is itself not simple, but a figure of a complex gathering of personal and impersonal histories, texts, discourses, beliefs, cultural assumptions, and ideological interpellations...it is not an artifact but a process." - Richard Dyer
Sunday, February 14, 2010
the clash of Valentine's Day with CNY and Sunday is really thought-provoking. it made me reconsider many things and look at relationships in different perspectives in light of all these ties blending together on the very same day.
first, it makes you consider if your love for the family is of greater importance than your love for the Other Half. which would you prioritise? in all/which circumstance? would you sacrifice one to salvage the other? do you give yourself as selflessly to one party like how you do for the other? or are you more selfish when it comes to a certain relationship?
secondly, how many of us, when we think of Valentine's Day, think of our relationship w Christ? okay, i never used to until today, when during service it suddenly dawned on me. the love of Christ is THE ultimate love story - the epitome of sacrifice, forgiveness and humility. how many times when we commemorate love, we fail to remember God's endlessly faithful devotion towards us, even though we drift and turn away? when we sang the line "Heart and mind and will that say: I love you Lord", i thought, do the meditations of our heart, the thoughts of our mind, and the will (in verb and noun form, which means both our determination and actions) we carry out show our love to God? if we cannot do that, much less so can we honour/glorify Him. but sometimes, maybe most of the time, we find that we disgrace and disappoint Him. we could really mean that we love Him on Sundays and in our hearts, but if we cannot prove that in our daily actions & words, it is of no use. you could very easily see the parallels of this spiritual relationship with the human romantic relationship: nobody would believe a boy/girl who claims that s/he loves their partner very deeply, but carries out actions which hurt or do not show his/her love for their partner. so looking back on our past relationship with Christ, what would we do differently this year to better commit ourselves to this relationship (which we must remind ourselves we are so undeserving)?
i have had this wish for a rather long time, which i feel might be similar to many (esp Christians) out there: that God would bring to me the man that loves me as much as i love him vice versa AND who also loves God more than he loves me. it is my one and only (i really mean this!) wish, because i believe one would need nothing else as long as their loved ones are by their side.
still, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want" - psalms 23 & "He has made everything beautiful in His time" - ecclesiastes 3:11.
first, it makes you consider if your love for the family is of greater importance than your love for the Other Half. which would you prioritise? in all/which circumstance? would you sacrifice one to salvage the other? do you give yourself as selflessly to one party like how you do for the other? or are you more selfish when it comes to a certain relationship?
secondly, how many of us, when we think of Valentine's Day, think of our relationship w Christ? okay, i never used to until today, when during service it suddenly dawned on me. the love of Christ is THE ultimate love story - the epitome of sacrifice, forgiveness and humility. how many times when we commemorate love, we fail to remember God's endlessly faithful devotion towards us, even though we drift and turn away? when we sang the line "Heart and mind and will that say: I love you Lord", i thought, do the meditations of our heart, the thoughts of our mind, and the will (in verb and noun form, which means both our determination and actions) we carry out show our love to God? if we cannot do that, much less so can we honour/glorify Him. but sometimes, maybe most of the time, we find that we disgrace and disappoint Him. we could really mean that we love Him on Sundays and in our hearts, but if we cannot prove that in our daily actions & words, it is of no use. you could very easily see the parallels of this spiritual relationship with the human romantic relationship: nobody would believe a boy/girl who claims that s/he loves their partner very deeply, but carries out actions which hurt or do not show his/her love for their partner. so looking back on our past relationship with Christ, what would we do differently this year to better commit ourselves to this relationship (which we must remind ourselves we are so undeserving)?
i have had this wish for a rather long time, which i feel might be similar to many (esp Christians) out there: that God would bring to me the man that loves me as much as i love him vice versa AND who also loves God more than he loves me. it is my one and only (i really mean this!) wish, because i believe one would need nothing else as long as their loved ones are by their side.
still, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want" - psalms 23 & "He has made everything beautiful in His time" - ecclesiastes 3:11.
Labels: clandestine