Do You Remember?

After placing my order for lunch, I sat back in the chair. The air was stuffy, hazy and warm. Not the ideal setting for a great meal, just a utilitarian lunch.

The food took longer than the expected amount of time to arrive. In the meanwhile, a stallholder walked passed my table and parroted our orders, albeit erroneously.

“Chao Fan hor”, he said in a hurry. (that would be Fried Rice in Chinese)

There I was wondering to myself, “How could Hor Fun suddenly sound like Chao Fan in a matter of 5 minutes?”


After 10 minutes, there was still no sign of the food.


In the meanwhile, I had begun to muse on the issue of memory span.
It occurred to me that people in certain professions require short-term memory spans while others may require much longer.


Using the case of the food hawker above, his memory span begins from the moment you place your order and ends when he brings you your food – about 7 minutes on average.

Now how about a stage actor in a grand musical?
With the mass of lines she has to recite, surfeit of dance steps to remember, and a cascade of melodious notes to sing, I would reckon that her memory span begins from the moment the first practice begins and ends only after the last curtain call – about 1 year at least for perfection.



Closer to home; what about ourselves?
Do you remember what clothes you wore on Monday, 3 days ago?
What was your most recent meal?
How about the color of the drinking glass? Erm, wait, was there a drinking glass?


It is evident that people don’t remember everything.
Or to put it more lucidly, we only choose to remember specific things.
These things are remembered only because we attach a certain value to them.
For other less or even insignificant things, we conveniently filter them out.
Thus unless your most recent meal was cooked by a loved one, you wouldn’t probably choose to remember it.


For us as Christians, I believe there is a greater purpose that can be explored.

Our memory of Christ our God and His saving grace – how much we recall of it says a lot about the significance that we place on His love.


When we were baptized into His death, the host of angels in heaven rejoiced
for His blood washed away our sin stains
and reconciled us to the Father and His Church.
– do we recall the great sacrifice He went through to effect this for us?

When we received the Holy Spirit after praying in earnest at length,
He came to live within us, being our Comforter, Counselor, Guide and so much more.
For those who spent years or decades to pray and finally receiving the Holy Spirit,
do we recall the immense joy that filled our hearts,
the tears of joy that flowed down as we gave utmost Glory to Him?
- do you recall His words to the disciples that “I go so that the Helper will come and dwell amongst you”?



Sadly, we often forget.





Much like the ancient Israelites who forgot countless times, so we do the same today.


When God promised His people that He would guide them into the Promised Land of Canaan, they cheered.
He brought them out of Egypt, parted the Red Sea so they could believe with their infantile eyes.
Despite such a colossal display of God’s power, they feared the Anakim giants of Canaan.

Sentenced to 40 years in the wilderness, God nonetheless gave them Manna for sustenance.

Yet, it didn’t take long before the gripes and murmuring went into overdrive.
“Give us meat to eat!” was their grouse.
“Give us the delicacies of Egypt!” they wailed.



More so during the era of judges was this cyclical malaise played out.
They trusted God, got complacent, sinned, incurred the wrath of God, were punished, repented, and trusted God, but not for long.
In fact, the last verse of the book of Judges aptly sums up the culture of that period.


Despite all the miracles, signs and wonders, they forgot God was their king. So instead of the holy theocracy, they opted for the temporal monarchy.
“Give us a king to rule over us!” they yelled



So sometimes we wonder why the Israelites couldn’t remain faithful to a God who so tangibly demonstrated His greatness before them.

Wouldn’t the stories of the patriarchs have been told to the succeeding generations?
– The stories of God being a Friend to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.





But before we point all 10 fingers at them and snort, let us examine ourselves.


Don’t we often fall into the trap of sin?
We are tempted by our own lusts and desires and choosing to ignore the Spirit’s warning, we take the same step as David did.
Just as he inquired as to whom Bathsheba was, so we are inquisitive about the sensuous pleasures that seem to be luring us.
As David sought his men to bring her to his palace, likewise we enter the door of sin by accepting the temptations.


When we do so, it becomes all too easy to forget and ignore the Holy Spirit’s warning and prompting.
I could go on but it would merely be calling a cup a mug.


The biblical examples and stories were recorded in ink, not pencil, for us to know their endurance and permanence for this life. They are lessons for us to heed.






Coming back to my earlier point on affixing value, it is true that we have the option to choose if we want to place value on certain things.


Take for example the food hawker.
He wouldn’t place much value on our order for it would merely be a matter of $3 to him.
But if his grandchildren come to the store to patronize,
he would rush up to serve them and ensure that their plate is overflowing with food.
Why?
Simply because he values his precious little tots.




