I've lately been reading a sweet, free book on Kindle. It's the story of a young woman journeying into life, love, faith and a calling. She's shared it intimately, with few beautiful details enough to turn pages fast in anticipation of the next childhood adventure or youthful cry. All of that reading turned my thoughts to my own heart's cry and calling. I don't have much skill, much energy or even intelligence, but as many, I have longed to do 'big' things in life. Not the usual big things- earn lots of money or live in a massive house but things like travel, being a source of encouragement, perhaps even things that are out of my comfort zone. The 'bigness' of the dream doesn't really matter, it may even change as we go though life but people often feel unfulfilled if nothing happens at all! I've lately felt like that often, as my little dreams morphe out of proportion and shove me out of balance. Then I start to see myself as trapped in four walls, unable to even touch the foundation of those little-big dreams. Yet it occured to me today, that within the walls is where one is trained, as the dreams penetrated those very walls, the outcome will go forth from those again. Perhaps some day I shall look kindly upon those walls, and understand when another dream, in someone else, blossoms within other walls.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Friday, July 31, 2015
Is water a blessing?
In the course of our stay in our little apartment in Delhi, we've faced some interesting water challanges. There were times of abundant supply, times of scarcity, a time when we fought for water and even a time when our living room got flooded! All in all, I'm thankful for being one of those privileged to have running, almost clean water. Almost. Nope, I wouldn't drink that for a million rupees!
But what happens when your entire life, all of your being changes because of that very precious liquid?
I'm thinking of Hasankeyf. A small town south of Turkey, lush green valley on the banks of the Tigris. Reminds me of my history lessons (oh if those weren't so boring!) on Mesopotamian culture. Apparently the homes in the caves in Hasankeyf date up to 10,000 years. That's way close to Adam and Eve. Perhaps Cain? I don't see why not! Beautiful, green, a jewel set in midst of golden dry land. The Bible mentions the Garden of Eden being surrounded by four rivers, two of which exist today, the Tigris and the Euphrates. It's mesmerizing to think those lands are watered by these ancient rivers. Sadly people's wants have taken over much of the beauty and the rivers generosity. Dams, not just on the Tigris, inundate so much of history, so much of life. What must it be like to pick up the pieces and carry on? My heart goes out to the people of Hasankeyf. Never would I've imagined a tragedy (among all the others that are happening) of this scale would take place in my lifetime. These things are so often results of bad decisions taken years ago. It's sad to think lessons haven't been learnt and bad decisions still take place. Enough to alter humanity.
Often I feel angry for those who don't have water, those who suffer for it. Now I feel angry for those who don't need an abundance of it. It's a sad, strange world.
But what happens when your entire life, all of your being changes because of that very precious liquid?
I'm thinking of Hasankeyf. A small town south of Turkey, lush green valley on the banks of the Tigris. Reminds me of my history lessons (oh if those weren't so boring!) on Mesopotamian culture. Apparently the homes in the caves in Hasankeyf date up to 10,000 years. That's way close to Adam and Eve. Perhaps Cain? I don't see why not! Beautiful, green, a jewel set in midst of golden dry land. The Bible mentions the Garden of Eden being surrounded by four rivers, two of which exist today, the Tigris and the Euphrates. It's mesmerizing to think those lands are watered by these ancient rivers. Sadly people's wants have taken over much of the beauty and the rivers generosity. Dams, not just on the Tigris, inundate so much of history, so much of life. What must it be like to pick up the pieces and carry on? My heart goes out to the people of Hasankeyf. Never would I've imagined a tragedy (among all the others that are happening) of this scale would take place in my lifetime. These things are so often results of bad decisions taken years ago. It's sad to think lessons haven't been learnt and bad decisions still take place. Enough to alter humanity.
Often I feel angry for those who don't have water, those who suffer for it. Now I feel angry for those who don't need an abundance of it. It's a sad, strange world.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Marriage and parenting? seriously?!
How does the world see these roles? There is immense scepticism over what is morally right and established. What is morality anyway? Is not based within me, with me within it?
That's what the world is mulling over. Who says what is wrong? Or right? Isn't what I do what matters? ... Or don't only I matter?
The Bible gives a different view on these thoughts. I love love Ephesians 2 (MSG).
It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
Yes, I've let the world, which doesn't know the first thing of living, teach me how to live- how to choose what's right and wrong.
