I’m daydreaming in office, thinking about so many things, and at this juncture thinking about the difference between them!
Which is healthy? Is it healthy to daydream? It’s certainly not productive! Certainly not in my current context where I should be planning for an important work assignment.
But why oh why am I compelled to keep thinking about so many things going through my head, or rather daydream about it! Is there really a difference? Or is daydreaming part of the process of thinking? It certainly seems so! This has been going on for weeks or perhaps even months?
When daydreaming leads to productive thinking, there appears to be in increasing periods of reflection, constant reflection, certain theories or I would say “now what about this” moments keep popping up, and you keep thinking what they really mean. That combined with my curiosity certainly leads me to further explore those thoughts, in deed, in action, in conversations and in books!
One BIG thing on my mind which is perhaps on everyone’s mind too; LIFE. Yeah in big caps, oh the most common question, which is well a common ice-breaker too; “So what do you do” so what do you really really do? I mean you answer really with your occupation most of the time, or you try to be funny and answer with some strange answer that bewilders more than being humourous (crap, MS Word stop removing my “U”s! I’m trained in UK English not American!)
Ok that’s my lousy attempt of injecting humour in life. But really, what really do you want to answer that question? I mean it doesn’t have to be cool, but it just has to be an honest open answer that reflects you! How many of us live lives according to our beliefs? We read stories, watch documentaries, hear friends talk about people who go out there and live to what they believe. And we become the instant judgemental person, that person doesn’t have to work ah? Must be some rich kid? He or she belongs to the 1% or 2% of folks who can live that way, rest of us just fall into the majority trap of daydreamers rather than dreamlivers.
Woo another new word, or rather lame attempt of inventing a new word. But is life really lame? I have a friend who once commented on her facebook regarding something about an autopilot life. Work comes to her mind as well as I believe, many others and mine. Work work work, is the 3 utterance of words that a puny peon in the old Warcraft days would say. We can’t avoid it but can we make our better work choices? Oh wait, yet another judgemental saying; Oh come on! Face up to reality! How can we not work? Who is going to pay for my iphone??
Those people make their choices, base on what their beliefs so who are we to tell them they should face reality? As a Christian, I’ve known a friend who become a missionary after 7 years of corporate world because of what they belief in the Bible and how it compels them to live it out, be doers and not hearers. And as I read more of the Bible and reflect about certain passages, it increasingly seems 2000 years ago, God is already telling us to move away from this “World” or rather from evil, from humans who commit insane acts of wickedness, from humans who strive on greed, from humans who incessantly crave for power, for people who don’t care about other people’s feelings or thoughts etc etc. But who are we to judge these people too? Can we? We are perhaps people who do small acts of wickedness and seem to applaud ourselves for it! Oh we aren’t that bad!
On Wednesday a friend brought me to a food #03 (Thanks Grace for inviting), a community kitchen that aspires to educate people on vegetarian and macrobiotic diets. One way is that they host dinners, which of course you have to pay. But for $25 you get to taste a 3 course macrobiotic meal and I’m telling you, it’s delicious! I have made healthy recipes and food but this is another ball game I tell you. Certainly one to continue exploring! In addition, during this event, there was also a guy (sorry I can’t remember your name) who started, I believe, a non-profit group named “Grounded-up initiative”. Its aim is to promote real corporate social responsibility, authentic ones, not the façade or superficial for media press showey type. It also aims to educate the public about awareness for nature and how we humans are responsible for the many calamities that we have caused. 3rd, it also brings aid to places who need aid, direct, door to door and with none of the media clippings that we often see.
“Don’t be like the Phrarisee that publicly shows his generosity, I tell you, he is just a hypocrite” (paraphrased from my understanding) This guy isn’t a believer but I see him acting as one! Good works do not earn us salvation, but I don’t think that should stop one from doing it! It is perhaps for us believers to stop being hypocrites and partner these folks and do these good works! They do it because they believe its worthwhile! It’s the right thing to do. They are shaped by their beliefs, they act it out despite the difficulties. And if were to partner them with the love of Christ, wouldn’t it be an awesome combination?
But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. James 2:18
We have an awesome God, a God who is full of mercy, grace, love and He has gave us a Son, who we can look, constantly look, focus on, for He is the author and finisher of our Faith. And as I mediate on the verse above, perhaps James is saying “ These people are doing good works, let them do it, I’ll also do good works but with the source which is in Christ, with His love that compels us to do, that is the better way, because His grace is sufficient! His love is overflowing! So if as believers have a better way and we see these people doing good works and we don’t respond to it, doesn’t that make us mere hypocrites? Doesn’t it make us lame?
