| Saturday, March 31, 2007 |
| Blessed birthday uniz! |
There was once a girl named Eunice from the island of Singapore
I assure you her conversation was never a bore
She had good taste in clothes
For her this I compose
Because surely the best gift isn't prose.
Happy birthday dearest one - I apologise for I couldn't come up with a better limerick than that. |
posted by wenster @ 7:52 PM  |
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| Sunday, March 18, 2007 |
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Time spent at Ledbury was time well spent. Its a getaway for students who attend Ebbe's, the church that I go to here. Location: fruit farm (although the only fruit present there were the apples in apple crumble) in Herefordshire, north west of Oxford. Activities: a bible overview, seminars, good food and company, time for walks, frisbee and general lounging, after-meal jokes, star gazing, praise and barn dancing! It was good times indeed.. I've never looked at the bible as a whole before, at least not consciously - usually its genesis to joshua, and then a big blur till the psalms and proverbs and more fast forward till I get to the new testament. And it was really cool how there is a story of the "model of the everlasting kingdom" that was made and then taken apart - and here I was thinking that all the books dealing with countries being conquered and all that was only about the people in them. The seminars were really useful too - there were topics like dating and relationships, true worship, replying to Dawkins, honoring parents and guidance from God. I especially enjoyed the worship one because it was something that I had briefly thought about before, what with all the different ways that different churches decide to worship, and the different opinions I've heard. And it really boils down to attitude and how it is a response to God. Something that comes after His grace, not before, as though we could offer something on our own merit.
There was an amazing amount of CAKE. Lots and lots of brownies, banana cakes, chocolate, vanilla, ginger, spice.. loads of opportunities to feed that sweet tooth, especially since we had frequent tea breaks. I loved walking in the hills, its an area called the Malverns, which is kind of between Worchestershire and Herefordshire. We almost got to the highest hill (well, sort of. we were a hill away) - and it was amazing to see land stretching in every direction as far as the eye can see. I imagine that the wonder I felt is a small part of what the Moses must've felt when he saw the promised land. It was breathtaking. As were the stars at night - there were so many of them and I bet there were even more around when Abraham was promised descendants. We also took a trip into the nearby town, which was really quaint and pretty, with a cool shop selling elderflower and gooseberry ice cream. Unfortunately all of us just had lunch so the mystery of the flavour is still a mystery. Barn dancing was perhaps my favourite part. Maybe? It ranks right up there with the hills. I was apprehensive at first, because you know, there are moves and songs to learn.. but Joe Taylor, the.. um..presider over the dance? haha. Not too sure. Well, he made it really easy to learn and the end result was about 80 people swinging around, doing do-see-dos and having a superb time. He also told us bedtime stories, one of which was a "true fairytale" that he and his wife wrote about themselves. It was the sweetest thing ever.
Ah, good times. I feel extremely blessed to have my family of God here. |
| posted by wenster @ 1:03 PM |
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| Thursday, March 08, 2007 |
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Made a list of things that I am thankful for the other day.
It was long.
And thats pretty amazing since I didn't think it was an especially good week - but it really showed me how blessed I am, and how easy it is for me to overlook the small everyday blessings of life.
This week has been going by pretty quickly, given that it is the last week of term (already???). While there have been some really slow draggy moments, I feel as though time slipped away unnoticed - in between rowing and socializing, essay writing and ferreting. Monday was lovely because I found out that I had another day to work on a presentation that I gave today in tutorial. Alzheimer's and Parkinson's: what we know from models. Honestly, it was God's grace that got me through that piece of work because me being me, misjudged how long it would take for me to put it together. To compound matters, it was due earlier than I expected. So after a superb lazy weekend of picnicking on Trinity's lawns and making pancakes for some friends and having a DIY sushi night, I stuck my face into the computer screen (not literally.) to try to piece together information. At one point I was utterly confused because I had too many pdfs open, and so was bouncing from one to another, wondering what I was trying to do. Ah... every geek's nightmare.
Work was handed in on Tuesday, and in celebration, a couple of us went for a walk in the university parks. Its a lovely place that has pitches for rugby and perhaps frisbee or football in the middle, as well as a pond and a river next to it. The crocuses and daffodils and other miscelleneous flowers were beautiful! I could have just sat there admiring it for the whole afternoon. And the ducks were funny - they kept coming up to us in the hope that we would feed them... while there was talk that we'd feed james to them, the ducks never really got fed. Spent some time today shopping and making cards for our christian union reps - it was good fun going around trying to figure out what they would like.. and I don't know about you, but I always feel happy when there is a "bigger" purpose to my shopping than just me. Quite proud of ourselves for getting it all done in a relatively short period of time :) |
| posted by wenster @ 12:00 AM |
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| Saturday, March 03, 2007 |
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When we see loved ones in pain, there are pain-associated brain structures in our own brain that activate.
That said, we'd all be absolute wrecks if we can't dissociate slightly from the situation(s) at hand. But is that what is needed? Will it help if we all isolated ourselves when we feel crappy so that noone else has to deal with it (or conversely, so we don't have to deal with other people's form of support - which I suppose to be terribly honest, may not be what we want to hear.. but I think if it comes from a trustworthy person, is most of the time sound). I think its obvious that I don't agree. There is an amount that we have to bring ourselves to deal with, and an amount that we have to allow others into. And there are so many times where we feel as though repeating it doesn't help very much (or people are only asking because they're kepo and don't really care at all)... which may/may not be true. But whichever it is, I believe its what we do when we're alone that really shows what we're actually doing to deal with the problems at hand.
- ok at this point its important to note that this is just me thinking aloud, no intentions of judging/condemning or any other negative connotations! -
Because I know I'm at my silliest when I sit around and mope. And mope and mope and mope. And think of all the things that are wrong with my life. And think of how it would be great "if". If only (fill in material/emotional/intellectual requirement here) would be so. I mean, don't I have the right to be happy? Why is it that other people have things so easy? Yes, sure they have problems but not in this terrible combination. And so on and so forth.
Things don't turn around until it hits me to start praying though. And I'm not saying this as lipeservice, but as something that has never failed me. Sure, the results may not be exactly what I wanted at that moment (or even for some time after that) but looking back, its always what I needed. And I think I've been learning how to tell when I really mean what I pray - sometimes I say what I know I should want, but there is always a time when I find myself knowing that I have to let go of my own will. Its not something that I can fully explain I think.. its.. when I can almost feel my heart breaking, because I know I'm really letting go of it. Getting to that point usually takes a lot of prodding from God and desperation from me, but once I do let go of my worry/desire/plan, and recognise that I do want his will to be done, the peace is undeniable. Its in better hands. |
| posted by wenster @ 11:35 AM |
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| Friday, March 02, 2007 |
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“Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
- Psalm 73:25-26 |
| posted by wenster @ 12:17 AM |
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