Pitter patter

 "There are things you can't avoid, like the rain. But as long as you have people who can be your umbrella, I think you can survive the rain, even if you get a little bit wet."

- The Law Cafe, 2022

Compassion

Was reflecting on this recently because oftentimes, the words and actions of others cause us to get irritated, become angry, turn sad or make us feel rejected. How do we overcome our emotions and develop compassion for others? 

I don't think that I can do so by myself. I've had to pray consistently for God to fill my heart with love and empathy and help me see others the way He sees them. 

Also, it requires discipline and deliberate behaviour. A conscious recognition of the other person as a soul precious to God and a deliberate decision to tell oneself that I need to be kind and compassionate because I don't know what the other person is struggling with and where he or she was coming from when he or she said those words or acted in that way. 

It is all too easy for my heart to become cold and cynical but for Keith Green. 

When I get to heaven and I see Keith Green, I will thank him because his testimony and his words in this YouTube video (Keith Green - Oh Lord You're Beautiful left a deep impression on me. 

His exact words were "Lord, I want to have baby skin. I want to have skin like a baby for my heart." His words have become a prayer that I frequently use in my life. 

• Keep your heart with all vigilance,
  for from it flow the springs of life.
  Proverbs 4:23

 

 Some musings over the past week:

Proverbs 17:27: He that hath knowledge spareth his words and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

Authenticity

Sufficiency

Humility

Be Kind

Imitate Christ

Do the right thing, not the easy thing

저녁에 / In the Night / Kim Gwang-Seop (1905–1977)

Among a multitude of stars,
one stares down at me.
Among a multitude of people,
I stare up at that one star.
As the night grows deeper,
it fades into brightness
and I disappear into darkness.
Where, when,
as what will the two of us…
you, one so warm, and me, one so tender,
meet again?

저렇게 많은 중에서
별 하나가 나를 내려다본다
이렇게 많은 사람 중에서
그 별 하나를 쳐다본다
밤이 깊을수록
별은 밝음 속에 사라지고
나는 어둠 속에 사라진다
이렇게 정다운
너 하나 나 하나는
어디서 무엇이 되어
다시 만나랴

Source: https://www.are.na/block/3203506

Spring

 If there's just one minute left for me

I want my soul to live that minute clean.

- Khet Thi

Earthrise

To see the Earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the Earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold — brothers who know now they are truly brothers.

- Archibald MacLeish

Books read in 2021. 

1. A Bookshop in Algiers by Kaouther Adimi
2. Stories of the Sahara - Sanmao
3. Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon - Rahul Jandial
4. 恋人 - Jeong Ho-Seung
5. Unnatural Causes - Richard Shepherd
6. Letter to My Mother - Felix Cheong (Editor)
7. The Battle for Home - Memoir of a Syrian Architect - Marwa al-Sabouni
8. The Way We Die Now - Seamus O'Mahony
9. Broken Stars - Ken Liu (editor)
10. The Memory Police - Ogawa Yoko
11. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 - Cho Nam-ju
12. At Dusk - Hwang Sok-yong
13. Diary of a Murderer - Kim Young-ha
14. The Foundations of Chinese Medicine Vol 1 - Giovanni Maciocia
15. Books Do Furnish a Life - Richard Dawkins
16. The Spy and the Traitor - Ben Macintyre
17. The  Poetry of Robert Frost - Robert Frost
18. Katharina and Luthur - Michelle DeRusha
19. The Master Key - Togawa Masako
20. Memoirs of a Polar Bear - Tawada Yoko
21. The Honjin Murders - Yokomizo Seishi
22. How Do You Live? - Yoshino Genzaburo
23. Touring the Land of the Dead - Kashimada Maki
24. Shoko's Smile - Choi Eun-young
25. The Woman in the Purple Skirt - Imamura Natsuko