Category: Life

Posted in Christian, Daily, Life, Personal Musings, Reflections

Shelter when Lost

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

While going for a walk with a rambunctious pet, getting caught in the wet fury of the nature and her elements was an unplanned and unprecedented event. Scrambling for a cover, it was a blessing to find the shelter in the barn. As the flashes of lightning began and the pounding of the rain increased in full measure; while the fortunate ones may have escaped the fury by Providence or His Grace, the reality that there may be many others who had been caught unawares would be drenched and soaked by now makes one feel blessed in the present circumstances.

“When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.” (Exodus 33:22)

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Every now and then, in our lives, one may reach certain points or stand stills wherein the tempest roars strong crushing the spirit both in the physical, mental and emotional sense. In those moments, all one longs is a brief respite, a form of shelter to regroup and regain the inner strength. That respite is found when under His Shelter. As experienced by the wayfarers, the gift of peace and shelter in His Wings had no precedent or parallel.

Echoing the opening lines of the hymn “Rock of Ages,” with its opening lines, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee ”; the saving grace and mercy of God is such that His Presence will be with each one of us, helping us find refuge in Him at all times and on all occasions. As we experience and battle the unexpected furor or unprecedented upheavals, seeking the shelter of a temporary respite in His Hands helps us find our way back home.

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Posted in Life, Personal Musings, Reflections

Roads that Curve

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

While visiting university friends who had relocated to another city, getting to the city wasn’t an issue but finding their residence was. With Google giving directions, the traffic being routed by the city police and previously gotten directions, we eventually got there but it was an enlightening experience.

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The entire journey reminds one of how similar our lives get to be. As one goes through the days, there would be plenty of instructions, chaotic thoughts, previous knowledge, creative ideas and misled information to sort through before nightfall or the eventual end. Amidst all the hullabaloo, to take control or discernment of the right isn’t easy.

“A highly developed values system is like a compass. It serves as a guide to point you in the right direction when you are lost.” Idowu Koyenikan

While on some days, following set instructions maybe easy other days it isn’t as direct. Along the process one makes plenty of errors, experience more downhills than uphills and redefine own understanding. Amidst all this chaos one learns to direct the self with the help of inner values, instincts, conscience, humaneness and Faith. These are few of the many factors that take the lead in finding a way out through the pandemonium thoughts and situations. Letting them all lead in solo may’t help us, but together, the mayhem settles and the terminus maybe in sight.

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
― Gandhi

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Posted in Christian, Life, Personal Musings, poetry, Random Thoughts

Setting the Clock Right

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

Before closing for the weekend, there was a final briefing to plan the schedule for the following week. With a quick glance at the clock, the briefing had started. With a quick glance at the clock, the briefing had started. After the set of instructions said and a slew of ideas discussed, the hands of the clock hadn’t progressed. Or in other words, the clock on the wall was dead.

Each one of us have our own internal clocks, ranging from the physical, mental and the spiritual type. While the former may get it’s due share through workout sessions, balance of the diet scales and taking the stress free zone; it is the latter that at times, needs a push. The human nature needs to maintain it’s innate balance by engaging the emotional, mental and spiritual aspect. When those clocks aren’t wound properly they may fail to function in synchronous with the remaining aspects of human life, creating a chaos within. Each sphere of our life needs help to function properly. By constant prayer, faith and belief in His Word, there would be help to restart our clock when it ceases to function properly. For everything goes as per His Time.

“And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:15)

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A Boy and His Watchmaker

This watch my father did on me bestow,
A golden one it is, but ’twill not go,
Unless it be at an uncertainty:
But as good none as one to tell a lie.
When ’tis high day my hand will stand at nine;
I think there’s no man’s watch so bad as mine.
Sometimes ’tis sullen, ’twill not go at all,
And yet ’twas never broke nor had a fall.

Watchmaker.

Your watch, though it be good, through want of skill
May fail to do according to your will.
Suppose the balance, wheels, and springs be good,
And all things else, unless you understood
To manage it, as watches ought to be,
Your watch will still be at uncertainty.
Come, tell me, do you keep it from the dust,
Yea, wind it also duly up you must?
Take heed, too, that you do not strain the spring;
You must be circumspect in every thing,
Or else your watch, were it as good again,
Would not with time and tide you entertain.

Comparison.