Today I read an article, that pretty much infuriated me. And it wasn't related to "rights of marriage". It was about how wonderful it is to be married to a 'working' woman, and not one who 'sits at home'. The reasons The Man gave were on these lines...
He could have intelligent conversation with his wife;
The children would grow up 'independent' from their parents;
She would add on to the income of the house. (And some more stuff.. You probably already know!)
What are the things this world values? Money matters, Pride matters, Grandeur matters. Hearts don't, children don't, love doesn't. These are termed "wishy-washy". Yet the most wishy-washy of them all is the fact that we keep ourselves in the centre of our topsy turvy world. It wouldn't be that way if we weren't right in the middle of it all. If our perspectives came from a bigger source than 'us'. The question isn't even what is better- to stay at home or work; to stay married or 'live your dreams'. The question is what's in the centre of your life?
That's what the world is mulling over. Who says what is wrong? Or right? Isn't what I do what matters? ... Or don't only I matter?
The Bible gives a different view on these thoughts. I love love Ephesians 2 (MSG).
It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
Yes, I've let the world, which doesn't know the first thing of living, teach me how to live- how to choose what's right and wrong.
Today I read an article, that pretty much infuriated me. And it wasn't related to "rights of marriage". It was about how wonderful it is to be married to a 'working' woman, and not one who 'sits at home'. The reasons The Man gave were on these lines...
He could have intelligent conversation with his wife;
The children would grow up 'independent' from their parents;
She would add on to the income of the house. (And some more stuff.. You probably already know!)
What are the things this world values? Money matters, Pride matters, Grandeur matters. Hearts don't, children don't, love doesn't. These are termed "wishy-washy". Yet the most wishy-washy of them all is the fact that we keep ourselves in the centre of our topsy turvy world. It wouldn't be that way if we weren't right in the middle of it all. If our perspectives came from a bigger source than 'us'. The question isn't even what is better- to stay at home or work; to stay married or 'live your dreams'. The question is what's in the centre of your life?
Thursday, May 7, 2015
I wanna be free...
I don't know what freedom looks like for you, but I can imagine there are as many 'visions' of freedom as are hearts that long for them.
I sent Jean-P to hang the laundry outside, something he does (or is supposed to do) as part of his house-work. That is sacrilege in India! A boy! He is supposed to be pampered and brought up in haute sociétè as far as possible (A popular belief is children are a reincarnation of god(s))
Not just that he has to work at our home, but he has to do it well! I find it easier to send him out to finish his task rather than motivating him politely to do it. Ah! Are you beginning to see my vision of freedom? Illusive! So I go out to him and tell him, the usual way, that diligent hands make a man wealthy. A beggar might just preach that to me, I wouldn't care less. It's ingrained in the Indian mind from childhood starting with Early to bed, early to rise... the day we enter public school.
But then as I sat down to read (when else can I read but the hour and ten minutes he takes to hang a load out?!) something made me squirm. Yes one of those non-freedom lines!
...for all endurance and patience with joy...
Endurance? Patience? I can't do it! I JUST CAN'T DO IT! I'd rather hang the lundry myself! To go joyfully and tell J-P joyfully that he ought to do his work joyfully is too much for me! I was brought up the Indian way! We scream at children when they fail... (See? Scream and fail?!?!) Then crying, as my freedom was snatched from me, I looked at what the Wise One says
... May you be strengthened with all power... Now that's a little better, some power is always good and ALL power isn't such a bad idea! ...according to His glorious might... Wow! Not the might of a scream, not the power of performance, but ALL power vested in a gloriously mightily heavenly FATHER! That is beyond my comprehension!
To think that I don't have to live for performance or to make MY way the only way, that is freeing!
Freedom. Surely it's implications are bigger than boundary and time and emotions. Perhaps, among other things, it's a choice.
What makes you free?
I sent Jean-P to hang the laundry outside, something he does (or is supposed to do) as part of his house-work. That is sacrilege in India! A boy! He is supposed to be pampered and brought up in haute sociétè as far as possible (A popular belief is children are a reincarnation of god(s))
Not just that he has to work at our home, but he has to do it well! I find it easier to send him out to finish his task rather than motivating him politely to do it. Ah! Are you beginning to see my vision of freedom? Illusive! So I go out to him and tell him, the usual way, that diligent hands make a man wealthy. A beggar might just preach that to me, I wouldn't care less. It's ingrained in the Indian mind from childhood starting with Early to bed, early to rise... the day we enter public school.
