Dear…
‘You have set all the borders of the earth. You have made summer and winter.’
Psalm 74:17
I am from the old school. I still enjoy flipping through the old albums, looking at once fresh but now dated photographs of the family and friends. Space indeed is a constraint, but if that can be arranged, the time and effort that my wife spent in creating travelogues out of the photographs of past trips and meaningful events are indeed priceless records of days once past.
“Times of your life,” ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWHL_4_ia_Y&feature=youtube_gdata_players) a song not many might remember. Sung by Paul Anka, it was used in the nostalgic filled Kodak film advertisement aired on television eons back. The opening lines of the song “Good morning yesterday. You wake up , and time has slipped away. And suddenly it’s hard to find, the memories you left behind. Remember. Do you remember?’
Nostalgia somehow grows with age, when our body through the ravages of life, creaks a little more and our soul is more wearied or worldly wise. The free spirited days of our youth now more shackled by responsibilities and the stark realities of life, many do hark back to the days of innocence, or at least, our recollection of the past tend to be more positively skewed, much as reality might be otherwise. Was it Galileo who said that “the truth is easier to understand on hindsight? And indeed what was once difficult circumstances in our lives, on hindsight, is often not as unbearable as once thought.
‘Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.’
Habakkuk 3:17-18
As I look back on life these past half century, much as there were many challenges, life was never as bleak or dire as that described by Habakkuk in the verse above. In fact there are so many things to be thankful for. Yet would one be able to express the same joy to the Lord if one truly had “nothing?’ Provisions is often how most of us measure our blessings and the concomitant sense of well being and happiness. But many have come to learn that it is the indescribable joy of having a personal relationship with the Lord our God that far outweighs the transient benefits of His provisions.
The verse Habakkuk 3:17-18 popped up again in my reading of the Lord’s Word this morning. Our good Lord often affirms His thoughts for me with the same verse often appearing in sequence. And what lessons are there to be learn from this verse?
This morning, in the transient point between waking up and actually getting up, our Lord reminded me on my lack of obedience in letting this emotion of “dread” that often hovers over me as the year ends and the new year beckons. Is this psychological state of unease the norm for most of us in our capitalist society where corporate life is measured by the calendar year? Year 2011 has indeed been personally challenging and year 2012 could be even more volatile. But as shared, storms God let us go through, but He will shelter, and He will anchor us. God is indeed Sovereign, and all be all are in His control. Should we not then trust Him and take time to know His will and to do His will, rather than struggle and wriggle like a fish out of water, gasping for dear life, not realizing that the spring of life is but a small flip away. The only fear worth our while is the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom, that is “good fear,” for it will keep us mindful of our imperfect carnal nature, and the omnipresence of God in our life.
‘Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself.’
1 John 3:3
“Pride,” I am reminded by our Lord is the close cousin of “fear.” Fear is often the manifestation of our inner pride. The fear of underachievement, the fear of perceptions by society of our deficiencies. As the year concludes, in actual fact it has already entered its first few days, for I took a hiatus between my last penned date 28th Dec 2011 before resuming today Jan 3rd 2012. Our good Lord reminded me that photographs are usually used to record happy moments. What about the unhappy times? Less likely. But even more telling would be the many times that we have fallen short of our good Lord’s commands. If it was ever recorded as a picture book, it is likely to fill volumes worth.
And as I held back sending this sharing, for I sense our Lord has an something more. His Spirit brought me to look up the song "What a wonderful world,"
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPcgM1MnDnI&feature=youtube_gdata_player) which was extensively used by the great rival to Kodak film, the Japanese film manufacturer, Fuji film. Kodak film traditional packaging was yellow, Fuji was green. The theme song for Kodak was a reminder of the need to appreciate the many things around us, for life is transient. Fuji film reminds us to take notice of the wonders of nature that probably has greater permanency than the frail human life. And what about Polaroid film? Its theme song ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fE8yf5jajo&feature=youtube_gdata_player) was built around the "swinger," an instant gratification, yet fleeting moment.
'And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good....'
Genesis 1:31
Much as digital technology has combined the inherent features of Kodak, Fuji and Polaroid, literally allowing men to play "god," for now we can not just take countless photographs, we can choose to obliterate, or even superficially transform an original photograph, there is only one true tapestry maker of our life, the Lord our Sovereign God.
Christ has wiped the slate of sin clean for us. Should we not now seek to not just keep it clean but let Him mold us in His likeness. That should be our resolution not just from the start of this new year, but from the day we first believed, to let the world see the love of Christ in us, no matter the backdrop of our day.
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
3rd Jan 2011
Note
Look up this link for those who yearn for the old kampong days
http://goodmorningyesterday.blogspot.com/2007/12/through-years.html
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