My colleague stopped by my office the other day, with a wary face. He asked me if I had known certain new data analysis tool. I shook my head and told him that I was not aware of such a tool. He was told by management to switch to a new tool because the current tool he has been using is going away. He was frustrated as he has invested a lot of time and efforts on the current tool to automate his work. Unfortunately, I couldn’t offer much help. I can only sympathize as the same situation happened to me a year ago – I have to scramble around in order to migrate my automated work to a new tool. Sigh! Life is not always as smooth as you would have dreamed of even you have done your part.

Then, a funny news broke out last week. There is a man who has dreamed to go to a place for vacation for a long time. When that day came, he happily hopped on an airplane heading toward his dreaming location. Only to find out that due to an operation error of the Airline, he was sent to a totally different location. I could image how shock he was when he arrived at the new location. Again, life is not always as smooth as you would like.

This makes me wonder what is your take on “when thing goes haywire”. One way you can do, I think, is laughing at it and then life goes on. The other way, you may do is gnashing your teeth and mulling it over by yourself. Or, you can seek help from others to solve the unexpected situation, just like my colleague. You may say: I would select my action based on the situation. Yes, it is true. The trouble is our assessment of the situation oftentimes is miscalculated or misjudged – we think we can handle it and therefore we choose to mull it over by our self. Quickly we find out that we are not capable of solving it. My most recent painful experience was on my car repairs, for example.

Jesus, in His last teaching to His disciples, clearly told them that “in this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). So we should not be surprised when we see things go haywire because we are His children and besides, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun 已有的事後必再有，已行的事後必再行，日光之下並無新事 (Ecclesiastes 1:9)”. The only NEW thing can happen is under the SON of God – He gives us new life and restores our relationship with God.

When we realize that life is not always smooth and is full of erratic, we learn that not everything is under our control. In fact, we have to realize that “nothing” is under our control! The only one who is in control is God! He is the LORD of all. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, please be ready to ask help from our God when we face difficulties, because He is merciful and He promised that we can approach His throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16).

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Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Last Saturday was the first day of summer. It marks the beginning of summer vacation period to many of us. For students, summer could be a new milestone to their life journey if they are graduating from schools. Last night, we had a chance to watch Youtube broadcasts for speeches of convocation ceremony from two well-known universities. I find that they are quite interesting and somewhat amusing. The two energetic speakers used their opportunities to address challenges that graduates may run into during their new adventures. They also provided encouragement to the graduates in their future endeavors and at the same time, advices when facing challenges and difficulties. I don’t know how well the graduates received from the speeches but, I am certain most of them would be glad to receive their diplomas. Their parents, especially, would be delighted to have a relief in paying hefty tuition and fees 🙂

As we all know, a diploma is an official document that proves you have successfully finished all the work in a course of study. It is also an important document, though is not always imperative, that may qualify you for certain types of task / job. If the diploma, by any chance, has an error on it – either your name or school name is incorrect, or your study major is misspelled. You can imagine many confusions and inconveniences, between you and the school, could be resulted. Unfortunately, this kind of incidence does happen. Recently, a typographical error for the name of the department from a famous university was discovered on every diploma that was issued by the university. As a result, it becomes an instant viral in the internet.

You may say, “What’s big deal!” My response is: “Yes, it may not be a big deal. However, it will be a big deal when we are talking about our salvation”. Just imagine this: When you are entering the heaven gate after your current life,

“How do I know you are my child?” God asked.
“I have my proof, my Lord”, you answered and show Him your “diploma”.
“I don’t know who issued this to you. You didn’t have the right Savior’s name! Therefore, I don’t recognize you as my child”. God responded.
Then, what should you do, if it were you?

Bible clearly told us that there is no second chance left for us to correct it, after our current life is ended, because we shall stand in front of Jesus’ glorious throne to face judgment (Matthew 25:31). Isn’t this a big deal?

If we consider our life journey is like a “school of life”, each one of us is supposed to graduate from this school at the end of our current life. The question is “Do you have the “right” name who has the authority to issue you the diploma when you are graduating?” If not, then you will be definitely blocked from entering the heaven gate. Isn’t this a big deal?

