JOY

Joy is a daily choice, not a future hope.

You choose to be joyful, you don't plan to be joyful. =)

you are beautiful, so am i

Many would have heard this before, but i am going to say it once more, "beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, and that is true." If one tells you that you are not beautiful, bother not to defend yourself, because he or she is telling the truth but only in their own views. You must remember that the world is big, and there is definitely atleast one person on the surface of the earth that thinks that you look beautiful. Your friends might not look at you as someone beautiful but someone else does, and remember that, beauty does not just lie in the external looks, there's more to beauty and just looks.

Personally, I believe that a person's personality and character outshines the looks. I am not saying this because everyone is saying it, or neither am i saying this to sound wise, but i am saying this because i know very clearly of what is coming out of my mouth. I myself had experienced it before and am experiecing it as i meet new people each day. People that i met in which i do not remember much of their appearance, bloomed into a beauty after knowing them for sometime, indeed surprised me tons. I sometimes asked myself, why didnt i realised earlier how beautiful a certain person was and is, i guess, its just that i never really knew the person well enough to see it. Character and personality does outshines the looks, the heart wins no matter what.

Have you ever come to a point in your life where when you look at everyone else, you just find them beautiful? I don't know about you, but i have, and the time is now. As i began to judge people less of their appearance, i found myself looking into their hearts many times, and no matter who they were or whether their personality matched mine, i found them beautiful and just lovable. Even as their hearts won my favour, their looks became more and more beautiful each day. As i have said before, personality and character outshines the looks, and the heart wins no matter what. Atleast for me it is so.

But i have come to a point where i realised that what is most important is not so much of how the world look at us. Its more of how we look at ourselves and how God looks at us. The world's opinions are not as important as our own and as God's, how can we compare the two person in our lives in whom know us best with the world which hardly can even remember our names in hundred years to come. Remember this, if you see yourself as a beautiful person, you would act as one and you would become one, but nevertheless, no matter how you look at yourself or how the world looks at you, God always see you as a beautiful creation and unique in your own ways, the same goes for everyone. Who are we to judge each others appearance? Doesnt judging belongs to the mouth of the creator? For only the potter can judge his own clay of vase. There is a purpose for each creation, and only the creator knows the answer, who are we to judge, who are we to judge.

Bear in mind always " You are beautiful, so am i."=)

walking

I have been walking alot. I walk to college everyday, i walk around college almost forever, i walk up the stairs to classes (run sometimes), i walk to sunway pyramid mall when i had to, i walk back to the condo everyday after my classes, i walk to dinner, i walk to sports centre just to play my favourite sports, yea, i walk alot, almost never ending. Of all these walks, tiring as they can be, i found them nothing compared to a certain walk in my life in which tires both my body and spirit, it starts at a point and never ends-My walk with God.

Unlike walking to places, walking with God never ends and never stops, its forever and for life. Its not easy and trust me, its tiring and frustrating at times. There is no such thing as rest or just putting it aside for awhile. Walking with God is a constant thing, its like traveling on a journey, you never stop in a journey to a certain place, you keep going until you reach the destination; same thing with the walk with God, its just that the destination is eternity, thus it wont come until we have gone through our second death.

Walking with Him had never been easy, and many times i fell unseizingly. The walk with God its the most tiring and exhausting walk in my life, and what is most surprising is i havent even walked half or a quarter of the journey yet, there is still a long way to go. Everyday i not only walk to places physically, but at the same time, i am walking with Him by my side, i am walking with Him close to my heart. At times when i was happy, He was there, at times when i was sad and down, He was also there. His presence never left me, but many times i forsake Him and acted as if He wasnt with me, complained and found myself filled with nothing but foolishness.

My walk with God isnt just merely a walk, its more than that, its doing what is right in my life according to His commandment, and have a close relationship with Him. Throughout the walk, i have to trust Him to guard me and have faith that He will look after me. Its never easy to trust someone in which you cannot see with your own eyes neither can you feel it literally, but i do feel His presence surrounding me everywhere i go, He is the reason i walk cheerfully many times and He is also the reason why when i am just too tired to walk, i continued walking. He gave me strength to carry on with life when things go rough, and when i am just too worn out and weary, He carries me with the loving arms of His.

