Love Letter

My Dear Wife,

I love being with you. Do you remember when I used to call and ask you out? Back then I would come by your place and pick you up for a date. I would be all cleaned up, shaven, and smelling good. I was always nervous when going out with you, and the anticipation was so thick. Those were good days, and I don't see any reason they can't keep on happening.

Let's go on an old-fashioned date again, darling. Tell me how you would like to do this and where you would like to go. Then let's just do it. I'll pull out all the steps: wash the car, bring you flowers. I don't know about all the details now, but let's talk about it, make a plan, arrange childcare, and then carry it out...on a regular basis.

Because I Love You,
Your Husband.

Jerry Maguire: "I Miss My Wife"

Jerry:

Hello? Hello. I'm lookin' for my wife.
Wait. Okay...okay...okay.
If this is where it has to happen, then this is where it has to happen.
I'm not letting you get rid of me. How about that?
This used to be my specialty. You know, I was good in a living room.

They'd send me in there, and I'd do it alone. And now I just...
But tonight, our little project, our company had a very big night

... a very, very big night.
But it wasn't complete, wasn't nearly close to being in the same vicinity as complete,

because I couldn't share it with you.

I couldn't hear your voice or laugh about it with you.

I miss my ... I miss my wife.
We live in a cynical world, a cynical world,

and we work in a business of tough competitors.
I love you. You ... complete me.
And I just had ...

Dorothy:

Shut up. Just shut up.
You had me at hello.
You had me at hello...

From the movie 'Jerry Maguire' (1996), played by Tom Cruise

Winston Churchill said...

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

- Winston Churchill

You're Not A Monk

A man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery. He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?"
The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, and even fix his car. As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was but they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk." The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes about his merry way.
Some years later the same man breaks down in front of the same monastery. The monks again accept him, feed him, and even fix his car. That night, he hears the same strange noise that he had heard years earlier.
The next morning he asks what it is but the monks reply, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."
The man says, "All right, all right. I'm dying to know. If the only way I can find out what that sound was is to become a monk, then how do I become a monk?"
The monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will become a monk."
The man sets about his task. Some forty-five years later, he returns and knocks on the door of the monastery. He says, "I have traveled the earth and have found what you have asked for.
There are 256,897,103,145,236,284,232 blades of grass
and 231,281,219,999,129,382,756,124,512,999 sand pebbles on the earth."
The monks reply, "Congratulations. You are now a monk. We shall now show you the way to the sound."
The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, "The sound is right behind that door."
The man turns the knob.
And behind that door he is amazed to find the source of that strange sound.
But I can't tell you what it is because you're not a monk.

A Taste of the 'True Joy' of Life

This is the true joy in life – the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
- George Bernard Shaw

Test of a Man

The real test of a man is not when he plays the role that he wants for himself,
but when he plays the role destiny has for him.
- Vaclav Havel (extracted from ‘Half Time’ by Bob Buford)

A Perspective of Things I

Today, I would like to start with a perspective of ...Eternity. Big word, huh? What's eternity? Forever forever-ness? Never-ending end? Here's one such mental picture to help us grasp it:

"High up in the North, in the land called Svithjod, there stand a rock. It is 100 miles high and 100 miles wide. Once every 1,000 years a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak. When the rock has thus been worn away, then a single day of eternity will have gone by".
- Henry Willen Van Loon
(extracted from "A Life Well Spent" by Russ Crosson, Chp 1)

That's the most humanly comprehensible picture I can find, I suppose. It's mind-blowing, isn't it? Anyone wants the job of that poor little bird? Every 1,000 years he will have to fly here & polish like 'siao'. The idea of big rock, small bird, and all the polishing of beak ... and the rock must be worn out, before a day is over is crazy! What a powerful picture. It is going to make "Hi, how's your day?" very very difficult question to reply, you know.

Unless you believe in God, this idea is of no significance value and meaning to you. Once we understand that God is more concerned about the eternal than the temporal, we will, hopefully, begin to face some unique challenges in several areas of our lives, like financial plans, money, family, recreation, work and time. Basically, one word: Choices.

Yes, I am convinced that a glimpse of Eternity not only will help determine our ways of life and choices, not only does it help in our decision making to know what counts and is important (to God), it also helps us to understand where we are going (direction/ focus) and how long we have (urgency).

What really matters to me? What counts? What will make a difference? I have very few idea now but much burden to reflect. But this I know: I have only one life, and it will soon be past. I want to do it right the first time, everytime. I want to live by design, not by default.

Rev. Randy Alcorn is the pastor at Western Baptist Seminary. He wrote in his book, I quote :
"Someday, this upside down world will be turned right side up, and nothing in all eternity will turn it back again. If we are wise, we will spend our brief lives on earth preparing and positioning oursleves for the turn."
(extracted from 'Money, Possessions, and Eternity' by Randy Alcorn)

How do we position ourselves for the turn? For a start, I guess we can do it by constantly focusing on the eternal (people) in the realm of the temporal (materialism). To me, it means spending time with my wife and son, despite of the pressure to earn a living or earn a name in the secular market. That to me has eternal value; that to me has a perspective of things. That's what I mean by "Hor ehh..."