Apostle Peter indicates to us that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. 除他以外，別無拯救，因為在天下人間，沒有賜下別的名我們可以靠著得救。(Acts 4:12)” Therefore, my dear friends, please remember that you need to have the right name on your diploma – it is “Jesus”!

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Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Last Sunday was the Father’s Day that many of us celebrate. My kids called me and gave me a beautiful greeting card with some nice words in it. They used phrases such as, “you are special”, “I appreciate what you have done for us”, etc. to express their appreciations. I felt touched and thought, “They finally know how to honor their parents.” 🙂 This lets me remember apostle Paul’s teaching to the Church of Ephesus. He gave us a good principle of relationship between parents and children for us to follow. He said, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth. 你們做兒女的，要在主裡聽從父母，這是理所當然的。「要孝敬父母，使你得福，在世長壽。」這是第一條帶應許的誡命。” (Ephesians 6:1-3).

Traditionally, we were taught to obey our parents as filial piety is one of the virtues emphasized by Confucius in our culture. From my experience, filial piety does help in maintaining proper relationships in a family and stability of a society. Its origin, if we look at it deeper, can be traced back to the reasoning that we were asked to have a thankful heart to our parents because of their laboring for bringing up each one of us. The question is: we thank our parents because we were told to do so or because we “want” to do it? There is a subtle difference in between the two motivations, I think. When my kids said to me “I am special”, it prompts me to think it over what does it really entails.

We all have our experiences in job hunting. I recalled in one of the interviews that I had been through. The interviewer asked me a question, “What makes you so special that I should hire you?” I stuttered for a moment as I wasn’t prepared for this kind of question. Similarly, I wasn’t prepared to answer the intriguing question – apart from I am father to my kids, how special I am to them? Oftentimes, we would say someone is special. This usually does not mean that he / she is perfect or wonderful “in every aspect”. It may very likely mean that he or she possess certain rare traits that are special to us. So, you may ask, is there a person who is special and at the same time, is perfect and wonderful? The answer is “yes” – God!

God is not only special but also is perfect and wonderful! He is special because He loves us so much that He is willing to sacrifice His son — Jesus Christ’s — life for us (John 3:16); He is perfect because He is holy and blameless (Leviticus 11:44-45); He is wonderful because He does marvelous deeds (Psalm 86:10). Apostle Paul reminds us that we received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15). And, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16). Therefore, when we acknowledge that God is our “Heavenly Father”, we would be called God’s children. The question here is do you want to be His children or not?

My dear brothers and sisters, I am not sure whether you are familiar with a hymnal called “Abba Father (阿爸父)” from “Melody of my Heart”,  or not. It depicts a longing desire of the author to meet our Heavenly Father. I do hope that we have the similar desire too! The truth is when we realize that how special our Heavenly Father is, we will love to meet Him daily. I pray that you can realize the truth and have His peace and His love surround you, as always….
Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Last Saturday, we had a summer picnic at a local park. It was a beautiful day with many families presented. In the park, there are playgrounds, a beach and two ponds. We had a great time. After lunch, I took the advantage of the ponds to practice my fly casting. It is fun to practice it on water instead of grass lawn. There are bluegill/ Sunfish in the ponds too. So, I used the catch and release practice on those Sunfish. A sister of our group saw what I was doing, asked me to let her keep them. With no bag is available at that time, she has to put the fish through a thin monofilament that I have. It was ok in the beginning but it soon becomes a problem when the third fish was caught. In the middle of pushing the monofilament line through the newly caught one, the ones on the other end of the line struggled. As a result, the line dropped and the previous catch escaped. We were all laughing and thinking it is fish’s lucky day that they got away.

This interesting event reminds me of our own life experience – How often were we surprised by things that we thought are safe and sound? Probably a few times, right? Recently, my son got a penalty fine surprise from a bank, because he used his debit card with insufficient fund. He later told us that he “thought” he still has money in the bank. This is a minor example, how about recent school / college shooting incidents? Aren’t we thinking our kids are safe in those schools as those incidents occurred in seems-to-be-safe neighborhood? After all, we may possess a false sense of security about things if we are not careful. It is not until we were surprised then we realize that there is no sure thing in this world. Yet, it is sad to say that we continue to make the same mistake over and over again.

