A month away from home

A month away from home

16th October, this date marked a milestone in my life; I’ve been away from home for about 37 days. So far this journey has taken me to Sydney in Australia, followed by Auckland, Napier, Hastings, Wellington & Taupo in New Zealand. Not counting the thousands of kilometres on planes and buses between places, from which I have witnessed beautiful snow capped mountains, rolling hills, sheep and cows. But if I were to sum it up, it has been a great 37 days. Not all of it definitely, but hey, everyone has their fair share of bad days, regardless of who and where they are.

There is one thing I learnt in this journey from God, that is He actually does provides us abundantly, just that we at times felt that “abundance” was simply not enough. However if you were to take a step back and think what you have on your hands, its actually enough but just that our current society somehow programs us to desire more and more, otherwise known as greed. But please don’t get it me wrong, I believe greed and desire is different, the latter is essential as its also part of our nature to desire something good, to desire meaning, life and all that is in. But how much is too much? One can argue that is subjective to the individual and its circumstances and background. Yes that is true, it can be a real thin fine line and that can only looked through the individual’s eyes.

So that is a short reflection of what I have experienced and learnt and to that I want to add another point: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this things shall be added to you” Matt 6:33

Yes a biblical verse and linked to what I learnt earlier. To all my unbelieving friends, this is a verse that Jesus told his disciples to not worry about what they eat and wear, for if God cares about the birds in the air and many other animals, won’t He also care for you? Whom He dearly loves, as demonstrated by Jesus’s death and resurrection, from which our faith is based upon; our sins are washed by the blood of Christ, whom we confess as saviour & Lord. This belief results in the relationship we enter, in which we are told to obey the verse mentioned above, among others.

One of His kingdom principles is clearly love, and this journey has been marked by that. Everyday I consciously try to mark my actions and behaviour by love. For example, helping fellow backpackers with information, organising meetups, making people laugh, sharing about Singapore culture or teaching Mandarin & English (I can never imagine this but our education system enables us to). But not only I gave love, I received too. I could just give you one story in this entry, for now at least.

The first story originated in Auckland, the city of sails, biggest city in New Zealand, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic as well. It is here where I started my journey in New Zealand on 13th September. I met a 76 year old man from Hastings mid-week in my hostel. We entered into a conversation in the kitchen and from it, I discovered the kindness and love of this fine man; he actually offered me his bus ticket to Hastings. Why? Simply because he bought a car for his great-granddaughter, collected it in Auckland while he attended his primary school reunion and the 90th birthday of his aunt. Hence he had to drive it back and had an unused bus ticket. So yes I got a bus ticket for free when it would normally cost me between NZ$30-NZ$45. I will remember this simple act of kindness.

Some people told me that I shouldn’t always be so kind for there are people in this world that will take advantage of you and I might be in the losing end. There is perhaps some truth behind this but if you are acting in love, and really giving it, I think it doesn’t really matter. Love has its way of coming back to you, sometimes not from the person or organisation you gave to but from a 3rd party per se, perhaps as part of God’s design and also in His sovereign timing. That said, Love exists in many forms and there is one book titled”5 languages of love”, I can’t recall the author but a good friend told me the 5 languages are
1. Touch
2. Acts of service
3. Time
4. Tangible gifts
5. Words of affirmation

In short, you can express your love and/or receive love as one the above languages. For me, I express through touch, acts of service and words of affirmation and receive in the other two. However it doesn’t mean one cannot express and receive in the same language, i.e. you can both express and receive love as touch. I think this all do make sense and one can even learn to express or receive love in a way he or she never did.

The two learning points above is a fitting summary of my month’s experience. I ask myself have I realized that while I was still working in Singapore. But I think the truth is that life was so fast paced and hectic, that I really seldom stop and I mean really stop and reflect. I did it in sporadic times while I was extremely busy working but somehow the lack of continuity and consistency didn’t help me to realize certain important truths that God wants us to learn and live by it. Or perhaps the truths are just deeper in clarity now then before.

Yes there would still be people out there that will take advantage of you or me for their own personal gain. But that shouldn’t stop you for being what you are designed to be, creatures capable of love. As I faintly recall a song’s lyrics that go like this “everyone needs a bit of love”. But please don’t get all hyped up in killing yourself if there are bad days where you are completely not loving. Just remember on your bad days, God’s love and grace is still evident in your life, He never stops. Continue living, strive & desire for love, that is perhaps one thing where too much isn’t too much.

I shall end of by sending my regards to all my family & friends who I hope will eventually read this. Hope you all are doing well! Do keep me updated on your life via email =)

Thanks for reading, In His Love,
Eric