This boy an emblem is of a convert,
His watch of the work of grace within his heart,
The watchmaker is Jesus Christ our Lord,
His counsel, the directions of his Word;
Then convert, if thy heart be out of frame,
Of this watchmaker learn to mend the same.
Do not lay ope’ thy heart to worldly dust,
Nor let thy graces over-grow with rust,
Be oft’ renewed in the’ spirit of thy mind,
Or else uncertain thou thy watch wilt find.
-John Bunyan

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Posted in Life, Personal Musings, poetry, Random Thoughts

Myriad Shades of Nature

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“I think that to one in sympathy with nature, each season, in turn, seems the loveliest.” Mark Twain

An unexpected fill in for an outstation workshop had resulted in the journey to the city of my high school days, one of my Alma maters. Landing at the airport, with the cold winds and temperatures dropping down fast, the journey had caught me unawares especially as the winter winds had long left my residence towards the first month of the year. Acclimatizing to the sudden change makes one realize the manifold faces of nature.

“In Ohio seasons are theatrical. Each one enters like a prima donna, convinced its performance is the reason the world has people in it.” Toni Morrison

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
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Like the sudden change of the winds, so does the emotions and complexity of those moments. Experiences in life bring forth the faces of emotions from within. From the quiet feelings of contentment to blooming happiness as the uneasiness, anger and fury at difficult situations, life takes one on a myriad of emotions similar to the roller coaster ride of nature. One needs all the bad to feel the beauty of the good. Like the pristine winter white can echo the contentment as well as loneliness, so does the fledgling spring echo the new life in the bleak canvas as well the blistering heat of summer which bring out the joy of outdoors to the prequel of the rains of autumns cold but leave a touch of colour when there. One needs them all to feel complete. For contentment doesn’t come when we have the best of the best, but learn to appreciate the present in the midst of the worst.

Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments
Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

The Human Seasons

Four Seasons fill the measure of the year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
Spring’s honied cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness–to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.

John Keats

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Posted in Family and Society, Life, Personal Musings, poetry, Reflections

On the Canvas

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.” Albert Camus (Notebooks 1935-1942)

One of the best things about entertaining a group of toddlers, is their spontaneity. Following their flow of energy, children are more keen on dwelling in the “now”. What about the adult “nows”? More or less, they do happen more in the professional sphere than the personal zone. Eventually some “now” never happens, neither does “the later”.

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Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

As each of us “adult” reserve their time and energy for the tomorrow, those proposed plans mayn’t happen. Time has it’s own flow. At times the tomorrows may work out, at times it mayn’t be so. If it was done at the “now” of then, then maybe it would be have happened or done only. Time has and always will be contrary. Sometimes as the toddlers say “let’s play tent” or “play with us” maybe some of the most precious memories made as one unwinds from work than catching up with “the telly”.

“It’s being here now that’s important. There’s no past and there’s no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can’t relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don’t know if there is one.” George Harrison

Time has a beginning and ending, but those moments in between are what fills up the blank canvas. It may be filled by phases of dark hues, spots of brightness scattered in the dark template or hues of varying colours depending on own choice. As one decides on how the space on the canvas needs to be made so for the future days, take care that the spaces of now don’t go void.

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Hymn to Time

Time says “Let there be”
every moment and instantly
there is space and the radiance
of each bright galaxy.

And eyes beholding radiance.
And the gnats’ flickering dance.
And the seas’ expanse.
And death, and chance.

Time makes room
for going and coming home
and in time’s womb
begins all ending.

Time is being and being
time, it is all one thing,
the shining, the seeing,
the dark abounding.

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018)
(From Late in the Day: Poems 2010-2014 (PM Press, 2015). Copyright © 2015 by Ursula K. Le Guin.).

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Posted in Family and Society, Life, Personal Musings, Reflections, Stories Around the World

A Hand We all Need

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

While doing the weekend stint of shopping, the difficulty in managing a capricious toddler was fully felt. From cooperating in the first few minutes to putting everything into the cart and running loose down the aisles, I had my hands fully occupied. Fortunately, a kind saleslady took some pity and gave me a hand while making my toddler help her in putting the sticker on the weighed and bagged vegetables.

“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” John Holmes

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Source:https://vk.com/public75290000

One needs help in many forms. From being given a space in the traffic queue during rush hour to given a compliment for the successful completion of a project or trying a new skill, settling into a new neighbourhood, we all need various degrees of help. While some types of help may be in a pure physical manner, others may be in the form of lending an ear more than a hand or simply offering mental support to ease the burdens and stress. Happiness mayn’t be so, if achieved by the sole exclusivity of the world around one. Instead the sheer joy of giving and receiving help in any form may result in a shared feeling of contentment, a state of happiness, peace and calm.