In the era of Northern and Southern kingdoms, Israelites rely on prophets to give them guidance. However, false prophets would lead them into danger and eventually being captivated by Assyria and Babylon, even prophet Jeremiah and prophet Ezekiel warned them about the imminent judgments. In the book of Jeremiah, God warned Israelites through prophet Jeremiah, “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. 因為他們從最小的到至大的都一味地貪婪，從先知到祭司都行事虛謊。 他們輕輕忽忽地醫治我百姓的損傷，說『平安了！平安了！』，其實沒有平安。(Jeremiah 6:13-14). In the book of Ezekiel, prophet Ezekiel announced God’s judgment to the false prophets, “My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord. 我的手必攻擊那見虛假異象，用謊詐占卜的先知。他們必不列在我百姓的會中，不錄在以色列家的冊上，也不進入以色列地，你們就知道我是主耶和華。』 因為他們誘惑我的百姓，說『平安！』，其實沒有平安，就像有人立起牆壁，他們倒用未泡透的灰抹上 (Ezekiel 13:9-10)” The false sense of security created by the false prophets make the Israelites believe that God is with them and they are safe. How wrong it is!

Therefore, the real question here is: “Is there any sure thing? Where can we find the sense of security that is “true”?” The answer is “yes!” It is God who can give us the true sense of security. I do hope that you can know Him personally.

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Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

I was working on several things last Saturday. One of the things that I have to do is to help my wife build a supporting frame for her garden vegetables, which has been on my honey-to-do list for quite a while. My idea was to set up the frame quickly without spending too much time and money. So, I used a few pieces of left-over lumber from my garage to build it, only to find out later that I couldn’t finish it without additional material. The project was therefore delayed. What a drag 🙁

In the middle of my constructing the frame, my wife pointed to me an interesting behavior she observed from the area where two rows of snow pea were planted – she was amazed to see how the snow pea vines could, by themselves, find a supple metal skeleton that she put into the area a week ago, as there is at least two-to-three inches in between the skeleton and the snow pea. And, she didn’t even force / arrange them intentionally from the beginning. Our conclusion is apparently the snow pea vines know how to find support that they can cling to, without human intervention. It was an amazing instinct from God’s creation.

As the snow pea is a type of herbaceous plant, they need certain support in order to stand up and bear fruit nicely. Without the support, they would cripple on the ground. This behavior of dependency reminds me of us. When we were young, we depend upon our parents to provide various supports – this includes both physical and emotional aspects. However, when we are getting older, our parents would expect us to be mature and independent as a responsible adult. The idea is for us to make decisions, hopefully the right ones, independently, based on our learning and experience. We will then be responsible for any subsequent results. In this aspect, the independence is meant to be mature both physically and emotionally.

The expectation of independence was found in our spiritual journey too. When apostle Paul heard quarrels and chaotic behaviors occurred in the Church of Corinth, his heart was saddened. He then wrote a stern letter to brothers and sisters in the Church and criticized them as “spiritual infants” instead of “adults” in Christ (1 Corinthians 3). We can imagine how hard it is for Paul who as a spiritual father to the brothers and sisters in the Church of Corinth – He was expecting them to be mature spiritually. Instead, he saw them still live in flesh desires. Then the question is “How can we mature spiritually?”

As is God gives the snow pea to find support, so is for us to find support in our journey of faith. Prophet Jeremiah indicated to us how God desired His people, the Israelites, to repent from their rebellion and return to Him. He said, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. 因為我的百姓、做了兩件惡事、就是離棄我這活水的泉源、為自己鑿出池子、是破裂不能存水的池子。(Jeremiah 2:13)”. He wants Israelites to realize that there is a consequence in depending upon false gods instead of Him. This tells us that not only there is a need to find support in order for us to be mature spiritually but also finding a right one is absolutely crucial.