I walk alot. I walk to many places in which i could reach with my feet, but the most wonderful walk in my life thus far and in time to come is a certain walk in which i treasure the most, it starts at a point and never ends-My walk with God.

Ponders.....

Looking up into the sky, i wondered, how far were the stars from where i was. Feeling the breeze of the wind, i wondered, how long will the wind continue blowing. Walking along the concrete ground, i wondered, how long did it took them to make such a pavement. I closed my eyes, enjoyed the wind, the ever blowing breeze, as it caressed me, it soothened my soul and calmed me down. I smiled, i just loved the wind. As i gazed into the sky full of stars, i began to ponder about alot of things, i began to see my past, my present.

I began to think of what i have been throught the pass years back in Malacca. The times i made friends, the times i seperated from them, the times i enjoyed the friendships, the times i was hurt by the friendship in which i put so much trust in. Then, many events just ran through my head, from the memories kept so well in the brain. I began to shut my eyes and see all the happy moments and also many heartbreaking ones as well. Shoke my head, opened my eye lids, and the memories were gone, atleast for that period of time.

I positioned my head once more and found myself looking straight into the moon, it was round and shining ever bright. As the light shone on my face, i closed my eyes and began to float into the most recent memories in my life. I thought of people in whom came into my life over here in college, i began to see the faces in whom had made a very great impact in my life in these past few months. Every encouraging words began to pound once more in my ears, every insult, every criticism. I thought about each one of them and realised that some were true and some were not, then unjust criticism began to annoy me, i closed my ears, shoke my head, opened my eyes, and it was back to normal, atleast for that period of time.

This time I positioned myself such that i was able to see both the moon and the stars, as i was enjoying the beauty of the natural lights, a strong breeze came rushing my way, flooding my head with thoughts, i closed my eyes. I began to think of myself currently, i began to judge myself, how i rate compared to others, i began to think about many other things as well, i thought of love, i thought of life, i thought of death. Then the thought of losing close ones came into my head, i was frightened by it, shoke my head, opened my eyes, and it was gone, atleast for that period of time.

My eyes stopped focusing on the sky, i began to feel the whole atmosphere surrounding me, and a sense of comfort came upon me. I started singing and humming how good God was, is and is to come, i began to praise and worship Him in silence and sincerity; pondering about how wonderful God was, is and is to come. And i thanked Him for everything that i have been through, everything that i am going through and everything that i will be going through. I walked back to my room with ease and thankfulness, no longer pondering upon thoughts in which seemed so meaningless afterall.

Jien and Relationships

As i have been asked by many and have been questioned by many of my fans when is my next book "Jien and Relationships" coming out. I've finally decided to pen it down and publish it.lolz...I had actually drafted it down on my personal notebook, but as i write now, i decided not to follow any draft and just write freely like all my other posts.=) Hope you all enjoy it.

"Jien and Relationship"....here goes nothing..

Relationship is the beauty of life. It makes our life more interesting, more wonderful, more exciting, but many times it hurts as well. Different relationships bring different impact into our lives, some build us up, others bring us down, as relationship is a choice made by man; as similar to our lives, for people in whom we mix with influence the choices we make in our lives, thus relationship is indeed one of the most important choice to be made in life's journey.

To me, there are 3 main types of relationships. 1st, FAMILY, what about them? Well, its true that you can never choose your family members, but there's always a choice whether to accept them for who they are and love them as you love yourself. Family is one great thing, you see, you can never escape from it, for it would be bonded to you for life, whether you like it or not. They can be supportive , they can be hurtful, but that doesnt really matters, what really matters is what are they to you? Do you love them? How do you treat them? You see, you can choose to hate them when they are unfair to you, but that would only hurt more, or you can choose to love them and forgive them for all the unfairness and learn to look at the blessings that they have brought into your life, and appreciate them for who they are. Its your choice, its your life, you chooose.

The next relationship im going to look into is FRIENDS. Friends are known as one group of people you can never miss in your life. No matter how much you keep to yourself, you are bound to meet atleast one friend in your life. Why do i say that? Well, simple, friends are true friends, if they are not, they aren't friends at all. Friends are people in whom who are not related to us but cares for us. You do not have to know a person thoroughly to be his or her friend, but by just caring and loving the person for who he or she is, that is already being a friend to that particular person. In friendship, what is important is not so much of the actions shown but its the thoughts and the heart that counts.