Did the Israelites place great value on their status – Sons of God – or was that title merely an excuse to be complacent and arrogant?
Palpably, it can be seen many times that they veered toward the latter.


Samson for all his strength and might often failed to see beyond the lust and violence. He placed his value on hedonistic pleasures and lost his Advocate. It is by God’s grace that he regained his strength for one last time when he remembered God and cried out in regret.




As for us,
How much value do we place on Christ?
And more importantly,
Has the value that we placed on Him initially lessened when it should actually increase?

It is a fact that,
We so easily lose sight of our goal of the prize.
We are so easily shaken by temptations.
Sin and Pride constantly overtake us.

We need to,
Remind ourselves of the value of Christ in our hearts.
Refresh our minds that we can only choose God and not the world.
Recall that Christ placed the greatest value on us – the value of His life.


Believe me when I say that I need this lesson as much as everyone else does, or perhaps even more.



Despite all our flaws, God has remembered us even before we were born.
- Being chosen before time to be His sons (Ephesians 1:4-5), we are consummately precious to Him.
- He is the only One who counts our grief, sorrows, and bottles every drop of tear we cry. (Psalm 56:8)
- He is the only One who remembers our good deeds and His righteous judgment fire will test and proof our favorable works for Him. (1 Corinthians 3:13)
- Being the righteous Judge, He will remember everything, be they good or bad, for which we have to give and account of on the Last day. (Hebrews 4:13)



While human memory is only for a lifetime on earth, God is the Alpha and Omega and in Him we see eternity.



"But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him,and his righteousness with their children's children- with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all."
(Psalm 103: 17-19)




My Hor Fun finally arrived after 15 minutes. It was not bad.

3 Touching Short Stories (3)

And finally, the last story, which concludes this mini-trilogy.


Story 3 : "We were only inconvenienced for 3 hours"


It was fortunate that hubby and I managed to get train tickets for the trip back to my parents' place. Upon boarding the train, we found a lady sitting in our designated seats.

Hubby motioned for me to sit beside her but did not inform the lady of her wrong seating arrangement. I was puzzled but did not question Hubby.

On closer look, I realised why Hubby had not told her that she was in the wrong seat - her right leg was handicapped.

So it was that for the entire journey from JiaYi (a city in Taiwan) to our destination city of Taipei, Hubby never once indicated to the lady that her seat actually belonged to him.



Upon disembarkation I said to my dearest Hubby,
"You know, giving up your seat was indeed a very considerate act.
But it really pained me to see you standing all the way from Jiayi to Taipei.
The journey was really long and you could have at least exchanged places with her for a while right?"


Hubby didn't take long to reply.
"Well, with her impediment, I guess she is inconvenienced for her whole life.
For us though, it was merely 3 hours."


My heart melted when I heard that. How blessed I am to have such a loving, big-hearted husband! It truly put some warmth into the often-cold world that we live in.





___________________________________________________________________
Post-Script:

When we change our perceptions, the world may also change, for the better. In fact, for every circumstance in life, there is a possibility for us to shift our understanding of things. What matters is how we change our thoughts or perception, for better or worse, we all have a choice.


While we may not be able to succeed in 3 minutes, but sometimes all it takes is a single minute
for our lives to change for the better.


After reading these 3 short stories, we can return to cleaning up our rooms, do the dishes, or tidy up the newspapers. Alternatively we could share these stories and their valuable lessons with our loved ones and friends, thereby making their world a better place.

3 Touching Short Stories (2)

And here's the second story:

Story 2 : A Heart of Innocence

Rain had not fallen upon the small town for a long while. The drought caused a huge loss of income to the farming community.
The local pastor decided to gather the townsfolk in the church to pray for rain.



Droves of people arrived at the church and amongst them was a little girl.
The girl was diminutive in stature and was nearly obscured from the other grown-ups.
Despite all that, she too came with a ready heart to pray for rain.



The pastor cast a gaze at the congregation and his eye caught hold of the singular object in the little girl’s hands.

At that instant, quivering with much emotion, he pointed in her direction and cried out, “That little girl has really moved me!”




Everyone’s head turned.




The pastor went on, “Today we’re gathered here to entreat the Lord for rain. Yet amongst the entire congregation, only this little girl had the faith to bring an umbrella.”

Everyone turned their heads again to look closely and sure enough, there it was in her hands, a red, foldable umbrella.

The hall was filled with a deafening silence.
The loud stillness eventually gave way to a crescendo of applause and incessant tears of joy.
Such was the picture of bliss.

Many a time, we can’t help but say that little children are not in the least little. In fact, they are big.

They are big in Love.
They are big in Faith.

