off to Melbourne

Going off to Melbourne next week for two weeks! I love Melbourne people very much and may post about them soon.

But this post is about my carbon footprint.

I'm a water-Scrooge: I shower every 1.5 days (at Karen's suggestion and gave up my daily hair wash for the first time ever) and am sad the half flush is ineffective in most toilet designs*. I have refused many kind car-sitting offers and walk or catch a bus. I try to eat things that are low on the food chain / not overly processed. The heater in my room has not been plugged in this year (its cord is too short anyway!). I'd rather fix clothes than create landfill. I go around flicking off lights and appliances in empty rooms. I handwash dishes in a small basin instead of using a dishwasher and scrape off solid fat in the rubbish bin instead of just running water to get rid of the greasy bits. Today, I used the clothes dryer for the first time, but maintain that it's wasteful and overrated (my clothes were still damp!).

But all that seems like "saving cents and loosing dollars" when I fly to Melbourne 2+ times a year (this year, to Thailand too, which consisted of 4 flights). What a total fuel guzzler! Someone told me if I don't use a car for a whole year and jump on a plane at the end of that year, my petrol savings would be spent before I reach the end of the runway.

* The best design I've ever seen was in an Austria toilet. Hygienic, very little splash and good use of flushing water.

Dear Reader

Hi, to all five of you!

I hope to "launch" this blog soon. So I'd love to know what things you think I should tweak and pluck. For instance, a good friend helpfully said "You write well. But it's like trying to look at a lovely view while walking with a stone in my shoe", because my grammar is terrible to the point of distraction! I plan to make her sit down and edit with me. [laughs gleefully]

How do you think this blog should evolve? More pictures and personal stuff? Less internal torment / hell / death / judgment / sickness?

Thanks for reading and your encouragement! Would appreciate a prayer.

Honoria

Unique heads

From the back of the lecture hall, I can recognise people by the back of their heads. It doesn't matter if they have had a haircut, or if their head is partially obscured by another. Their heads are noticeably different. Some heads are quite spherical, others have their bulbous part just above the neck. Some are egg-shaped, which is different to being pear-shaped or pumpkin-shaped. Then there are Lurch-lookalikes. Even if two heads' shape are similar, there its volume /mass and how it's set on the neck. People are identifiable by their heads.



When I was a kid, I thought our fingerprints were the only distinguishing feature. Stripes are unique to each zebra. Songs are unique to each whale.

But watching spy movies made me realise that your voice, retina, footprint, handwriting, gait and dental structures are all unique and therefore useful for security clearances. Then there's personality and face. When I get to that point, I ask: is there anything that isn't unique to each of us?*

You are unique compared to everyone else who's ever been. And even as you change, you remain completely special.

God, who is endlessly complex and wonderful, never runs out of creative energy. He doesn't mass produce but only does originals. He has a unique relationship with each of us. You can see the love, care and beauty he endows to each of us. And God even keep tabs on your hair count.

* maybe the DNA of identical twins? But even then they turn out different from each other.

Journaling

I don't really have the patience for journaling. It takes too long!

But a friend who regularly writes in her journal said that there's good physiological reasons for doing it. The feelings centre in your brain is different from your writing centre, which is in the region of logic. So when you have lots of emotions and you write them down, you are processing it through your reason. That helps you sort through things you're going through.

My friend said "It's a bit like the Psalmist. In a Psalm, they start off in a bit of a mess and by the time they finish writing down it all down, it's sorted!"

Meaningless, Meaningless?

That funny word that translators scratch their heads at is the refrain through Ecclesiastes and probably its key:

Hebel (Hebrew): heh'-bel, hab-ale' (English: havel). Often used as an adverb, emptiness or vanity, figuratively something transitory and unsatisfactory. Mist, vapour.

You get Meaningless (NIV), Vanity (KJV), Enigma (Lindsay Wilson, OT guy at Ridley). Others have gone with Smoke (The Message), Vapour (The Amplied). Fox has interpreted it as something like Absurdity, CEV says Nonsense, Useless (CEV), Holman's gone with Absolute Futility.

Someone said the point of it was 'transience'. Why not, since the literal sense is "mist", "vapour"? Earthly things are ephemeral.



"Hebel" bears an allusion to "Abel", who made a cameo at the start of the episode about the first family (he died at the hands of his brother, killer Cain, early in the piece).

