Monday, February 28, 2011

Writer's Block

I was bored during a long and boring meeting in church. Suddenly someone passed me a notebook. Thus...

(Pictures taken / edited with Wen Cheng's iPhone. Apple: Simply the better choice.)






Meanwhile, on an unrelated note...I love hymns. They're so rich in meaning and teachings that you need to pay attention to the lyrics, instead of just 'losing' yourself in the melody. Of course, it's doubly awesome that they're written like beautiful works of poetry.

Two of my favourites:

I Gave My Life For Thee

I gave my life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might'st ransom be,
And quickened from the dead;
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou given for Me?
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou given for Me?

My Fathers house of light,
My glory circled throne,
I left for earthly night,
For wanderings sad and lone;
I left, I left it all for thee,
Hast thou left aught for Me?
I left, I left it all for thee,
Hast thou left aught for Me?

I suffered much for thee,
more than thy tongue can tell,
Of bitterest agony,
To rescue thee from hell;
I've borne, I've borne it all for thee,
What hast thou borne for Me?
I've borne, I've borne it all for thee,
What hast thou borne for Me?


I can't recall any other Christian songs being written from the perspective of Jesus himself. Sometimes, it's almost as though we forget that God is very much alive with feelings.

Is Your All On The Altar?

You have longed for sweet peace,
And for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
But you cannot have rest,
Or be perfectly blest,
Until all on the altar is laid.

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest,
And have peace and sweet rest,
As you yield Him your body and soul.

Would you walk with the Lord,
In the light of His Word,
And have peace and contentment alway?
You must do His sweet will,
To be free from all ill,
On the altar your all you must lay.

O we never can know
What the Lord will bestow
Of the blessings for which we have prayed,
Till our body and soul
He doth fully control,
And our all on the altar is laid.

Who can tell all the love
He will send from above,
And how happy our hearts will be made,
Of the fellowship sweet
We shall share at His feet,
When our all on the altar is laid.

Often contemporary songs only throw questions at God. However, hymns do provide us with simple answers grounded in His word as well.

Thank you, hymns! =D

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Practical Magic

She said the wishing lanterns in the sky were beautiful.

He said they were a hazard to passing planes.

She wanted to light candles along the path they trod.

He said they were bad for the environment.

She longed for dinner in a posh French restaurant, just the both of them.

He said it was a waste of money.

She sighed to herself, as she always did.

However deep down, she knew that he loved her with all his heart.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Lonely People

We are all lonely people - each travelling down a path uniquely ours.

We rush through our lives, surrounding ourselves with hustle and bustle to dull away this loneliness.

We smile at people, we stop at places, we laugh for a moment or two.

Sometimes we meet other people who are equally lonely. They make us forget too.

Sometimes we fall in love. Sometimes we fall out of it, when we learn that the ones we love aren't perfect. We continue searching.

We laugh and cry, we dance and sing.

On warm summer nights, we lie on the grass and count the stars in the sky.

One, two, three, four, five... endless as the people who enter our lives.

When people enter our lives, they leave a part of themselves in us.

But no one truly stays.

When they leave, they take a piece of our hearts along with them.

Sometimes it makes us more alive. Often times it hurts us deeply.

Once every while, we dream of turning the clock back to simpler times.

When every stranger was a friend waiting to be made.

When the future seemed so far away.

When we were easily satisfied.

We try to pause our lives, only to get left behind by others who look just forward.

Sometimes, we discover new passions.

We give our heart and soul to them, only to realise that they are poor substitutes for our dreams.

We grow weary and unhappy.

But then we wonder, what are our dreams?

Could any one thing possibly sustain us for our whole lives?

And a voice tells us that we are weird. We are different from the people of this world. The contented, comfortable souls scurrying around day after day after day.

We tell ourselves that nobody understands us.

Nobody loves us.

We are truly alone.

Little do we realise that when the dust settles...

When the stars fade into blackness...

When words cease...

We are all lonely people.

Lonely people connected only by mutual loneliness.

We grow up.

We grow old.

We grow lonely.

We die.