The last and most important relationship of all is the relationship between God and human. This is the greatest relationship of all. The reason why i say this is because, one party loves the other so much that He is willing to give up His life for the other, and yet the other party does not realise this and took it for granted. In a way, its a sad relationship, because its one sided and many times it seems as if both party do not connect with each other, or rather one party is making the effort but the other isnt. Many times we forsake God, many times He speaks but we do not listen, many times we take Jesus's death on the cross for granted, and many times we fail Him. But what is so special about this relationship is that, no matter how much we let Him down, He still loves us as much as He loves Himself. As much as we do not have a choice, He gave us a choice whether to love Him or not, whether to seek a deeper relationship with Him. Thus is the beauty of this relationship, because its a relationship in which the gap of love between both party is so wide and far apart, yet, its the most meaningful relationship of all. No matter how many times we humans forsake Him and call it quits, He still waits patiently for us to return to Him, for this relationship is built and can never be broken.=)

Thus ends the 1st part of "Jien and Relationships" the second part is going to be out soon, but not so soon, it'll cover more on relationships and has more interesting detail in it. Until then, enjoy.=)

Writer's quote: Relationships do not just grow on trees, you plant them and you work on them. They do not come free, there's always a price to pay.

What's your priority in life?

Many times i've been asked of what my priority in life is, and many times i would give a very Holy and Godly answer, an answer in which people loves to hear- God. A standard answer it is, as people would be all amazed and think that "wow!! He is a holy guy huh, cool. " , but you know what, many times i fail to put God 1st, no matter how much i say that God is the priority in my life, in the end of a day, i still find myself pouring more attention to many other things and doing many unnecessary things in which is against God's will. I find myself giving into temptation, neglecting God's word and worst of all, spending so little time with Him when i actually deemed Him as the priority of my life; what a shame, what a shame.

I'm going to be honest here. What does it mean to have God as your priority in life? Well, the answer is simple, put God 1st in whatever you do, love Him more than anything else, live a life of which is pure and holy in the Lord, and have a strong and growing relationship with Him. You see, putting God as a priority in your life or rather in our lives is not so much of the question of how much you have served the Lord or how much you have done for the Lord. It doesnt mean that when you are playing music for your church worship session, you're putting God as your priority in life. It doesnt mean that when you bring hundreds of people to Christ, you are putting God as your priority in life. What matters most is not how much you do, is how sincere you do it. And the question is not how much you or i have done for the Lord, but more of how close you or i am with the Lord? think about it.

I came to realise this when i was in the car with my mom one day. We were talking about many things and i was so enthusiated, telling her all about me serving in the CF here in sunway, then she suddenly said " Boy, its good that you're all passionate to serve the Lord, but remember, always keep in mind what is your priority in life. What do you seek? remember, serving the Lord is good, but what is most important is your relationship with Him."

I was dumbfounded and struck at the head when she said that, and she was right. I came to ask myself a very important question "At what level is my relationship with God now?" honestly, i couldnt answer, or rather i was ashamed to answer. Many times we overlook things, as we begin to serve God, we enjoy it, no doubt but we tend to lose our focus, and all these serving acts slowly become a material, a hobby or something we idolise; we begin to do it to feel a sense of accomplishment or sometimes frankly speaking, to show off. All these suddenly become actions for the sake of selfpleasure, to ease our soul or make us feel better than others. I myself have fallen into this trap many times, many times.

But God is good, He is merciful and most of all, understanding. He understands that i am not perfect, He knows that its difficult to place Him 1st always in my life, but He also knows one thing, that is, though its hard and rocky but im trying my very best to remain focus. I try to see things differently, instead of me serving the Lord, it became the Lord using me to do something for Him. I begin to appreciate God more, and begin to acknowledge His strenght in which is working through me as i serve Him all this while. Its not easy but atleast im trying, striving each day to be closer with Him.

Ask yourself a question, do you want to come to heaven one day and have God saying to you," you have brought many to me and have served in many ministries as well, but i do not know you and you do not know me as well, depart from me." Or would you prefer God to call by your name and welcome you in? Think about it, what do you want God to know you as? The things you've done in your life? or your name, your personality, your walk with Him and you? your choice, you choose, i've chosen mine.=)

But, before you answer that question, ask yourself- What is YOUR priority in life?