The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
– Psalm 19:1

What a beautiful day...
...especially compared to our office right now... it's freezing. =P

My coworker and I decided to take a walk at lunch, so I took off my jacket to go outside. =P

Such a nice day.

Nice to just sit in a park, (located in downtown nonetheless,) and just admire the peaceful beauty of nature...
a tranquility amidst busy city streets all around...
like the stillness in the eye of a tornado...
it's so calming...
so comforting...
so peaceful...
so nice... =)

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
– Psalm 23:1-3

"...The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised."

– Job 1:21b

God is good.
God is great.
God is awesome.
God is superlative.
Actually, God *defies* superlatives.
Haha... silly, silly... =P

Yes, Vern, how right you are. Haha.. I'm probably the only person who can amuse myself like I do... =P

Anyway, I was having one of those days. In this case, the "those" refers to an uncontrollable-emotional-outpour type of day. No, I don't get these often, but every couple of months I'll get one. =P

I'm not generally an emotional person, but pretty much the only thing that *does* cause me to get emotional is thinking about God's grace, as was the case here.

God has blessed me *abundantly,* to no end. I don't think I have any complaints about any aspect of my life... which leads me to pose the question, "Why??"

I am a proud and selfish person, undeserving of any goodness whatsoever. Totally depraved, spiritually blind, completely hopeless on my own strength, subject to spiritual death if it weren't for...

...God's grace.

"Why???"

"I have chosen you to be my child."

"But... it's too much... I can't accept it..."

"It is only by my grace that you can be saved. I love you the way you are, and this is my gift to you. I know you want to return the favour and try to do something back for me, but really, there is nothing that you can *do*. Just accept my gift to you."

"I don't know...."

--------

I must have gone through this conversation dozens of times before I could say,

"I don't know... but okay... yes... I accept!"

And thus commenced my journey as a Christian.

Ever since, he has abundantly showered his blessings upon me, and with the same level of gratitude as before, I struggle between the concept of work ethic and the acceptance of his grace.

But really, why do I bother? What good is it to gratefully but semi-unwillingly accept his gifts, to wallow in my unworthiness?

God has chosen me to be called his own, he has granted me the gifts to be used for his will, and it is up to me to say, "Um... I don't know... but okay... yes, I accept!"

And so I do, and (try to) shower *his* gifts on those around me. =)

Until next time, this is Gladys Yam.

"What is a relationship?"

I had to think very hard to this question, and still wasn't really able to come up with an answer. Just that it encompasses many things.. Just some thoughts... (in the general "boyfriend/girlfriend" sense):

Love - I think love is actually a learning process... we gradually learn to love people, and in the process, we see how God's love works, and consequently should grow in our relationship with Him. You know the heartbreaking feeling when you really miss someone? Imagine... I think God *always* feels that with us...

Commonalities - Just a practical thing... I don't know if the "opposites attract" cliché is actually representative. How can the relationship function if there is nothing to talk about?

Commitment - What's the use of dating if it's not going to go anywhere? Personally, I think dating is meant to result in marriage... I'm not saying all relationships HAVE to work out or anything, but I think that's the mindset to have when entering into a relationship. There will never be a perfect relationship. Trials are bound to ensue, and it is commitment to each other that will hold them together.

Physical attraction - haha, this is debatable... personally, I never really thought about physical attraction (seriously!) but it has been said, "A couple can have everything... but if one of them thinks the girlfriend/boyfriend is ugly, then they are hopeless." Hm.. I don't know.... maybe?

Anyway, given all of these components, mainly commitment, I think "distance" is almost irrelevant. True, it is a lot more difficult and takes a lot more effort on the part of the parties, but as long as the couple *wants* to stay together and makes the effort to do so... what will stop them?

Just some thoughts... comments?

Until next time, this is Gladys Yam.

Oh yes, back to the Relationships book... you know what? Forget it. What Dr. Les and Leslie parrott write about guy/girl friendships is... anti-climactic... nothing that you've never heard before. So forget it. =P

Can I throw out a general question though?

How many of you are in a long-distance relationship? How have you been handling it so far? What keeps you going?

