Healthy flowers are beautiful....

These are hibiscus flowers in the garden of the International Graduate School where I am applying for a master's degree this summer. I was a student here in 2001-2003. And it's good to be back!

In my 2 days of visit this week, I met old and new friends. They come from different countries and nationalities. But one thing they have in common; they're all beautiful people! And I know why. The school environment in general is a garden which soil is rich and cultivated. The faculty and staff are dedicated heart-gardeners, watering students lives, pulling out weeds of lies and ignorance from their hearts and minds, and guarding them from pests of discouragements and despair. They are all fertilized with love and care.

I was at the Scholarship Department yesterday and this what I saw on the wall: "Our mission is to keep our students ALIVE AND WELL so that they will be successful in their studies at (name of school)."

I'm excited to be back in this beautiful garden even for only 2 months because I know and I have seen students who come from this garden continue to bloom wherever soil they are transplanted. They always keep learning and growing.

The Widow's Mite

The box with a lock in the picture is the little donation box in our community learning center and library. Our non-profit foundation offers free services to the surrounding communities but we do encourage the parents and children to drop their donations to help us pay the bills and the materials we use in our classes. The little amount we get from this box helps us cover the petty cash we need every month. But that's not what I want to talk about in this post....

I have a very skinny girl in my class who obviously come from a poor family. I'm always worried of her health because it looks like it's only her skin that holds all her bones together!  She's not as refine as other students and was one time despised as "that girl from the slum" by her classmate's mother. She used to speak words that you only hear in the slum, that's why. I say "used to speak" because I no longer hear her speak those kind of words in my class these days. But that's not what I want to talk about her, at least not now...

It's her giving that moves me. Every time she comes to our center she stops by the box and drop a coin or two. Other children don't. Those coming from a bit better-off family wont. Our box is always hollow so even if I do not see, the sound of the coin can tell me how much she gives that day. Not much but I know it means a lot to her and her family, and it's a huge encouragement to

If you are not familiar with the story of The Widow's Mite, please read on...

The Widow’s Two Mites (Luke 21)

 ¹ And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, ² and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. ³ So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; ⁴ for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”

On Waiting...

I would like to show you one flowering plant that I planted 5 months ago. I brought home a tiny cutting from my friend's farm and planted it in a small pot. I waited for quite some time and now it is full-grown and never stops flowering. I don't know it's name. I know there's a yellow variety of this which is more common than the red one.

I thought this would be a good encouragement to those who are in the waiting mode and those whose patience is tried.

 

Faith sees a beautiful blossom in a bulb, 

a lovely garden in a seed, 

and a giant oak in an acorn.

-William Arthur Ward