to be long suffering?
to see the wicked prosper?
to see cruel hearts have their way?
to have been hurt very deeply and still move on?
to be let down repeatedly and still forgive?
to deny oneself for the sake of others?
to still put others first when you yourself have a need?
to still choose to be happy in spite of all these?
as one ponders, that's what it feels like to love:
No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do,
I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.
... 1 Corinthians 13:3-8 the message
this was meant for the children, but glad it found its way to me.bend an ear, God; answer me.
i'm one miserable wretch!keep me safe—
haven't i lived a good life?
help your servant—
i'm depending on You!
You're my God; have mercy on me.
i count on you from morning to night.
give your servant a happy life;
i put myself in your hands!
You're well-known as good and forgiving,
bighearted to all who ask for help.
pay attention, God, to my prayer;
bend down and listen to my cry for help.
every time I'm in trouble I call on You,
confident that You'll answer.
... psalm 86 the message
got tagged by my friend who left her footprints in the sand....
1: appreciating life and it's Creator2: expressing an introvert
3: materializing a photojournalist
4: practicing photoshop
5: capturing life one snap at a time
that was tough.
it's about to get tougher, tagging Eugene, Julia and Phyllisia.
"i did not do anything to deserve this pain."
likewise:
"i did not do anything to deserve Your grace and blessings."
felt that i needed a roller coaster ride a few months ago, to get some thrill of hurling myself around at high speeds, going through sudden elevation changes and being spun around and flipped over.
the nearest place to get some was at the lagoon. haven't been there in more than 5 years, the last time was with a water-loving cousin.
nothing beats having almost the entire theme park to yourself and your group of friends. of course, with lesser people comes smaller waves at the pool, and no water surfing. nevertheless, being able to enjoy each ride without queuing up at all made it up for that.
i must have played a little too much on the rather dangerous Gang Slide. on run 5, i landed sideways in my tube and flipped over, scraping the sandy floor with my knees and getting a nasty scratch. a trip to the infirmary resulted in an incident report and that ride being closed. i should have stopped at 4.
having a bandage means i can no longer get wet for the rest of the day. so onto all the other dry park rides, including 3 times in a row on the roller coaster formerly known as Runaway Train, and once on the 360° swing Pirate's Revenge.
it's refreshing to be hanging upside down once in a while. i couldn't go for a second or third on that one because the operators won't run the ride for only one passenger. it wasn't that bad. why won't people go for seconds or thirds?
my day there ended with a short visit to the little zoo in the resort. the large macaws, although a little unfriendly, will perch on hands or shoulders and willingly come over if offered a hand. but try that when it is on a branch, and it will greet your fingers with its beaks.
everyone seems amused at what they are seeing.
no, not really. i did this, not this.
"do you want a sister?"
"NO!"
"why not?"
"i don't want!"
maybe i should have said yes.
it's good to be different once in a while. or unusual.
my usual self is not a caffeine consumer. for some reason, i decided to have white coffee with god-mum tonight. at least i didn't lose myself by eating ice cream with little god-sis as well.
i guess i wasn't alone being unusual. after the drink i drove to a petrol kiosk to have my tyre pressure checked. things seem normal until tyre no.3... i suddenly realised that the high-tech digital appliance was not inflating my tyre - but deflating it.
trust not the computer. i had the problem corrected at the neighbouring kiosk with an old analog device. and i'm home safely.
the incident has been reported to the relevant personnel.
it was a rather uneventful rainy day, so i decided to go out for a midnight drive.
it didn't stay that way for too long. i thought it would be a smooth drive all the way until i found myself in an unexpected jam. along the fast lane, quite a number of cars had crashed into each other or into the road barrier.
i myself had been in this situation twice before. thankfully, i got out of both intact. it is really not nice when the car goes for a spin - literally.
putting my photoshop and sound engineering knowledge to good use:
1. recently, me and my mum dug into our old photo albums - particularly of me and my brother while we were not yet grown-ups. there was no such thing as digital cameras back then, and i thought it would be nice to have digital copies of those pictures. we chose the nice ones and had them scanned.
once inside the computer, i used what i learned about photoshop and got to work - restoring images to their original vibrancy, removed red-eyes, cleaned scratches and improved skin textures.
these pictures bring back fond memories. i particularly like the one where i sit on the bed with my late grandpa.
it appears that my brother managed to keep his distinct looks from birth until today. i failed.
2. mum found 3 cassette tapes. put them in the cassette player and played them back. she had a few good laughs. dad asked me to record them into a CD.
should i do it the easy way, or the hard way?
being very fussy about sound recording - and not wanting to waste all those years of training and experience - i did it the hard way. which involves plugging the cassette player to the computer, cleaning the play head, listening, recording, trimming, amplifying, listening, EQ-ing, listening, noise reduction-ing, and listening.
all that made me realise more and more what a little rascal i was. it seems little brother wasn't that bad (or was it because the recorder only caught me in action?) all i hear about him were either "awww...-ey" stuff or singing old songs really nicely.
anyway, now i believe more than anything that little brother is born with musical talents. and i am born to mess around with recordings (and subsequently with pictures and video).
time seems to be moving swiftly but this one being can't help being still.
it's not that the world has left him behind. he is keeping up, or at least, he appears to be.
i wonder what he is waiting for. he is not happy where he is now. many stopped by to ask him why he is still there. he should have left that spot many months ago.
why? life can be cruel. people can be cruel. someone can be cruel. someone was cruel. someone caused great harm and is now enjoying life without even thinking of the consequences.
it's sad to know that sometimes, someone's bliss is at the expense of another's pain. the greed of one person can cause many others to suffer. as long as there are such people around, nobody will be spared from this pain.
of course, we can be sure that this pain will come to pass, and he will once again be in sync with the world around him.
to be long suffering?