In His last speech to His disciples, Jesus proclaimed, “I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)”. Therefore, He is the right one whom we can depend upon. He is the true vine and whoever remains in Him will bear fruit (John 15). When we root ourselves in Him, depending upon Him in every aspect of our life, we can grow into maturity. As the Holy Spirit speaks, we follow. This is the kind of dependence that is expected from our Lord, my dear brothers and sisters. So, my question to you is, “Are you depending upon Him or yourself?”

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Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Recently, I was annoyed by a clunking sound developed under the engine of my car. As the day of picking up my kid at college is approaching, I decided to take last Friday off in order to check it out and repair it, if necessary. I end up spent a long day in order to get to the suspected rear engine mount – I couldn’t take it out because I “skipped” one of the procedures which should take down the exhaust pipe, for I fear the rusted pipe nuts would cause me regrets afterwards. But, this later proves to be my mistake and the root to all the miserable hours I have spent. In the next day, I decided to take down the exhaust pipe and this allows me to jack up the engine higher and actually gives me better access to the suspected mount. After got to the mount, I find that it is still in working condition. At that moment, I sighed, “What a fiasco! 🙁 ” In the end, I spent long hours again to put everything back, including the exhaust pipe. My wife then complained that I spent too much time on the car instead of on the family, what can I say? 🙁 This was really a “memorial” weekend!

Have I learned anything? Sure. Because of my “smart” decision in skipping a procedure, I suffered from the consequence of ungodly long-hours. This teaches me a lesson to follow the procedure completely, don’t try to be too smart. 🙁 The other thing I’ve learned is: there could be many surprises waiting for you when you are doing repair jobs, especially on an old car. Thus, you may easily get frustrated after a few difficulties surfaced. So, “be patient” and “knowing your own limit (i.e. admit your mistake and get some help)” are very important. You may ask me why I should perform the DIY repair? Well, the joy of DIY repairs lie on the sense of achievement, when everything is done and fully functional. Remember your kid exclaimed “I did it!” when he/she finish something? That is the feeling I am talking about. 🙂

In our spiritual journey, God gives us instructions to our life through His Holy Scripture. He also gives us free will to choose which way we want to go. We can either choose to follow His instructions truthfully or cut-the-corner and skip a few steps. In the beginning, it may seem to be no harm but in the end, the result is quite different. This was highlighted by Jesus’ parable of “The Wise and Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24-27)”. Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 凡聽見我這話不去行的，好比一個無知的人，把房子蓋在沙土上 (7:26)” Isn’t this serves as a warning to us? When we choose not to put God’s words into practice, we are like foolish men from God’s eye. Because, at the end of our life journey, we lost our only opportunity to become more like His son, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, have you been following God’s words truthfully? If not, can you put God’s words into practice, please?

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Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Last week, on one of the early mornings, I had to drop off my son to his school as usual. When I was on my way, my wife called and told me that she heard a loud noise in the garage after I left. She then checked and found that one of the safety springs for the garage door snapped. So, the garage door is now stuck. Hearing this news, I thank God for His protection not letting the garage door slammed on me, when I was backing out my car.

Apparently, material failure caused the spring to snap after repeated usage. Initial reaction I had was “How can this be? I thought I just changed it not long ago. Well, what can I say?” The premature failure does reveal two possible causes. One could be due to over-usage and the other could be “poor” product quality, due to manufacturing process variation. As the other side of the safety spring is still good for the time being, I have to assume the cause is because of poor quality.

The phenomenon of premature failure is a behavior that most manufacturing companies trying to prevent, as it would damage companies’ reputation and consequently revenue streams. In viewing our journey of faith, do we have the phenomenon of premature failure too? I think so. It is called “burn-out”. In a sense, the Christian’s burn-out would also damage God’s reputation and hinder the spread of His gospel too.

