I AM WHO I AM

Wow!  Its good to realise that someone out there actually reads what I write.  This encourages me.  So for now I would like to share a poem I wrote a long time ago.  I am sorry I didn't do this earlier.  Sufficient to say that some years ago I made such an important discovery that changed the whole perspective of my life.  And therby hangs a tale!

I AM WHO I AM

Good people, ALL, of every sort
Give ear unto my plea
Too long I've laboured t'ward a goal
The WORLD expects of me.

In trying to be the "Ideal"
That would meet with your approval
I ended up being lost, confused,
A poor unhappy fool.

In struggling then with things "I can't"
I failed to understand
It matters not what I "cannot"
What matters is "I can!"

I can compose and sing a song
I'm gifted musically
And I can draw and paint and teach
And pray quite naturally.

And furthermore I realise
Owha tagoo Siam (Read this line quickly without pausing between words many times to get its sense)
Perceiving then what I am not
Forgetting who I am

I am a son of God, I know
I am everyone's brother
I am a teacher, artist, firend
I am to serve another.

And when I reflect this gift of life
I know it is God'splan
For me to work on who I AM
And grow in ways I can

And thus God worked upon my sight
And these days I am seeing
That in Him I move and live and grow
That's the wonder of my BEING.

"Go out, proclaim to the world," He said
What you know now to be true.
That Jesus is alive and lives
In me, and as well in YOU !

A BIRD IN THE HAND IS WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH

A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush

Hello Out there,

     I’m back on my blog after a long time. I have no excuse but the usual lame ones.  This one is going to be a rather long one to make up.

     Yesterday I was chatting with one of “my girls” who was in need of a little consolation.  So after listening to her for some time I told her, “Think of the things in your life right now at this moment that you really appreciate, which make you happy.”  She thought for a while and then said, “There’s nothing. My life is screwed.”  So I began to elaborate things in her life that she had in her hand at that precise moment, and as I went on and on with the list the frown on her face turned into a smile and she said, “Yes Sister. You are absolutely right.  I do have these things.”  “Why then,”  I asked, “ do you focus on what you do not have?  Look at your life again.  Do you think that you have all that you need at this moment to have a good life?”  She could not deny it.  I thought about it.  This is one characteristic of man that has existed right from the beginning no?  Take Adam and Eve, they wanted what they could not have, forgetting the fact that they had all that they needed and much more - the many riches that God had already placed at their disposal.

     When I was a youngster we lived in a house called The Ark.  It was a really big bungalow type of house with a huge unkempt garden in front of it and another big house in the same garden.  The house came with its fair share of problems – There was always a rat lurking around, we had to get up early in the morning to fill water and I could never ever enjoy a good bath under the shower, The roof was old and tiled and used to leak during the monsoons so we had to place buckets at different points to catch the water.  It badly needed a paint job which we could not afford. So I would sit and dream of living in a modern flat where there would be a continuous flow of water every day from TAPS and I could indulge myself under a nice cool shower.  And it would be modern and trendy and would have everything in its place.  It was only after I got my dream did I realize what a treasure I had left behind.  I mean, never again could I play cricket or hide and seek inside the house, sit out in the garden with the family on hot summer evenings and sing songs and laugh till our sides burst, collect pit pits during the monsoons and enjoy the cheap thrills you got when they burst like little crackers in your hand, run in and out of the neighbour’s house, sleep all together in dormitory style sharing a great many jokes and laughing hilariously at each other before giving in to drooping eyelids, eat fruit directly picked from a mango tree, a custard apple tree, little green guavas…….. and space, plenty of space…space within the house, space between you and the neighbours so their noise didn’t disturb you….a large dining table which fit well into a large dining room around which all of us could sit down together and have our meals.

     Hmmn …Right now I’m thinking about my father. We could learn a few lessons from him.  He was one man who always did well with the bird in the hand.  He managed his money carefully, never got into debt over his dreams and managed to feed a family of twelve – ADEQUATELY.  He never craved to own a house, yet lived in the best of houses that life could afford paying a reasonable rent. His only ambition was to serve God and family.  And we his children never lacked anything that was essential.  Though we had no large sums of money we really could never call ourselves poor.  There was always good food on the table, an education, a life with friends, family, church, lots of entertainment. There’s something to be said for that bird in the hand. 

     So here’s looking at you kid – Look at your life again.  And focus on that bird in the hand!  The two in the bush are not worth a tinker’s damn. You have all that you need right now to be truly happy. 

Are you ready to be His ROCK?

Today being the feast of St. Peter and Paul I thought I might share a simple reflection with you. Last night  when reading through today's gospel with our girls I asked them why they thought that God might have chosen Peter to be His rock.  Peter had nothing to offer.  He was a simple fisherman without an education and apparently no great intelligence.  He had had no great “formation”.  Yet Jesus said to him,” You are my Rock and upon this rock I will build my church.”  So what was the rock that Jesus saw in Peter?  It was nothing but his faith in, his great love for, and his complete submission to his friend Jesus.  This was the rock on which Jesus would build His church.  On the other hand Paul was the exact opposite.  He was a man with a superior education, extremely intelligent, zealous and passionate about his religious beliefs and his love for God, passionate to the point where he was prosecuting the followers of Jesus believing them to be blasphemers of the true God.   Yet he too was chosen to be a rock.   But Jesus had to “get him off his high horse first”.  And it was only when he came down form that high horse that he understood that all that he had lost was rubbish when compared to what he had found in Jesus Christ.  So I take the opportunity to put this question to you.  Jesus calls you to be His rock.  He wants to build something on you, some part of his church.  Think about it.  What is the foundation in you that Jesus is looking for? Are you ready to be His ROCK?

Anyone out there?

You who are reading this might wonder why I chose the title “Here’s looking at you kid,” for my blog.  Many years ago I watched a movie called Casablanca.  It is a very old movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.  It is one of the greatest classical love stories of those times ever told.  But what really touched me was the way he looked into her eyes and said, “Here’s looking at you kid.”   It was not a story that could have a super happy ending.  Each of them must sacrifice what they wanted most in that situation of war and conflict. So many other lives must be considered.  And in one of the most painful scenes when he knew that he must trick her into leaving him he looks at her and says, “Here’s looking at you kid.” 

I often imagine that God my Father looks at me that way, His eyes loaded with love and compassion as I try each day to overcome the hurdles of my own personality that trip me up and cause me to fall.  It is that look that picks me up and puts the spring into my step again.  It is that look that helps me to overcome the difficulties or not to mind them at all.  It is that look that keeps the spring within me ever bubbling and gives me a zest for life and for love.  Each time I feel the look of God on me and I can hear Him saying with a smile on His face, “Well, here’s looking at you kid.” I know that I am on the right track and all’s well with my world.

So here’s looking at you kid, you who are reading this.  And May His love put the sparkle into your world.

Hello, Just getting started

Hello

Just a quick one to initiate what I hope will be an ongoing communication between you and me.  I have lots of things to tell you.  And I want to know what you think too.  So log on and let´s keep in touch.  Here´s looking at you kid!