L3

Faith

While many of you reading this post have already set up goals for this coming year, I am kinda hoping that this post would help trigger that extra beat into doing whatever it is that you are looking forward to attain this coming year. You might be excited and all pumped up to go forth. I wish you all the best in accomplishing your goals and dreams this year.

However I do know there are those people who are not really excited about this year. They are not looking forward to anything really. They say, “This is just another year, so what?”

But there are also those who are not excited about this coming year simply because the year that has gone by was quite eventful. They had to experience a lot of bad things which has left them hurtful and are still grieving due to the pain that was caused.

I will never forget this. It was a couple of years ago when some of us guys were together and were just reminiscing the year that had gone by. Each of us was taking turns to share about some of the good things that had happened to us individually. It came finally to one friend who sat up and began to speak about how bad a year it had been for him and his family. They had to go abroad for his work purpose and there they were alone. The wife was carrying during the time. She went through an abortion and what was worse was that since they didn’t know anyone, there was no one around to support and encourage them through that crisis. The whole incident had left them devastated.

By far, I think the death of a loved one has to be the most painful experience anyone can ever go through. It causes wounds that will only go away over a period of time if one would allow the healing to take place.

All of us can fit into either one or two of these categories. Going into this New Year our attitudes could be of excitement, complacency or that of a defeated mindset.

Either way, there’s this one thing I am sure every one of us can expect at the end of this year. That one thing is in this one word; “CHANGE”.

Former US President John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

As we live out our lives every day, here’s what I know: change is inevitable. We can’t avoid it neither run away from it. If we were to look back maybe at the year that has gone by or even a few years back, we know for sure we were not the same people then. Something has changed: We’ve changed.

There is no denying that change is and will always be a part of our lives. We can either choose to accept it or try and push it away.

Change normally happens in either one of the two ways:

Intentional Change:

When we identify an area we want to change in our lives, we figure out what we can try and do best to bring about that desired change. Say for example we want to lose weight; the first thing we would do is to get into some rhythm of exercise and in course change our diet. We become intentional about the change we want to see.

Imposed Change:

Life has a way of throwing darts at us unexpectedly. There are situations or circumstances that crop up in life that forces us to change. It could be the death of a loved one, financial difficulties or even relationship breakups. We find ourselves in a place where we have no choice but to change.

Someone once said that change equals growth. The more we open and welcome change into our lives, the more we will grow and become the best we can ever be. We will never have to be stuck in a rut.

Author and Pastor Dan Reiland writes, “Life is a process of change, yet many of us have a false expectation that we'll one day "arrive" and never have to change again. That's true in a sense, but that arrival doesn't occur until we reach heaven. Here on earth, we need to stay open to adaptation and growth.”

I have always looked forward to a New Year. The reason being I believe a New Year helps us to reset and start from the beginning no matter what has gone by. I remember vividly whilst playing video games, if I wasn’t playing well, losing out or was stuck at a level then I would just go and reset or restart the game. It gave me a chance to play the level again and this time around, not only was I better prepared for the challenges ahead but also changed the way I played from before. I went in playing with a changed perspective. I remember getting through those levels with much better scores the second time around.

As we go forward into this New Year, whether or not we have established goals for ourselves, we should keep in mind that we will change regardless. The question is whether we want to be intentional about it or allow life to impose changes on us. The choice is ours to make.

Being intentional about change requires us to answer these two questions:

What areas do we want to change in?

What small steps can be taken now to see that change in time to come?

I think if we could answer these two questions and follow through with what needs to be done, we can see the changes that we desire to see. It could be in becoming better relationally or managing finances better or even the physical aspect like doing exercises.

For me personally there are two things I want to see changed in me by the end of this year. I am looking to build more self control in an area that I think I am addicted to. The second is in becoming healthier. I recently did a complete physical check up and the results were not up to the mark!

I am hoping that by the time you finish reading this, you would have already identified maybe one or two areas in your life that you want to be intentional to change this year. I just want to wish you all the best to seeing that change happen!

Christmas

The Cry of a Father

6:46:00 AM

I got off the bus and started walking towards the flat. My bag hung over my shoulders and swayed as I walked. I was tired and very hungry. The only thought in my mind however was the reaction he would have when he met me. What would he say? What would he do? Thoughts ran through my mind. But I wanted to meet him no matter what and my hope was that he would too. My heart paced faster as I drew near the door to the flat. I rung the door bell. Minutes ticked by and not before long, I heard his footsteps approach the door. He began to shout loudly. We were on either side of the door. It was just a moment of time before someone opened the door and we would come face to face. The door opened. He pulled the door back impatiently with force and ran towards me. I was already on my knees with my arms open. This was the moment I had been waiting for. This was perhaps what he was waiting for too! He came running into my arms and smilingly said, “Papa!” I hugged him as closely as I could. He was my one and a half year old son, John.

Hello everyone! With Christmas and New Year at the horizon, I am sure everyone is quite busy! I know of a lot of young people bogged down with their exams and then there are those who are busy holiday shopping for their loved ones!

For me, the end of the year as festive as it can get is a great time to sit and look back at the year that has gone by. This has been an amazing year especially with John being such an active part of our lives. We also got to go abroad which was a first timer for my wife Anu. It was the first time she actually even got to fly!

But what has really been amazing about this year to me personally has been about my learning steps in becoming a father to my son. I know it’s just the beginning of an amazing journey. With almost two years into it, I must say it has been a beautiful experience! There have been those picture perfect moments which you wouldn’t forget and also those messed up times that you wished you had a do over! But I have enjoyed being a dad and even as I write this now, I am falling deeper in love with my son and much more to the role of a father!

There’s this great book I picked up a few months ago and I would definitely recommend this to you. It’s called “Bringing up Boys” by Dr. James Dobson. I must say, I still haven’t been able to put it down! I think I have reread some of the chapters over and over again because it’s just that good!

What I’ve found after going through the book and my own experience in meeting and talking to quite a few people is that our role as men to be fathers is the most important second to being husbands. Sadly, our society has not given much importance on that role. It is least spoken about and rarely applauded today. There is a lot of emphasis on being successful in careers and jobs but sadly none on being a successful father.

Yet, one of the cries of many people today, both young and old is for a father/ father figure. People are on the lookout for that someone who would accept and understand them for who they are. They want someone who would believe and bring out the best in them. They are on the constant lookout for acceptance and affirmation.

With Christmas coming this week, I’ve been bombarded with a lot of messages and forwards about how we shouldn’t take Christ out of Christmas and how Santa has nothing to do with Christmas etc. While I do agree with most, I think there’s a lot more that Christmas really brings to us.

I hadn’t really realized this myself till this year. I believe Christmas is the cry of a Father to be united with His children.

Galatians 4:4-7,

“4 But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law.

5 Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage.

6 You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!"

7 Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

Yes, Christmas is all about Jesus. But Christmas is more about a Father who wants to be with us and us with Him.

It’s amazing to think that all of us undoubtedly yearn for a father/ father figure and here is God waiting to become just that!

When we do realize that there is a Father waiting for us who loves us and accepts us for the way we are, we become more secure and confident than ever before.

He is the One who can accept and understand us for the way we are. He believes and wants to bring out the best in us. But will we yield to Him?

As most of you head out this season and into the next year awaiting for what life is going to bring, my prayer is that you would go into it with the realization that you don’t have to face it alone but that there is a Father who wants to go with you. That’s what Christmas is all about.

So here’s wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

L3

This is our story

The One Thing

The Cry of a Father

The Author

Popular Posts

Followers

Blog Archive

Contact Form

Blogs I read