How do you know that you are at a stage of burning out? When you feel that you are out of energy in serving God and you like to complain more and more, you are at the edge of “burning out”. Theoretically, every Christian would encounter this phenomenon, regardless of his/her serving post. However, it may be more obvious on those who are heavily involved in ministry serving than those who are not. A notable example is Moses, who led millions of Israelites wandering around the wilderness for 40 years. As it is recorded in the book of Numbers, Moses had to put up with numerous complaints and slanders from the Israelites – the cry babies. In one of the incidents, we find that those cry babies complained about manna food they ate (Numbers 11:4-34) – they want to have similar food as they were in Egypt, instead. As a result, God became exceedingly angry, and Moses also was displeased. So Moses responded to God with several questions: “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? 「你為何苦待僕人，我為何不在你眼前蒙恩，竟把這管理百姓的重任加在我身上呢？ 這百姓豈是我懷的胎，豈是我生下來的呢？你竟對我說把他們抱在懷裡，如養育之父抱吃奶的孩子，直抱到你起誓應許給他們祖宗的地去。(Numbers 11:11-12)”. At the end of his questions, Moses complained that he cannot carry all these people by himself. He thinks the burden is too heavy for him. Have you noticed the phenomenon of “burn-out” on Moses? I think he is giving up and wants to quit!

My dear brothers and sisters, are you at a stage that you want to give up or quit? Are you feeling that you are all alone doing God’s work? Then, be alert! You may be at the edge of burn-out. Please don’t underestimate the power of destruction of burn-out. Let’s not forget that we have to remain in Him constantly because this is the only way to avoid the phenomenon of burning out!

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Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

In one of the Saturday mornings, I have a chance to take time relax myself a little bit. So, I decided to practice my fly casting skill at a local lake – as it is more spacious, less restrictions and less crowded than the river bank.

During my practice of casting, I was surprised by many hungry pan-fish. They seem to be fond of my flies. As a result, I have to keep releasing them back into the lake and my hand was getting smelly. Along the way, I caught one keeper size trout; though I wasn’t target her initially. I decided to keep her. After putting her into a grocery plastic bag, I went back to cast again. Then in the middle of my casting, I find that she broke free from my plastic bag. I checked the bag and realize that the bag is having a hole in it 🙁 I shook my shoulder and continued to cast. After a short while, before I was ready to leave, I caught another keeper size of trout. Guess what? I was stupid enough to put the trout into the broken bag again, thinking that I can close up the hole faster than the trout can get out. I was wrong again. The trout escaped! I laughed badly when I saw her escape scene. I told myself, “Oh well, I already achieved my purpose of practicing. Don’t ask too much 🙂 ”

I don’t know if you have ever encountered a similar situation likes me – I was giving a second chance to do it right but I blew it. Sometimes this kind of situation – like the escaped trout – is not much of importance; other times, however, it may be a matter of life and death. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 26, it recorded an event of the last Passover dinner gathering that Jesus and His disciples had. And while they were eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?” Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 正吃的時候，耶穌說：「我實在告訴你們：你們中間有一個人要賣我了。」 他們就甚憂愁，一個一個地問他說：「主，是我嗎？」 耶穌回答說：「同我蘸手在盤子裡的，就是他要賣我。(Matthew 26:21-23). Then Judas said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.” Isn’t this a “second chance” that Jesus gave to Judas to repent? Did Judas take it? No! The consequence, as we read along, is Judas committed suicide due to his guilt and most importantly, he lost the opportunity in gaining the eternal life! Isn’t this a matter of life and death?

We all know that we don’t always have a second chance to make thing right. And when we missed that exact opportunity, bearing regret probably is the only way. Bible told us that Jesus came to this world to complete the work of salvation. He gives everyone of us the second chance to be able to reconcile with God. By His work, whoever believes in Him would be justified before God. We have to realize that this second chance would be vanished as soon as He returns to this world. Therefore, my dear friends, it is absolutely critical for you to not miss this opportunity – it is a distinction between eternal death and eternal life!

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Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Last Saturday, my wife and I had an opportunity to attend a dedication ceremony for my friend’s new church building. Looking at the beautiful building and spacious facility, we all thanked God for His provision.