But then as I sat down to read (when else can I read but the hour and ten minutes he takes to hang a load out?!) something made me squirm. Yes one of those non-freedom lines!
...for all endurance and patience with joy...
Endurance? Patience? I can't do it! I JUST CAN'T DO IT! I'd rather hang the lundry myself! To go joyfully and tell J-P joyfully that he ought to do his work joyfully is too much for me! I was brought up the Indian way! We scream at children when they fail... (See? Scream and fail?!?!) Then crying, as my freedom was snatched from me, I looked at what the Wise One says
... May you be strengthened with all power... Now that's a little better, some power is always good and ALL power isn't such a bad idea! ...according to His glorious might... Wow! Not the might of a scream, not the power of performance, but ALL power vested in a gloriously mightily heavenly FATHER! That is beyond my comprehension!
To think that I don't have to live for performance or to make MY way the only way, that is freeing!
Freedom. Surely it's implications are bigger than boundary and time and emotions. Perhaps, among other things, it's a choice.
What makes you free?
Monday, May 4, 2015
Why India is a great place to homeschool
I was served tea last night, or to be precise, at midnight and perhaps that's a good thing. It's given me the time (read- all night) to think about a great deal of things in silence. The night birds are busy and for once I can hear them, over the echoes of little voices chirping inside the house. And it's probably an India thing that I can stay up all night and think and muse and write and then put every little foot for a glorious hot afternoon nap and take the refreshing siesta myself. For you see, homeschooling is a foreign word in these lands, yet there are SO many benefits here! I will try to list them, in a no-particular order, just remembering moments and ways homeschooling here brings a smile.
1. At 10 am the park is ALL ours! Yes we can go out to the park at 10 am and have nobody stare at us! No questions of why the children are not in school and no inquisitive voices asking if we are foreigners. Parents are either at work or getting the house ready for rambunctious kids to be dropped off from school.
2. The grocer, milk shopkeeper, coconut seller are happy to see us when all is still on the roads. We provide them non-happy hour income!
3. The mali gets his dose of herbal and edible weeds knowledge from us, and lets us pluck, squeeze, pull and dig out all kinds of flowers, plants and berries.
4. Books are cheap (if you know where to get them!) The house is filled with our books. Doggy eared, sugared-sticky-stuck, crayon marked, falling apart, fought over between siblings, coverless books with mosquito remaims between pages. We love them that way!
5. Homeschool families bond. There are only few of us who understand the homeschool life, and so we bond oh-so-close together. We learn from each other every time we meet. We grow together, laugh a few times and lament a lot. Or is it the other way around? :)
6. There is no shortage of "socialization". Am I kidding? We live in one of the youngest, most populated countries. Surely there must be some five 5 year olds within 5 meters from here!
7. We learn quite a few languages for free. Yes! Free! Street Hindi, window malyalam. Again, it's an India thing where neighbours talk to each other from their windows. And because the houses are so close to each other, one can hear every.single.word. And learn the common ones over time!
8. Sonlight? Sunlight? Acha! Every once in a while a curious shopkeeper will ask cute little kids what school do they go to. You can say anything! Really! And they'll say Acha! Too many schools around here to know by heart! We feel greatly accepted by the society ;)
9. The neighbours who do know we homeschool are often impressed that our 'school books' come all the way from across the pond. International curriculum has it's benefits!
10. Coaching, coaching. There are lots of opportunities to get coached for anything (albeit not-so-perfectly) from sport to spanish. All within one's own neighborhood. And the prices are competitive (and barain friendly!)
Each year as we 'review' our focus and goals of schooling, we remember how we've bonded and grown in character. There's no price tag on it, it's beyond important. We remember the days of cuddles and laughter and sometimes the days of tears. Either way homeschooling, public or private schooling is a privilege, not to be taken for granted!
1. At 10 am the park is ALL ours! Yes we can go out to the park at 10 am and have nobody stare at us! No questions of why the children are not in school and no inquisitive voices asking if we are foreigners. Parents are either at work or getting the house ready for rambunctious kids to be dropped off from school.
2. The grocer, milk shopkeeper, coconut seller are happy to see us when all is still on the roads. We provide them non-happy hour income!
3. The mali gets his dose of herbal and edible weeds knowledge from us, and lets us pluck, squeeze, pull and dig out all kinds of flowers, plants and berries.
