Iron coated with velvet

Just came back from a beatbox contest at expo. It was quite alright I guess. Rather interesting to watch the contestants 'pitting' their skills against each other. Then there were the special guests, Darren Tan, Milo Peng (Kia: Hehe) and 5566. As expected, 5566 drew the loudest applause and cheers from the crowd (if it was considered a crowd in the first place). People were going forward to take videos and photographs of the group performing, and some stood on their chairs. Well, Renee and I just sit back and relax. Haha. Anyway, we were not the only ones. My other colleague and his girlfriend also just sat where they were. Actually, the tickets were complimentary from my company.

Enough about that. I had intended to blog about the above topic today. What does 'iron coated with velvet' mean? Actually, this was what my pastor's wife spoke about during the youth leadership training camp about 5 or 6 years ago. I remembered that that was a sesssion specially for young women, and though I had attended a few women's conferences before, this particular one had left an impression. She had said that women should be like iron coated with velvet. Soft and gentle on the outside, just like velvet, which is nice to touch. But strong on the inside, just like an iron rod. No matter how others try to bend us, we'll not break.

Complaining

During cg last week, the discussion somehow drifted to the topic on complaining. Our cg mentor brought up this verse,

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe

Philippians 2: 14-15

How apt, especially since I've blogged in my previous post on how much I have been complaining 2 weeks ago and the negativity it had brought about.

Then another verse was brought up:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

I guess we all have a choice. What would you choose to think of?

I have so many things going through my mind now that I do not know where to start. Perhaps a short break is beneficial after all. At least it allows me to think and reflect back on what had happened during the past few weeks. Existing problems and shortcomings were further amplified by the current situation. As I had blogged before, people were behaving out of character, contributing to the already tense atmosphere.

But I'm done with whining and complaining.

I am reminded once again of the story about the Potter and the Clay. After all, how many times in our lives are we able to experience this? Instead of embracing the challenges and striving ahead, we threw our hands up in the air and lament about the past and the 'good old days'. At times I feel sorry for this new system. Though it is true that there are still problems to overcome, I feel that it was not given a fair trial. We were so inclined to compare it to the past system, so much so that we forgot that the 2 systems were completely different. We went in with unrealistic expectations of what this system can bring, and when problems cropped up, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And in a way, this attitude is reflected on how people were treated as well. This comparison between the old and the new, and failing to see that both are completely different. I know comparison is inevitable and more often than not, it boils down more to the person who is doing the comparison than those who are being compared. The new might never be as good as the old in terms of experience and knowledge. The sad thing is, very few people realise this. Perhaps they'll never understand until they are in that situation themselves, and even then, they still might not.

But I don't seek their understanding. Not anymore. People can compare all they want but they have to realise eventually that we are different. I admit that I was hurt by all these comparisons before but I've come to realise that this is one shortcoming that God wants me to overcome. A stronghold that I have been struggling with since the first day I came. I have to stop letting pride get in the way. After all, I am not here to knock anyone off the pedestral. There isn't a need to.

Just as it is with the new system. The old is never coming back again. We can either adjust our mindset and accept this new system for what it is, with its advantages and disadvantages; or we can continue looking back at what is past and in the process, forgetting that we are living in the present.

Where there is a need...He will provide...

It's Saturday again. Somehow, a part of me wishes that the weekend never ends. But I guess everything has to come to an end eventually. I thought the week before was hectic, and that things will be alright once the system is up and running. I thought wrong. This week has been anything but that. Almost everyone seemed tense and impatient and all of a sudden, people started getting on each other's nerves. It was beginning to get difficult to keep our cool when the pressure was on us.

At times, I wonder why it is that God has to put us through all these. Yet I believed He has a reason for everything. Just as what one of my colleagues said a few days ago, through this system change, we could see the other side of our fellow colleagues.

Through it all, I still thanked God for small mercies. After all, there is nothing too big or difficult for Him to handle. And where there is a need, he will provide.

New beginnings?

Have been staying back late at work for the past one week, to the extent of working til 12mn last Thursday. What a great start to the new year.

It has only been one week and I'm already starting to feel burnt out. Also realised some things that I would rather not know. Why do people always say things that they do not mean? Or am I being rather naive here for always taking things at face value? I am tired of second guessing the intentions of others. I just don't want to care anymore. Perhaps Renee was right after all, I always turn the other cheek, and ended up getting hurt over and over again. Am I too quick to forgive and forget? Should I just learn to protect myself so that I won't get hurt so easily?

One of my colleagues said last week that if going to heaven means praising God all the time, he would rather not go to heaven. That makes me kinda sad because this was coming from a person who has (or had) been a christian all his life. To me, heaven isn't only about paradise, it is also about being with God. And there is nothing else I would want more. Because I know that only He could love me for who I am inside. And His love never fails...

2007...

Today is the last day of 2007. With each passing year, I’ve grown older. Though not necessarily wiser. How has 2007 been to me? I guess it will be difficult to sum it all up in a few words. Looking back, there were events that have changed my life, but they are too personal for me to blog here. In retrospect, I wished there were some things that I could have done better and some that I wished I had not done. Yet it’s too late for regrets now.

