It's really easy to let time slip. Between one moment of consciousness and the next, days, months, years squeeze in. Taking a pause, looking back, it's amazing how "unexamined" we had let life run its course.
Last entry in April, and what a world change Jul is in comparison. As evident from Ruth's belly bulge, we're firmly in her third trimester and Daniel is no longer that "blip" on the scan, but a real-life pair of legs itching for a good kick. That means sleepless nights for Ruth (and I), and strange aches that won't go away ("Dear, I think he's kicking my stomach/lungs/heart/kidney/intestine...."). In God's divine goodness, as Adrian puts it, we're being prepared for parenthood.
Fortunately, we did manage to sneak away in May to Bali. We did the
Alila two faces of Bali thing -- it was really really nice. Guilty nice. Nice, as in, wow surely there's a better way to spend God's money than indulge in this.
To drive home the point, a monkey pulled my glasses out of my face during our visit to Tanah Lot, as if to say that I am not seeing quite clearly enough -- might as well not do with those glasses.
As with most holidays, there was a lot of "dying" involved. Dying to my selfish desire to see the world, at the cost of yanking my poor wife around the globe. Dying to my belief that a holiday is a "necessity" when it really doesn't quite figure in God's plan. Dying to the exotic, because the exotic things will pale in comparison to Glory.
So bye bye holidays .... =(
Of course, there was the "Birthday" thing end May. I wanted things to be different this time. Usually, one is on the receiving end for birthdays, but I thought it would be nice to be on the giving end instead. So that was what we did. We made dinner, invited friends over, and gave them all pressies instead of taking them. It felt really good. Suggest you try it.
June was a bit of blur because of church camp. And church camp was a bit of blur because there was just so much to take in. Work cropped up again and again in conversations and thought. Rather "careerism" did. Dr Vanderpool, from Wellesley College, wrote a
wonderful article about it back in 1975 (yep, the year I was born). And it remains as relevant today, in America and in Singapore. God has nothing against Work -- after all, he did work pretty hard for six days out of seven (hmm... does that make the five-day work week a cop-out?). But what he abhors is when Work becomes an Idol, and that's what careerism is all about. We become defined by the Work we do.
A typical conversational opener -- "so what do you do?" -- gets answered by a career. Isn't that allowing our Work to define us? How many of us actually say, "Oh, I'm a Christian." That's what defines us and our Work. Hard teaching this is, but a necessary one against the wonders of human resource management that is so polished, it's turned us into Pavlovian idolators, waiting for the next promotion/increment, etc ... feeding our greed (another idol). The next time your boss asks you to work for that promotion, just say "Woof!!"
I really hope the lessons will stick like leeches on my conscience, healing the sore and rot that these "evil days" bring along.
Looking ahead, I hope to post Daniel's picture soon =) ... in the meantime, Ruth and I are hoping to find a suitable means to record his birth. If you've a working video cam to loan us, do drop us a note.
