It's one of those queer days. At 654am on 23 December 2007, I'm actually feeling awake after only about 4 hours of rest. This is wierd. I've been a night owl the past week..sleeping at about 3/4am, and totally immersed in dreamland till my functional funky red alarm clock rings at 10am. It has been 1 solid week of studying, well, not entirely solid I must admit. There were sneaks of rest to watch TV, or just to stare into blank space..all in the name of all work and no play will make Stella a dull girl.
Anyway, after 21 weeks of school and ploughing through 10 subjects, I'm finally at my halfway mark and the start of my 3 weeks break! It has been a gruelling 21 weeks of school with 3 examination periods, and at least (from the positive side), my glass is now half full. I've another 21 weeks to go after which I can finally bid goodbye to life as a student and recommence my worklife which I have been missing.
There are a whole lot of activities planned for this coming week, and the most important day of all has to be Christmas! The season of giving and receiving (hee), and a day for us to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ - the King of kings who gave it all to be born in a stable on a quiet night many years ago. God could have chose to be born in a palace, to be born to parents influential, rich and famous. But He didn't. He chose to be born in a stable, and to parents who were just commoners with simple faith in God. His choice, I believe, reflects His love for the commoners like you and I. To show us that nobody is ever too poor, ever too weak, when we know Him. For He chose to be born in one of the most humble places ever (which of you as parents, would ever want your child to be born in a place that is only befitting for animals?),and chose a manger for His first bed. Such humility and love displayed on that Christmas many years ago.
This year, I'll be spending Christmas with my family. Just a simple dinner at my aunt's place with some cousins. And the sugar-addict me have placed order for a Christmas pastry from The Patissier - Xmas Xmas Little Stars. I surely hope the cake will taste as delicious as it sounds =)
Christmas day kicks off attending the ritual Christmas church service, followed by lunch with friends. The rest of my day will probably be spent furniture and light hunting. Yes, I'm finally moving soon! My interior designer is targeting to handover my place to me by end 2007 (oh dear, I'm gonna be 1 year older soon!), and he is chasing me to purchase the lights, heater and main door. So it's gonna be major cash outflow the next few weeks, but I believe both my hubby and I will be happy to spend the $$. We have been wanting to shift home for the longest time, and after saving up for the house renov for 2 years, our dreamhome is finally just a small step away!
So this year will be a simple but meaningful Christmas, I hope. It's time to sit back, relax (I better relax these 3 weeks before school starts..although I still have to entertain Stochastic Calculus during these 3 weeks), and just reflect on the year's passing and be grateful for the many blessings I've had in 2007.
You know, it is so easy to overlook the little blessings we have until they are taken away from us. For instance, I was having this really bad ulcer for the past few weeks..the ulcer was so bad it was literally eroding my gum away and hurt everytime I yawned (which was often - those who are students will empathise). It was so bad I resorted to applying salt to the ulcer for a few consecutive nights. I was desperate for the ulcer to go away. And when it finally did, it took me a few days before I realised that the ulcer was gone. My life was back to normal - I can finally yawn in peace - and it just didn't register that my ulcer has been healed. It was only when it hurt that I truly appreciated those non-ulcer days, and regretted my daily indulge of Almond Rocca. But when the ulcer disappears and life reverts back to normality, I barely noticed.
This is a stark reminder to myself that we can overlook our many blessings so often - I've driven to and fro from school accident-free for the past 2 terms. I've not seen a doctor for the last couple of months. My chest pains are less frequent nowadays despite my dearth of exercise. I have wonderful family and friends whom I love. I am blessed with a nice litte Acer laptop to pen my blogs on an infrequent basis. The little counts and adds to a lot if we think carefully.
To appreciate the things we have in life always, and not to value these things only when they are taken away from us, requires cultivation of a contented and optimistic lifestyle, and simple faith in God. If only I could have faith like that of a mustard seed, mountains will be moved! I'm still learning, and I'm still trying.
At this point, my thoughts are with a dear relative who is not feeling well. He was on my mind earlier when I woke up, and I was thinking of him while lying on my bed. If there is anything I wish for, I wish for all my friends and family to be well and healthy, and for them to know Jesus. It has not been easy for him, and although I don't contact him that much, I really care and really wish him well. It has been tough-going, and I guess there is no other way about it. Except I wish he knows Jesus, and I pray to God that he will know Jesus eventually. I wish him speedy recovery, and pray that if God wills, God will heal him in the most spectacular manner ever. But God's ways and thoughts are higher than mine, and I just pray that God will touch Him in a very very special way.
You may ask: Why don't I approach him and talk to him about God, about my church's miracle service? But I'm just not that kind of person. I care and God knows I care. But I hate being pushy or too preachy. I don't know if that's the right attitude. I come from a pretty superstitious family that is rooted in taoism/buddism...in fact if some of my family members were to read this blog, they would be jumping mad at me. So talking about Jesus is pretty taboo to most of my family members, although I'm glad that some of relatives have gotten to know Him too, and hopefully we can create an impact in our family.
You know, when I was younger, I used to be realy envious of others. Why can't my family be like that, why can't I go for holidays, why can't I be rich, prettier, smarter, blah blah blah. That was the age of ignorance and immaturity - failing to appreciate my blessings in life. But now, I wouldn't exchange any of my friends or family members for anybody else. Yup, I love them all. Maybe God nurtured in me a heart to love them when I accepted Jesus Christ in my life. Although I don't keep in contact with them that often, I really do care. And I really want to help in anyway that I can. I guess it's time to put action into words. I'll try, and I just hope that my busy study schedule will not take time away from leading a more meaningful life in 2008.