4. Books are cheap (if you know where to get them!) The house is filled with our books. Doggy eared, sugared-sticky-stuck, crayon marked, falling apart, fought over between siblings, coverless books with mosquito remaims between pages. We love them that way!
5. Homeschool families bond. There are only few of us who understand the homeschool life, and so we bond oh-so-close together. We learn from each other every time we meet. We grow together, laugh a few times and lament a lot. Or is it the other way around? :)
6. There is no shortage of "socialization". Am I kidding? We live in one of the youngest, most populated countries. Surely there must be some five 5 year olds within 5 meters from here!
7. We learn quite a few languages for free. Yes! Free! Street Hindi, window malyalam. Again, it's an India thing where neighbours talk to each other from their windows. And because the houses are so close to each other, one can hear every.single.word. And learn the common ones over time!
8. Sonlight? Sunlight? Acha! Every once in a while a curious shopkeeper will ask cute little kids what school do they go to. You can say anything! Really! And they'll say Acha! Too many schools around here to know by heart! We feel greatly accepted by the society ;)
9. The neighbours who do know we homeschool are often impressed that our 'school books' come all the way from across the pond. International curriculum has it's benefits!
10. Coaching, coaching. There are lots of opportunities to get coached for anything (albeit not-so-perfectly) from sport to spanish. All within one's own neighborhood. And the prices are competitive (and barain friendly!)
Each year as we 'review' our focus and goals of schooling, we remember how we've bonded and grown in character. There's no price tag on it, it's beyond important. We remember the days of cuddles and laughter and sometimes the days of tears. Either way homeschooling, public or private schooling is a privilege, not to be taken for granted!
Monday, April 13, 2015
the worst place on earth? really?
My hands have been itching to write about this. And now I can't stop myself. It's horrible! Horrible what we do to our earth. This is something I read today, something even I was grossly unaware of...
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth.
I had no idea it was this bad. And that as I type these words, I'm contributing to the bad-ness. It's a debatable issue.. Can we go back to how it was? Probably not. Regrettably so. But our techno friendly future is ruining the very ground we are standing on.
Honestly I was trying to convince myself that we are doing a good job. We plant trees, make home made washing soap, butter, bread, don't drink aerated drinks or juice or even buy packets of potato chips and biscuits... One family in the midst of 4600000 others. All in a futile effort to reduce waste. Good enough? Far from it. I've no idea what it will all turn out to and I'm not looking forward to it.
What bit would you throw in to reduce waste and toxins?
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth.
I had no idea it was this bad. And that as I type these words, I'm contributing to the bad-ness. It's a debatable issue.. Can we go back to how it was? Probably not. Regrettably so. But our techno friendly future is ruining the very ground we are standing on.
Honestly I was trying to convince myself that we are doing a good job. We plant trees, make home made washing soap, butter, bread, don't drink aerated drinks or juice or even buy packets of potato chips and biscuits... One family in the midst of 4600000 others. All in a futile effort to reduce waste. Good enough? Far from it. I've no idea what it will all turn out to and I'm not looking forward to it.
What bit would you throw in to reduce waste and toxins?
Monday, March 2, 2015
for the love of children
The world around me seems to make me almost believe that having children is a disease. I am serious! When I walked around the road of my gated 'society' with my then four year old and three month old, almost every second aunty would offer me her valuable advise that having more than two children was, or rather is, against the norm, something that makes a momma pitiful and resulted in an incomplete family. They would croon over the infant and ask 'A boy and a girl? Your family is now complete!' I didn't quite feel my family was incomplete when I didn't have a child; or even when I just had J.P.
It doesn't still feel complete or in-!
I desire to enjoy each day with my family, with my parents, my spouse, my children, my friends and my God! Real joy sure doesn't come walking in the doors of my home, but I'm hoping I'll have enough courage to call it in, hang on to it, and wrap my loves ones in it right in the midst of tough-times. What would you do to bring joy into little ordinary moments?
It doesn't still feel complete or in-!
I desire to enjoy each day with my family, with my parents, my spouse, my children, my friends and my God! Real joy sure doesn't come walking in the doors of my home, but I'm hoping I'll have enough courage to call it in, hang on to it, and wrap my loves ones in it right in the midst of tough-times. What would you do to bring joy into little ordinary moments?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)