As the years roll by...

I was squinting my eyes and racking my brains when i viewed the 1976 batch of HSBM 'brats' on their 2008 video clip....trying to put names to faces from the long ago's of yesteryears... remembering the 'good ole days' when life was but a song, and we all dreamt of knights in shining armour (come on be honest, girls, you did too then, right? )sweeping us off into the beautiful sunset.. of course comes complete with fancy car, big house, highpower career...hmm wat else?? Dunno what the guys dreamt of, but must be pretty much along the same line, what else is new, eh! Now 30+ years down the line, much water under the bridge, many dreams later... what do we have now that we didn't have then? and what have we lost that we had then?

I turned 48 a month ago. I m really not much into birthdays, anniversaries and stuff like that. It used to matter a lot to me; but not any more; coz I figured why should we make such a big deal of 'special' days in our/others lives? Shouldn't every day be a special day to love somebody, to make somebody happy, to wish another well? Why wait for a birthday, Valentine, or Mother's day or father's day or teacher's day or whatever day to celebrate someone's life? But I digress, so anyway, my eldest princess, all of 21, sprang a last-minute surprise by arranging a dinner with my brother, and a small group of my dearest sisters and brothers in Christ. ..I felt so blessed.. and in my heart,I was telling God, thank You for bringing me through all this 48 years.. I look back and I am so grateful He found me 6 years ago, in the midst of my darkest hours, Jesus shone His light into my life, and I have never been the same....

I thought I had it all then... husband, kids, house, car, career... but isn't it so true , we have eyes but do not see, we have ears but do not hear, we have hearts but do not understand... its only when we lose the things we love, that we gain what is immeasurable treasure. Or like the Bible puts it, those who would lose their lives will gain it, those who would gain their lives will lose it... it takes loss to make us realise what true gain is. For it was when I lost what I thought was the great love of my life - my husband - that Ii gained the greatest love of all - in Christ Jesus.

When all else passes away, as it must, one day... we all know we can never take with us the things of the world that we accummulate thru the years of our lives on this earth, so why do we focus so much on them? A writer put it this way; there are 2 ways to get enough, one is to accumulate more and more, the other is to desire less. Do we stop in the midst of all our activities and ponder when we stand before God, what are we going to say to Him when He asks what have you done with the life that I gave you? Becoz He's not going to look at how many houses, cars, shares, gold, degrees you have to your name , how many times you donated food or money to the poor, how 'good' you have been... He'll just ask you does your heart know Me; do you know the One who is the Way, the Life and the Truth ?

So, so what if I don't have the fancy car, the big house or the high powered career - I already have the most wonderful priceless treasure that no money can buy, that no one can give except the Holy One who created the heavens and the earth... And to think, its free for all who would just believe and receive the blessing God wants everyone to have!!