3 Touching Short Stories (1)

I've translated the stories into English for my English-speaking/reading readers.
Here's the 1st story.
Hope this brings some joy to you as well.



Story 1 : The Heart of a Child

A young, single lady had just relocated to her new home.
She discovered that her immediate neighbors were a poverty-stricken family.
That family consisted of a widow and her 2 young children.



On a particular night, a power outage occurred in the neighborhood.
The young lady did the next best thing and lit candles to provide some light.



Not long after, there came a knock on her front door.
It was the neighbor’s child.
He came asking nervously, “Hallo, you have candle in home?”



The young lady thought to herself ‘Could it really be that these guys are so poor? They can’t afford candles!?
‘What if these guys become dependent on me in future? I’d better not lend them any candles!’
Then, with much indifference, she responded that she had none.



As she proceeded to shut the door, she noticed that the poor child’s countenance displayed a quiet smile.

“I knew you no candle in house” he chirped.


As he said that, he took 2 sticks of candles out from his pocket and cheerily handed them to the young lady.

“Mommy and I afraid you no candle ‘cos you stayin’ 1 woman. Here 2 candle for you!”



On hearing that, she was pricked by her guilty conscience.
She reprimanded herself and
As tears flowed from the bottom of her heart, she embraced the young boy whose warmth melted her cold heart.

三则感人小故事 (3)

第3个故事 : 我们只不方便三小时


那天跟老公幸运地订到了票回婆家，上车后却发现有位女士坐在我们的位子上，
老公 示意我先坐在她旁边的位子，却没有请这位女士让位。
我仔细一看，发现她右脚有一点不方便，才了解老公为何不请她让出位子。



他就这样从嘉义一直站到台北，从头到尾都没向这位女士表示这个位子是他的，
下了车之后，心疼老公的我跟他说：
「让位是善行，但从 嘉义到台北这么久，大可中途请她把位子还给你，换你坐一下。 」



老公却说：「人家不方便一辈子，我们就不方便这三小时而已。」
听到老公这么说，我相当感动，
有这么一位善良又为善不欲人知的好老公，
让我觉得世界都变得温柔许多。



心念一转，世界可能从此不同，人生中，每一件事情，
都有 转向的能力，就看我们怎么想，怎么转。
我们不会在三分钟内成功，但也许只要花一分钟，生命从此不同。



你看完这篇短文后，可以马上起身去擦桌子，或洗碗；
可以把报纸放一边，闭起眼睛沉思一会；
也可以把这篇短文，与很多朋友分享。
当然，我最希望你选择最后这一项，谁知道，你可能会改变很多人的一生。



“我们不一定会因为赚很多的钱而富有，但我们可以因付出的善念而使心中富有”

三则感人小故事 （2）

第2个故事 : 纯真的心


有一个小镇很久没有下雨了，令当地农作物损失惨重，
於是牧师把大家集合起来，准备在教堂里开一个祈求降雨的祷告会。



众中有一个小女孩， 因个子太小，几乎没有人看得到她，
但她也来参加祈雨祷告会。
就在这时侯，牧师注意到小女孩所带来的东西，
激动地在台上指著她说：「那位小妹妹很让我感动！」


於是大家顺著他手指的方向看了过去。



牧师接著说：「我们今天来祷告祈求上帝降雨，可是整个会堂中，
只有她一个人今天带著雨伞！」
大家仔细一看，果然，她的座位旁挂了一把红色的小雨伞；
这时大家沉静了一下，紧接而来的，是一阵掌声与泪水交织的美景。



有时我们不得不说：小孩子其实一点都不「小」，他们其实很「大」！
他们的爱心很大！
他们的信心很大！

三则感人小故事 （1）

第1个故事 ： 小孩的心


有一位单身女子刚搬了家，
她发现隔壁住了一户穷人家，
一个寡妇与两个小孩子。



有天晚上，那一带忽然停了电，
那位女子只好自己点起了蜡烛。
没一会儿，忽然听到有人敲门。
原来是隔壁邻居的小孩子，
只见他紧张地问：「阿姨，请问你家有蜡烛吗？」



女子心想：「他们家竟穷到连蜡烛都没有吗？
千万别借他们，免得被他们依赖了！ 」
於是，对孩子吼了一声说：「没有！」



正当她准备关上门时，
那穷小孩展开关爱的笑容说：「我就知道你家一定没有！」
说完，竟从怀里拿出两根蜡烛，说：
「妈妈和我怕你一个人住又没有蜡烛，所以我带两根来送你。」



此刻女子自责、感动得热泪盈眶，
将那小孩子紧紧地拥在怀里。