Oh, To Be Close To Nature....

I was amused watching my girls doing their school work in our garden this morning. They're so like their mom! We should call ourselves The Garden Girls :-)

Me, with a dear friend.

One of the things close to my heart is to be with nature. That's why I love gardening, digging dirt. I love being out there taking photos, or just be there. I'm more satisfied to be feeding fish and birds than shopping in malls.

So are my children. When they were little, they would be attracted to wooden swing sets than to computer games.

They would rather climb a tree than watch tv.

 

So like their mommy!

So the verse that says "He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters." in Proverbs 23:2 is such a beautiful invitation for me.

Thank God For My Songbird

I'm a proud mom! I'm sorry for boasting here but I just can't help but tell the world that the Lord has blessed me with a songbird who makes my heart glad each time she sings. Isn't it something to have a singer in the house? LOL! Just let me boast once in a while. I don't do this so often in my life :-)

This is only a 3:45-minute video so please watch and enjoy. I'm sure you'll love the lyrics of the song, too.

This is also my entry to Judy's beautiful meme. Click on the badge below and it takes you to her encouraging blog where she shares her list of thanksgiving on Wednesdays.

Our Pomegranate Tree

The past months, our pomegranate tree didn't do well. It was heavy with fruit but fruit you wouldn't want to eat.

Then, it lost all its leaves. It looked sick and ugly standing in front of our house. It's the nest on it that held me from cutting it down.

These days, it has come back to health (I hope). Few fruits left hanging for the birds but more healthy leaves are seen.

I'm sure the birds are happier to find a cooler place to rest as we are welcoming summer heat in this side of the world.

This little birdie is taking a break. Today, my daughter Zoe and I watched it rebuilding the nest. Noticed the fresh straws on the nest? One by one, this little birdie put them all together. We wonder where it got those straws as we haven't seen such plant in our garden. It must have flown far to collect those, straw by straw, with its tiny bill. Hmmm...thinking about being hardworking, industrious, and diligent. This tiny creature taught me a big lesson today. So is my little garden. Here, I've learned  lots about patience, hope, respect of His creation, and the discipline and art of expectation.

"Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow."
~Unknown

Better Than Life

 I was in Hong Kong last week. It's still winter there but they managed to plant tulips in front of Times Square. It could be for the Spring Festival or the Valentine's Day celebration.

If you've been to Times Square, you know it's one of the busiest place in Hong Kong especially so for business, shopping and fashion. My eyes feasted on watching people donning high-end brands all over them. It's the most lively place where there's so much about this life can offer.

 

I was just glad to behold of these gentle and sweet tulips! I was soon back to my senses before covetousness devoured me and would have sent me home heavy with discontentment.

It's not "sour-graping". It's just facing the reality that one cannot have everything in this life and knowing that there's even better than life.

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You.

Psalm 63:3

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