thought-in-process
#1
King David fell into sin because he was idle. he cut himself some slack and sent someone else to fulfil his kingly responsibilities and woke up late — in the evening?? and he used to wake up early and seek God in the morning. (2 Samuel 11)
mama and I had an 11-hour Chinese period drama marathon yesterday. while watching an intense fight scene between two top generals, I thought ‘wow, how did they become so good at what they do? do their skills ever go rusty?’ wham — the Holy Spirit spoke.
they trained hard. it was their occupation! they trained, they put in hours of hard work. they were occupied by training and they prepared themselves. They honed it from young age, they trained in peace time, they trained in the day and sometimes at night too — they valued their training and took pride in their skill. Their victory doesn’t come swiftly, nor easily. They spent years, sweat blood and tears in order to stay prepared. they are in it to win it; they were on guard; they were prepared for victory.
like the parable of the 5 virgin —they were prepared. they tended to the wick and made sure that the lamps wouldn't be snuffed out. they treasured the bridegroom and anticipated his arrival so much that they knew they cannot afford to be careless. so they packed extra oil just in case.
lesson: the importance of being guarded, the curse of complacency and valuing the mundane for they determine your future.
/
#2
I was on the way home, walking behind this husband and wife pair. I didn’t know that they had children until a little boy accidentally stumbled into the path of an old women while playfully teasing his brother. And the father stopped in his steps, glared at the boy and stomped his feet.
thought 1: what made the father upset?
probably because the boy almost bumped into someone because he was playing. I imagined that if I asked the parent, he would say “他不听话。”
thought 2: where is the wrong?
in my opinion, none. he didnt bump into the grandma, no one was injured in the process, the grandma wasn’t upset either. and if the boy’s mistake was in a potential hurt caused, shouldn’t the father’s first response be to apologise the the granny? also, is it wrong to have fun in public since the fun does not cause public nuisance (they weren’t rowdy, nor were they loud. just children having fun).
what then is the expectation here? what would it look like to be a 听话的孩子？my sister and I were model children in our growing years. every relative / family friend said that we’re very obedient. how did that look like? basically we didn’t fall out of place. we were quiet in the presence of adults, we don’t kick fuss, we do as we are told (at least publicly), we don’t draw attention to ourselves, we walk properly, we don’t shout and scream. we sound docile don’t we?
We complain when children are lifeless — we call them boring / no creativity / no expression. the active, mischievous toddlers we call cute / adorable / fun to play with. why is the expectation of ‘obedience’ narrowed down to conformity?
let kids be kids. teach principles, not behaviour. let them run wild now cause conformity will be taught sooner or later. who says obedience looks like that anyway?