Where my job is concerned, I am still working in the same company as last year. Actually I did not expect to stay for so long. Neither did my Head expect that of me I supposed. But as I was telling some of my friends, I hate to leave without really achieving anything. Perhaps also, deep inside, I am somehow convicted that God has put me here for a reason. I think I have blogged before that I am thankful for the encouraging and supportive colleagues around me, and for some good friends that I’ve made as well. Yet I could also see that some things have changed. Relationships do not remain status quo all the time. It was sad too to see years of friendship break down because of something that might not even be true in the first place. Was the bond that fragile to begin with? I still don’t and perhaps never will understand why it is that some people chose to behave the way they do, and ended up hurting the people who had cared about them. Although office politics was not very apparent here, it still exists nonetheless.

I pray that 2008 will be a year of healing and restoration of relationships…


For my family, I believed most of my close friends would have known about my grandmother’s situation. The last few months have been quite a trying period for us, especially for my aunt and her family.

I pray that 2008 will be a year of renewed faith for my family…


At the beginning of 2007, I had also decided to stop attending the LG that I have been attending for the past 3 years. I am currently attending my friend’s CG from another church. I remembered telling my CG mentor a few weeks ago that it was kind of sad to know each other for so many years and yet realized that you do not know them at all actually. Sometimes, change is inevitable.

I pray that 2008 will be a year of God’s leading and direction in my life…

Merry Christmas!!

It's Christmas today, the day of our dear Saviour's birth. But Christmas this year had passed by without much fanfare, despite the rampant gifts buying, giving and receiving at my workplace. In the midst of all our busyness, did we forget the true meaning of Christmas once again? I don't want to think about the work tomorrow. After all, there's still one hour left til the next day. It's still Christmas day today.

Pastor's topic for today's sermon was on "Yielded Vessels". Then he went on to talk about the potter and the clay and how we are all clay in God's hands. As the Potter, he will shape us and put us through the furnace in order to make us what He wants us to be. Wonder at which stage of the 'clay-making' I'm at now. But it did make me think through my last 23 years of life. I thank God that there were not many great trials and tribulations and that whatever I had gone through had made me the person I am today.

I was also looking through some past blog entries and came across this. I had posted this more than 1 year ago, after my graduation.

Quite random actually. Haha. Think I'm asking for too much.

Ideal Boyfriend
A Christian
Loves me
Loves children
Dependable and responsible
Able to 'click' with him (same frequency)
Understanding
Has a car
Smart and capable, preferably in a leadership position
Gives me flowers
Calls me just to hear my voice
Tall
Sends me home at night (right to my doorstep)
Sensitive
Not afraid to share his feelings and to be vulnerable in front of me
Not egoistic
Able to stand up for me
Does not swear
Supportive
Not overly protective
Will be there when I need him

Christmas' coming

I wonder if I get frustrated more easily nowadays. The words and conduct of some people seemed to get to me more than it used to before. Or am I just imagining things again?

2007 is almost over. And as usual, I'm prone to reminiscing again at this time of the year. In fact, I've noticed that most of my recent posts were rather melancholic. But Christmas is coming. Which means that this should be a joyous occasion.

Perhaps I'm just tired. Sometimes I wished I could just go on a long holiday and not bother about anything, or anyone, anymore. I’m also tired of empty words, and people saying things that they don’t mean.

Why can't things be simpler?

I don't think I ever want to talk to you again...

Yesterday's topic during cell was on the story of Moses. Actually, I had always felt that the story of Moses was like that of Joseph. Like Joseph, Moses had to go through quite a lot before God revealed to him what His plan for him was. Perhaps at times, God wants to use our brokenness to show His glory as we learnt to depend more and more on Him.

Actually, I had written the above last Sat but I didn't post it yet as it was incomplete. In fact, I had forgotten what I had written then until I saw it again today. Now, looking back at the week that had passed, I could how applicable the above paragraph was.

Though I had not gone through what Moses and Joseph had gone through, I could relate to how they had felt during that time of trials. But what I'm feeling how is nothing compared to them either.

Sometimes I do not understand why is it that some people would intentionally want to hurt others. Especially if she is a fellow sister in Christ as well. Yet for every person who tried to hurt me, God has placed others in my life who have been such a blessing and encouragement to me. And I thank God for them.

After all, there'll always be ups and downs in our lives

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1: 2-4

Wives and Husbands

Yesterday’s sermon was on the responsibilities of wives and husbands. The pastor quoted from Ephesians 5: 22 – 33.

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Perhaps the part on how wives should submit to their husbands is a hard pill to swallow for most women, considering the independence that we enjoy nowadays. But somehow, I felt that the husband’s role would be more difficult to fulfill. After all, how many men can truly love their wives the way Christ loved the church? Christ sacrificed his life for the church. If a husband loves his wife that much, it’s no wonder that the wife would be willing to submit to him. So to all my female readers out there, if you ever find such a guy who loves you so much, don’t ever let him go…

That will be the ideal husband, but the pragmatic side of me feels that such men are few and far between, and most women will have to settle for less. I wished I would never fall into that category of settling for less but perhaps I’m being too idealistic here. I do not want to get married just for the sake of getting married and end up miserable all my life, or worst, affecting the lives of my children as well. Yet I guess this is easier said than done, as even though there is equality between men and women in today's society, single women are often still ostracized and made fun of, especially those who are of marriageable age.

Well, one of my friends blogged that her basic criteria for a boyfriend is that he has to be christian and must love God as much as, or more than, she does, and that is already not easy to find. So with my kind of expectations, I supposed I might as well remain single all my life then.