During the ceremony, there were speakers to recount their 40+ years of journey in moving from place to place for gatherings and, in searching for a permanent location for worship services. I could see their emotions and joyful tears during their testimonials. It was quite touching. The one consensus I heard from them is “It is God’s amazing work!” Indeed, it is, considering how long they have been wandering.

The dedication ceremony leads me to recall the historical event of rebuilding God’s temple during the reign of Cyrus king of Persia (538 BC) – Ezra led the returned Israelites from captivity to rebuild the temple of the LORD. There was a dedication ceremony too, when the builders lay the foundation of the temple of the LORD. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; His love toward Israel endures forever. (Ezra 3:11)” It was also a very touching moment when many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy (有許多祭司、利未人、族長、就是見過舊殿的老年人、現在親眼看見立這殿的根基、便大聲哭號．也有許多人大聲歡呼 Ezra 3:12). I can imagine that they would say, “It is really God’s amazing work, after 70 years of exile!”

Sometimes we are so easy to take God’s blessings for granted and forget that He is good and His love endures forever. Apostle Paul told us that we should “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.要常常喜樂，不住地禱告，凡事謝恩，因為這是神在基督耶穌裡向你們所定的旨意。(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)” Without giving thanks to the Lord, we steal glory from Him. We set ourselves to a direction of troubles and sorrows. Isn’t this serious?

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, let’s remember that give thanks in all circumstances to our Lord is an attitude that we have to practice, because it is God’s will. In addition, through incessant prayer, we can learn God’s will and we can rejoice regardless any situation we encounter. Isn’t this we need the most? Hope you can find something to thank for, during the week. 🙂

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Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Seeing green grass started to grow around my lawn, it is really soothing. Combining with recent rains and cooler days than previous years, lawn grass is having a good growing environment this Spring. Naturally, it also means that it is time to take care of our lawn.

In light of dandelion and other broad-leaf weeds were rampant across our lawn last year, my wife told me that we need to use fertilizer with added weed control, as it is supposed to fertilize our lawn and suppress the growth of weeds at the same time. Then, in a morning after our application of the fertilizer, to our dismay, we saw dandelions and wild violet popped up from our lawn. We were not happy campers certainly. Apparently the fertilizer is not as effective as we would think.

Then, I recalled a visit to my friend’s house a while ago. I was impressed by her neighbor’s absolutely gorgeous lawn – emerald green and no weeds! It is like a green carpet! My friend mentioned that her neighbor’s lawn not only is beautiful but also has the advantage of low maintenance – no need to do weed control as most of us do and less lawn mowing too. It is really amazing.

After carefully looked at my friend’s neighbor’s lawn, I find that the lawn grass is so dense and fine that no weeds can grow in between. Also, because the growth of the grass is so slow that her neighbor does not need to mow the lawn as often as we all do. Isn’t this great? Yes! It is.

From this experience, it gives me a thought on our spiritual journey.  Analogously, our heart is like a spiritual lawn (心田). We need to maintain and do weed control on it in order to become a beautiful spiritual lawn. When we are diligent to spend time with our Lord, our spiritual grass would grow like my friend’s neighbor’s lawn – it is dense and fine and it will crowd out any unwanted weeds in between.

On the other hand, when we are too lay back, our spiritual lawn would grow weeds and our spiritual grass would be suppressed. Pastor Rob Smith once said, “Sin will find its way to us when we are idling”.  This reminds me of what God said to Cain in the book of Genesis after God rejected Cain’s offering to Him. He said, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it 「你為什麼發怒呢？你為什麼變了臉色呢？你若行得好，豈不蒙悅納？你若行得不好，罪就伏在門前。它必戀慕你，你卻要制伏它。」(Genesis 4:6-7)”

What does God mean “do what is right”? My interpretation is we have to do things according to His will. To do this, we need to be able to understand His will first. This would require time and effort spent to establish a good relationship with Him. In this way, we will have a good spiritual lawn that is pleasing to God’s eyes. Because there is no more unwanted weeds (sins) in the lawn! Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, have you done your “weed control” recently? Let’s be reminded that only through diligence we can have a beautiful spiritual lawn.

Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.