Another day with You (:

Every weekday during Morning Assembly at CJC, I have the privilege of listening to stories.
I also have an even greater privilege of hearing and seeing how the story of the day ties in with God and the ways He has for me.

Today's story from CJC Morning Assembly:
(I don't remember the exact words but it went something like this...)
There was once a gardener who tended to many plants in a fluorishing garden.
He had been tending to all the plants for a long time now.
One day, as he was tending to the rose plant, he was pricked by a thorn.
He wondered how such beautiful flowers could come from such a thorny plant.
As such, he stopped tending to the plant.
Soon after, the plant withered away.

The message to take away was to see, accept and grow to appreciate the thorns.
All of us are roses and we come with thorns.
A lot of times, we only see the beauty of the roses until one day, like the gardener, we get pricked by the thorns.
In that moment, the rose seems completely bad and you completely forget the beauty you once appreciated.
Let's look at the Creator of all these roses and thorns.
How do these roses and thorns appear through His eyes?
I can tell you that we're all equal in His eyes!
Why - some people have more faults and therefore deserve less right?
Logically.
But has it ever occurred to you that maybe for some of us, our faults are just more obvious than those of others?
Maybe they would've been obvious if we had gotten to know those who seem too perfect more.
Maybe it is because they have realized that they have faults and have chosen and learnt to hide them.
Or perhaps, they have taken another step forward, tried to correct their faults and grown as a result.
We are all equal because we all have our faults
How about seeing God as the gardener?
Or rather, what if God had been like the gardener and given up on us, the roses?
Well, we're so blessed that He isn't like the gardener!
He's always been patient and never held grudges.
He's never given up on you and me, no matter how many times He's been pricked by our thorns.
He keeps tending to those in His garden, people who have accepted Him and allowed themselves to be in His care.
He prunes us through challenges, He trains us to be able to rise to the occasion, He holds us up so that we can be larger than life.

Thank God that this came at the right time!
I had an alright day till after school.
Ironic, considering the fact that I was mentally jumping for joy that school had ended for the day and that I'd have an extra day to study at my own pace.
Mind you, I'm studying!
And hey, when you're still studying, you want to stop studying.
And when you finally don't have to study, you wish you could relive it all.
It's human nature!
When you're taking PSLE: you're fooling around.
When you're taking O Levels: you're not thinking straight.
Further on, JC, Poly, ITE, UNIVERSITY: you're so swamped you HAVE to think straight and stop fooling around even though you're really beat and you just wanna sleep!
Amen? Haha.

Okay, back to my day.
I was happily walking out of school when I met people.
I'm a relatively friendly person so I chatted with them while waiting for the bus.
The few minutes long conversation went something like this:
(A: Alex G: Girl B: Boy)
G,B: Hey Alex!
A: Heyyyy...
(I realize this is how I greet people nowadays, most of the time...No, I didn't momentarily forget their names.)
B: Why never join us!
A: Nah, I'm going home, no time.
B: Walau, always liddat, pangsehhhh!
A: Never say earlier!
B: Okay la, okay la...
(insert sounds that you usually here at the bus stop: birds chirping, people talking, cars zooming past, etc. during this interval)
G: Actually, you look quite healthy leh. Why cannot do PE?
*Note: not everybody knows about my condition so I only say when they ask. I do not remember telling these two anything about my condition. But somehow, they heard about it, being in the same class as me.*
A: I'm on MC and I am healthy, I just cannot do the physical activity now.
B: It's probably nothing la, donnit to scared.
G: Ya lor, jiayous! Whatever the tumour, just jiayous!

How would you have reacted to that?
I was totally stunned - like when did I suddenly have a tumour?
And since it wasn't me, who on earth told her i had a tumour!
Oh.
My.
Needless to say, I explained to her that I was NOT having a TUMOUR.
I don't think she got it AT ALL.
Sequence of thoughts going through my mind:
#1: what did she just say?
(this is typical of me, you all know how blur I can be. YAY THAT RHYMES!)
#2: that is NOT what I need to hear with the checkup in a few days.
#3: okay, PROPHESISE POSITIVELY.
#4: wow. this girl is plain genius.
#5: okay, that was SO not a prophetic thing to say. totally phailled attempt. try again, Alex!
#6: thank God, the bus is here!!!

Okay, so I need a little more practice speaking prophetically.
That totally didn't fit anything we discussed on Saturday.
Rest assured Peijun, I WAS LISTENING, NOT STONING.
BUT you guys have to give me full marks for being positive right?
I know all the Nissi GAPpers are so incredibly proud of me, aren't you?
Rhetorical question, I know (:

Sighs, forgive and try to forget.
That girl may be careless with her words or slow at getting the story right or jumping to conclusions or whatever.
A fault that I have to learn to accept.
Perhaps it was a test God allowed for me to practice being patient.
For those who don't know, 5 things:
#1: I have always been an active kid, running around all the time. Just ask my mum, first-hand experience running after me :P
#2: I'm not your most patient person
#3: I used to be a pretty hot-headed person and I still can be, if I didn't make up my mind to stop.
#4: I don't reveal much of my non-joker side except to a few special special people
#5: I hardly ever show it if I feel hurt on the spot. Like who wants to blow it up big, seriously. Only when you're close to me can you really tell how I'm feeling.
Huh, I realize that at the end of the day, there are only a handful who've seen the more serious side of me.
Thank You for my best friend.
Thank You for brothers and sisters in Christ.

What would the rose be without its thorns?
What would people be without their faults?
What would the good times be without the bad times to remind us to be appreciative of God's mercy and saving grace?

I was watching the movie 'Coach Carter' earlier today.
I've had it for ages, watched it many times but I guess this only made an impact now...

Our Greatest Fear —Marianne Williamson
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Just in time to help me conquer fear (: