Good old letters and books

Have you written a letter to anyone this April? In the age of social media - twitter, face book and blogging, the manuscript, pen writing method is long forgotten. I recently decided to write a letter out of gratitude to express my thoughts to a fellow doctor who has been with me in moral support and a great cheerleader in life. She is such a nurturing person, that the only thing I find I can provide her in return is my words of thoughts to tell her how much I appreciate and love her and the kindness and compassionate towards helping me. So I set and wrote in between working around long to-do lists to settle some chaotic transition in my life and flick typing on my work laptop at radar speed to record my churn of thoughts before they dissipated in the midst of all clutter.

With Amazon kindle and a conglomerate of smart phones and gadgets that emerged in this new technological era, promoting a wealth of convenience for eBooks and e-articles and online learning and featherweight libraries, books too are considered traditionally outdated. Emails to substitute letters and postcards, photo-slides for photo albums. Everything has virtualized electronically

I still love the hardcover feel and flipping a page in between my fingers. And walking to the library for some good old research amidst shelves of books is still a gratifying experience. There is a surreal feeling of being surrounded by books that gadgets simply cannot substitute, not withstanding gadgets that need to be re-charged and maintained all the time. I like to peer into the shelves and squeal and smile to myself at a book cover in light of a topic that I have found and and I like the feeling of carrying pile of books back in my recycled bag, signifying some satisfaction not derived from any iphone or ipad. Perhaps, the feeling resonate so strongly because I use to read plenty during childhood. I will haul thirteen books all together on each trip to the library and try to maximize lending in all the library cards that I can utilize in my family. I love Hardy boys and Enid blyton and all classical Andersen fairy tales. Nothing beats further than holding my favorite  hardcover books and flipping through the carbon paper pages and snuggling into a corner for a sweet indulgence of story reading. Stories and moments that come to life as you immense in the each letter or book.

While the media is promoting and advocating all the sophiscated, technology benefits to consumers on replacing books and writing electronically, I, personally will like to advocate still, the nostalgia of letter writing and books. It’s a wonderful ritual that will remind you of good moments of spending your time in the real and not virtual world. And it is a wonderful ritual to hold fast that letter and book of yours for a good ride down the memory lane and share them with someone else.

Do you agreed?

"Be happy that your names are written in heaven." - In the Book of Life

Deep dive

 

Have you try deep diving? I have not, in fact I can’t swim. But they said the ocean is beautiful and with thousands of feet under if you have the courage to dive in, it can also be scary. Just like the deep dive I took in life right now, in fact, not the dive that I want to go into, because it is a deep sinking feeling, down and down under. You can’t see any light, neither can you make sense of the next step ahead and your feet are not touching the sea bed but wading through the water. You looked up and know that you are getting away and further away from the tranquil surface of water you are so used to.

How terrifying can it be. Its cold and as you look around you, surprisingly there is movement of life that you can’t grasp. Just today, I met a dear sister in Christ, whom half a year ago while I am in the pit of my life became a wonderful friend and mentor to me, she said, WHEN YOU CAN DIVE, I will dive in with you for a night dive, it’s a wonderful experience. After a desperate hard day, the words fell like rain upon winter. The first read of her message, I could only imagine how comforting it is to have a person to cheer you along life and do deep dive with you when life became no longer a shallow walk but a deeper walk into the waters of the sea as one became a life seeker. And life has been in the past tumultuous and filled with trials and tribulations and present difficulties for me. Situations I have encountered recently has left me frightened.

While walking, she turned and say: Do you know when you dive in, its all dark. And you have to hold the light, the light will just be able to illuminate the next step ahead of you? Her words of encouragement, support and godly counsel as always, have in paradox like the metaphor she described, fell like lamp unto my feet.

I really hope I can do a real deep dive one day.

And no longer a helpless sinking feeling and despair, but a dive of hope, of discovering that there is coral of life around you, little living things that made you feel as you hold the lamp tightly in your hands, the deep sanctuary of His almighty presence and knowing that the water will hold you.

The lamp unto my feet..

This morning, I woke up feeling I have lost my courage. Have you had that feeling sometimes in any situation that you are currently facing?

Courage to live out the present because you don't know what you will expect next but you want to live out life the best you can today. Courage to face life's next challenge, be it financially, own needs or any endeavor you will be undertaking. Courage to make the next decision or right step. Courage to face the next challenge or curveball that life will be throwing at you. It seems like sometimes you are unable to summon up any courage any more as you set by the side of the bed, thinking how to resolve your situation, make the best out of it or wondering what will get by next.

I reached out to the daily calendar next to my bedside and saw on today's page, a scripture verse that reads:

Depend on the Lord, trust him, and he will take care of you.
Psalm 37:5

God is commited to caring for our needs. Paul tells us that a man who won't feed his own family is worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8). How much more will a holy God care for his children like us? After all, how can we fulfill his mission unless our needs are met? How can we teach or minister or influence unless we have our basic needs satisfied? Will God enlist us in his army and not provide a commissionary? Of course not.

Does this verse speaks to you too?