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Source:https://vk.com/public138314547
Source:https://vk.com/public138314547

“I parked in front of a mall, wiping my car, when a tramp approached me. From the looks of him, he had no car, no home, no clean clothes, and no money. There are times when you feel generous but sometimes you just don’t want to be bothered. This was one of those “don’t want to be bothered times”. I hope he doesn’t ask me for money, I thought. He didn’t. He sat down on the curb and after a few minutes he spoke. “That’s a very pretty car,” he said. He was ragged but he had an air of dignity around him. His scraggly beard keep more than his face warm. I said, “Thanks,” and continued wiping my car. He sat quietly. The expected plea for money never came. As the silence between us widened something inside me said, “Ask him if he needs any help.” I was sure he would say “Yes” but I held true to the inner voice. “Do you need any help?” I asked. He answered in three simple but profound words that I shall never forget. We often look for wisdom in great men and women. We expect it from those of higher learning and accomplishments. I expected nothing but an outstretched grimy hand. But he spoke the three words that shook me.

“Don’t we all?” he said.

I was feeling high and mighty, successful and important, above a tramp in the street, until those three words hit me. *Don’t we all?* I needed help. Maybe not for a meal or a place to sleep, but I needed help. I reached in my wallet and gave him enough to get a warm meal. Those three little words still ring true.

No matter how much you have, no matter how much you have accomplished, you need help too. No matter how little you have, no matter how loaded you are with problems, even without money or a place to sleep, you can give help. Even if it’s just a compliment, you can give that. You never know when you may see someone that appears to have it all. But they may be waiting for you to give them what they don’t have! A different perspective on life. A glimpse at something beautiful. A respite from daily chaos, that only you with a different view can see. Maybe the man was just a homeless stranger wandering the streets. Maybe he was more than that. Maybe he was sent by a power that is great and wise, to minister to people too comfortable in themselves. Maybe God looked down, called an Angel, dressed him like a tramp, then said, “Go minister to that man cleaning the car, that man needs help.” *DON’T WE ALL?*

Source: vk.com”

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Posted in Family and Society, Life, Random Thoughts, Stories Around the World

When Shared, then Found

Posted on by Sugar and Spice..... Among Other Things

“If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.’
If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.”
Chinese Proverb

One of the gifts of the holiday season is the delightful art of bringing that smile on the faces around us. With all the carol singing, Christmas games at the retirement and palliative homes, the local teen and youth community had an engaging and meaningful Christmas time. A week later while reviewing the photographs and write-ups in the community newsletter, the happy accounts and candid moments brought a smile from within the heart.

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” Buddha

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Source:https://vk.com/thesemagicmoments

Many a time, happiness is accounted by the gifts accumulated, places visited, accolades and awards received and other social markers (as perceived by society) obtained. Yet the reality is far from that. True that all these achievements and more, may bring some amount of pleasure and joy; but does it ever last.

Doing and scoring for oneself brings only meaning at the height of achievement. If there aren’t any who really share in our happiness from within, it holds no meaning. Yet bringing a smile on a stranger’s face by saying “thank you” or offering assistance to a mother with a struggling toddler to help with their grocery cart in the long queue; these hold a wealth of meaning as they bring a smile from the bottom of the heart.

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Truly being happy is never by capturing the butterfly, but allowing it to fly and share the colours it has along the path it takes, bringing smiles of happiness, peace, joy and contentment everywhere.

FIND HAPPINESS
Once a group of 50 people were attending a seminar. Suddenly the speaker stopped and decided to do a group activity. He started giving each attendee one balloon. Each one was asked to write his/her name on it using a marker pen. Then all the balloons were collected and put in another room.

Now these delegates were let into that room and asked to find the balloon which had their name written within 5 minutes. Everyone was frantically searching for their name, colliding with each other, pushing around others and there was utter chaos.

At the end of 5 minutes no one could find their own balloon. Now each one was asked to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within minutes everyone had their own balloon.

The speaker then began, “This is happening in our lives. Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is.

Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people. Give them their happiness; you will get your own happiness. And this is the purpose of human life…the pursuit of happiness.”

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