IIs the system at fault or is the human at fault or both? Should we put all the blame on the human and not on the system? Or is human sin the origins of all? But Jesus is the Judge, and He will judge everyone. God’s wrath is perhaps already evident ! We have global warming, freak weather, floods, Tsunamis, earthquakes, global recession, people sueing each other for mistrust of money, huge imbalances and living in Singapore is actually contributing to all of this, in micro ways that I cannot imagine. I’m not generalizing that all bad things that happen to humankind are a result of God’s wrath, but well some of it could be judgement? If God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, it would mean the God of the old testament in which we see many judgements, would be the same God we worship now! So yes, I believe it is in His character to judge, as J.I. Packer says in his book “knowing God”; God is just, it is nature, He chooses to reward good with good, evil with evil. However it is His choice, not ours, can He choose to punish us? I believe so! But again, it is His choice, His sovereignty. We could say that he doesn’t but that would mean it is part of the gift of Grace, perhaps also out of His other character attributes like Love. But can we truly live lives apart from all this?? Is it possible? Or we do really need to wait on the promise of God that there will be a new earth and heaven. And Jesus will wipe away every tear on our faces; there will be no more weeping, no more pain. Everything will be made perfect in His time. Indeed, those are promises that we cling on to, that we hold on and eagerly wait upon. But as we wait, we still need to deal with lives, deal with this World. For in it, there are perhaps already enough warning signs showing that human greed, consumerism, all its systems, new or old, its reliance on power which can crumble easily. I mean we have seen so many bastions of power shift, from Egypt to Genkhis Khan to Alexander, to the Romans, to the British, American and now China? Oh yes it matters, but it will all fade away. So why bother pursuing it? Or rather is it the excessive pursue of these that we shouldn’t do?
On the other hand, do we not see the efforts of these systems? This “necessities”, I mean these “powers” and “systems” were also based on dreams! Bill Gates had a dream so that I now have Microsoft word to type all these thoughts even though my company bans access to blogs! If he didn’t popularize the personal computer, would the early day internet evolve to what it is today? Imagine we didn’t have Google or Youtube? Oh the horror! Imagine we didn’t have the Wright brothers? I woudn’t be able to visit Europe! Oh humans have to strive for innovation, we need entrepreneurs, we need new ideas, new products, we need to borrow more! More!! An insatiable appetite, makes us look like barbarians?
So then how do we deal with these matters? That is the question. Do I start by typing my resignation letter? The world isn’t going to change tomorrow, or will it? I do not know, perhaps more to mediate on, more to dwell on but for now, it seems we have to continue to live in it, deal with what it throws at us, and I don’t think ingenuity should be sacrificed here. Itself is a valuable aid to the many “convenient” things that we have now. But perhaps in all these things, how do we still present ourselves (bodies) holy and acceptable, to worship God in body and in truth? My mind is a blank here, perhaps doing good works and volunteering is one of those. Only questions, old answers have to be tested for validity, for relevance, for dissecting. The Word of God, as written will stand against all this, it is also said we need to test and approve everything against it. In other words, discernment, and with that we need knowledge, feelings, emotions, all combined to enable us to discern effectively. Perhaps that is how we deal with it and perhaps that is why the verse speaks “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. Indeed, as we live in this world, we need to fear the Lord who made it, we perhaps will have wisdom to know His ways, His statutes, His will, and along with it, how to live out our lives on this temporal home. Admist what these world influences us, fame, power, money, big houses, electric cars, exotic holidays, exploration, marriage, kids etc etc.
If not, we shouldn’t be believing in His Word in the first place, but at this time, this book of truth seems to ever more relevant in our times. It ever seems to be more applicable. Perhaps the world in which it was written (by inspiration from the Holy Spirit) isn’t much different from the current one we live in. The only difference is perhaps a greater manifestation of the evil, problems and sufferings. That is one promise as mentioned above and I mention it again, and ironically it is one summed up by a favourite line of many beauty contestants: “World Peace”. Yet more to think on, more to mediate, more to seek, more to knock, more to ask. One thing that is perhaps sure, it will be a painful long process, despite all our comforts, material and immaterial.
“And there will be no more pain, no more suffering and there will be a new Heaven & new Earth”
Love,
Eric
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