The writer of Ecclesiastes is a wise and faithful follower of the true God. He throws himself into life, succeeds at everything and is still deeply frustrated. And in parts of the picture, he's despairing at how long things lasts. What's the point of building up an empire, when you'll have to give it over to someone when you die, who'll stuff it all up in a few days? It's like chasing the wind.

The transience of everything under the sun makes a good contrast to the Everlasting Lord and his eternal kingdom. We are like the grass of the field.

And here's where we readers can sober up. Whatever pleasures, riches, good things on earth won't last. So don't put your stock in them. Whatever sufferings, injustices, evils on earth won't last. So grieve over those things as those with hope. And be comforted that this too shall pass.

There is a day coming that will last forever. And in that day The Doorkeeper and The Prize is God himself. Ecclesiastes 12:13-4

Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

Jean: if you're reading, I didn't mean for our blogs to cross-pollinate. I've been mulling over Hebel for a while, as a part of my thinking on theodicy. Your post on work was really stimulating.

Freebies to those who can afford it

Drug reps practically throw things at doctors. Cool pens. Mouse pads. Drinks. Bags. Samples. Puzzles. Lunches. Tickets. Trips overseas. Freebies freebies freebies to those who really don't need more stuff and can definitely afford it.

Have you seen people give out free stuff on the street? They tend to hand things to people who are well put together. But they are reluctant to give out stuff to people who are poor (e.g. students, homeless).

Why so stingey? Is it really free?

Abuse

I know of an older, dying woman who has separated from her abusive husband but still lives in the same house with him. Her friend called his behavior "psychological torture". Long ago, she stopped herself from taking care of him, since he just takes advantage of her. "He doesn't hit me anymore" she said plainly, "he just throws things". Now that he's showing signs of dementia, he'll get assessed by ACAT. But perhaps there was something else to be assessed years ago.

I know of a mature man who lived with a destructive wife for decades. It's very amazing how he remains soft and generous spirited. He still has good-will for his wife and grateful for how she brought up their children. But there is a raw agony that he cannot share, even though he'd like to. No one understands and he is all alone.

I know of two women who have had violent husbands. They are now both advocates for voiceless victims. They are strong women who spend a lot of time weeping and praying on their knees for those they minister to.

I know of a young woman who had a difficult childhood and had a close relationship with a manipulative and depressed woman. She is now very sensitive and caring of the needy, still giving of herself in dependent relationships.

I know of a young man with a history of abuse in his family who sees how the effects of verbal violence linger even after generations.

I know of a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

The ones who have had bad experiences with abusive people have a strange affinity to them. They often become 'rescuers' or 'protectors', who are nurturing and sensitive, offering sympathy and help. Yet, they are often the ones who are exploited and re-abused.

It shouldn't surprise us that those who are abused often repay their abusers in kind (having vendettas), or pay it forward (becoming abusers of others). This is completely unacceptable for Christians and it perpetuates a cycle of violence and destruction. But retaliation feels very natural. How should the abused react to abuse?

The following verses are very difficult. It's said by the one who was abused the worst and epitomised these words. He does not say it lightly, but soberly, holding out real hope in God to the abused. He also holds out kindness and mercy to abusers.


But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either... But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

~ Luke 6:27–9, 35-6 ESV


I definitely think abused people should get help, keep themselves safe and seek the intervention of appropriate authorities. But notice how Jesus' way is so different from our litigious, self-protective society, which cries out "an eye for an eye" and "Get angry!" For those who don't know God, there's only so much justice they can scramble for. If this life is all there is, who wouldn't despair?

But Christians can take genuine comfort when they are abused. Jesus reminds us of two factors that our society leaves out: The role of God and the day of the Lord.

Firstly, God will do right. He holds out real warnings ("Woe..." a la Luke 6:23-6) but also the offer of mercy and salvation. It's constantly amazing that God loves his enemies and offers them an out in Jesus. God remembers his people's great suffering and will reward those who do not retaliate in their power. And God remembers the unrepentant abusers, too.

Secondly, timing. The sufferings of the world are temporary. Their comfort will be so great that even the worst evil is overwhelmed and obliterated. (This is not to belittle suffering and pain, but to magnify the glorious future. If your suffering is great, vast and deep, how much more will you rejoice!). For the unrepentant abuser who runs free today, there will be a reckoning on that day. When God comes back, he'll wipe out all sin and all people who sin.

There is a day coming when God will set everything right. "Though it linger, wait for it. It will certainly come and will not delay." (Hab 2:3).