Ahem, yes, questions that hit close to home... =P For those of you who know me, I'm okay, really. I'm just wondering... =P

Until next time, this is Gladys Yam.

AHHH!!!!!

I just played the worst match of tennis in my life!!

[sigh]... thank goodness my partner was forgiving, and by using our strategy of minimizing my contact with the ball, we still managed to win. =P

[sigh]... I'm tired... it's one of those days...

Until next time... [sigh, too tired]... =P

HEY!!!!!!

Just my reaction after reading Jason's page. =P

Anyway, one of my songs would be:
[gum teen ngo sui yiew dik see ngoi].

But in terms of meaningfulness, maybe:
[tien hei hei] / [teen huk huk]

Haha, jokes. =P

Hm.. well, if you haven't noticed, I'm kind of running dry on this topic. Which is weird and maybe unfortunate because it (meaning "balance") tends to be an answer that I always hear. Oh well, I haven't had that much time to think about stuff to write either...

Anyway, question: Is there ever a time when it is acceptable to give up on a friendship?

I was just thinking... sometimes friendships don't always go our way; we put a lot of ourself in, but don't always receive anything in return. Does that give us a right to start giving up on the friendship? But then, friendships aren't meant to be a cost-benefit decision anyway, right? I don't think we need to "try" as hard as we did before, but I don't think we can just give up like that.. it wouldn't be right. It would bother me to know that a friendship didn't work out because I didn't *really* try to work things out. No, maybe I'm emphasizing too much on the "doing" part.. maybe we call each other less and less.. but I don't think we should stop *caring*. And when contact ceases, thus concludes the "friendship of the road."

I've been reading Relationships by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott. In their chapter about friendships, they explain that our "circle" of friends is more like a triangle: we contact between 500 to 2500 acquaintances each year, then 20 to 100 "core friends" whom we know by name and see somewhat regularly, then 1 to 7 intimate friends, who are closely involved in our lives.

They cut out our "close friends" into 2 categories: Friends of the Road, and Friends of the Heart.

Friends of the Road - friendships that were strong at the time, but all of a sudden fades into our memories. These friendships were meant to be transitory; they helped us grow through this stretch of the road, before road ran out.
Friends of the Heart - long-lasting pals who know us sometimes better than we know ourselves... etc. =P
Neither categories are better then the other, what matters is how the friendship sustains us right now.

The main point, however, is Friends of the Road aren't failed friendships; they helped us through that time in our lives, and for that we are grateful.

Oh yeah, the book *did* touch upon guy/girl relationships, actually... but nothing much, I'll write about it later. =P

Until next time, this is Gladys Yam.

Balance: A harmonious or satisfying arrangement or proportion of parts or elements, as in a design.

Interesting. Just thought I would look it up to see what it means... there are many definitions of the word, most of them fitting my general idea of equilibrium where all "forces" or inputs, or whatever you want, are equal. But this definition is much more fitting for our purposes. It just really caught my attention because I've never thought about it like this before, and I like it.

Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, I'll get back to my questions later. =P

Until next time, this is Gladys Yam.

Sorry for not posting in a while... I've been out of the storage room and in the sun. =) And I think I should really finish my work before I spend time on this page, especially if I'm *at* work. But it's evening now, so it's ok. =P

Thanks Matt for your thoughts.

Balance. I realize that the scope of the word is pretty broad, so let's break it down (must not confound =P).:

Time - If you place value in more than one thing, then it is probably desirable to balance your time between them (lest you become one-dimensional =P). Easiest example: work (study) or play, marks or fun; we definitely have to balance between the two. Sorry, I'm not really qualified to present a quick and easy solution... although I *do* have some suggestions (namely, make a schedule! =P) No surprises here.

Effort level - As Matt has alluded to, (I suppose in terms of an ethical argument), we should put in our 100% in whatever we do. Well, whatever, I don't want to argue anything here; I know this stance is entirely debatable. (Those who know me will understand my position since I *do* have perfectionistic tendencies.. =P or just "analities" =P)

Anyway, kind of relating to this topic of effort level, let me pose a couple of questions:

Is there ever a time when it is acceptable to give up on a friendship? Is it possible to care too much?

I'll leave you with these... Until next time, this is Gladys Yam.