Gift of Love

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas and an inspiring year ahead.

 

Heavenly Love

Wishing one and all a blessed Christmas of joy and peace, and a beautiful new year. Featuring the lovely painting by Kok Tuck Chong from Mouth and Foot Painting Artists.

 

Oil for Grime: A Life Hack

The infamously obstinate kitchen grime and dirt lay placidly on my shelves and jars. I was cleaning my kitchen and had decided to tackle that ultimate bane of housekeeping.

Tapping on a kitchen hack I had come to know of, I fetched a small cup of cooking oil with a straw in it and set it down. Reaching out, I brought down a grimy jar, then proceeded to drip on it a few drops of oil using the straw.

He stopped by and looked with interest as I was rubbing the oil into the grime.

“Are you cleaning the jars?”

“Yes, and the shelves too.”

When all the oil had been rubbed in, I took a paper napkin and wiped down the jar. Almost as if a miracle, it came out grime-less and clean.

“I see you’ve got a splendid hack for grime there.” He nodded in approval at the gleaming jar.

“Thanks! It should work even on the thickest grime that I hadn’t touched in years! But it will probably take a little more oil, and time…” I glanced up at the ancient layer of dirt on the topmost shelf. “Soap and water is fine for surface dirt, but for stubbornly rooted grime, rubbing oil loosens it from where it clings so it can be easily wiped away. And then, an easy wash with soap and water for total cleansing!”

“That sounds pretty much like how people can be restored too – cleaning out the grime from what’s in the depths of their minds – using the right cleansing agent and a little time – then a final surface wash, and we’re good as new.” He grinned.

“That’s indeed pretty much it, I guess.” I stared at the clean jar in my hand. It wasn’t sticky to the touch or dirty anymore.

“But it will be all worth it to have everything restored to its former shine, won’t it?” He said, looking at the other jars sitting on the shelves.

“Yeah! Then the jars will be all ready for use again!” I grinned back.

“Great! I’ll leave you to it then.” He waved as I shook a grimy hand at him, and then walked away as I picked up the next jar.

The First Gift

The origins of commemorating this day, featuring the lovely work of artist Yongsung Kim and its title. Wishing one and all a beautiful Christmas filled with joy and love.

 

For Eternity

May Christmas bring you good cheer, and thence a purposeful New Year!

(Photo Location: Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavík, Iceland)

To Light

Wishing one and all an illuminated Christmas filled with the brightest love.

(Photo Location: Haeundae Beach, Busan, South Korea)

On Math, Variables And Constants

He sidled up from behind and peered over my shoulder as I busily scribbled at my desk.

“You are doing Math?”

“You gave me a fright. Yes, I am. Why?”

His grin quickly changed into a look of seriousness when I turned around with a scrutiny of evaluation. He let out a cough at my gaze of suspicion before continuing.

“Well. ‘Y’ is indeed the question.”

“Ehm.. why?”

It was starting to feel like we were pulling neverending puns on each other.

“You know how there are variables in Math equations, represented by letters like ‘y’ and ‘x’ and et cetera?”

“Uh… yeah…?”

“And how usually the value of ‘y’ changes with the value of ‘x’ or vice versa?”

“Umm, yea?”

Was it going to be a revision of calculus? He let out a chortle, as if reading my thoughts at that moment.

“Now, you would say these variables are affected by each other, won’t you? In whatever way they are related.“

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Now, consider the constant in a relation, sometimes abbreviated endearingly as ‘c’. It is an important part of it, but yet it remains unchanged, regardless what happens to either or both variables.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

I was getting more and more perplexed. He must have noticed, and thus let out a reassuring grin before continuing.

“So, assuming both the variable and the constant in a relationship could take on positive values only. The variable could still result in a negative result, but the constant always positively amplifies the outcome. That right?”

He continued, looking at me, still smiling.

“My Math question for you today is: assuming you are a positive value. Would you choose to be a variable, subjected to the fluctuations of other variables, or would you choose to be an unwavering constant?”

He gave me a bright grin, then sauntered away, whistling.

I think I know my answer.

Love Everlasting

Wishing one and all a Christmas filled with warmth and inspiration.

(Photo Location: Fengshan Presbyterian Church, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan)

Pruning Trees

This has been on my mind for a while now, since I saw the tree outside my apartment undergo some major pruning. I had felt sad, but I guess there’s more to rejoice.

“What’s going on?” I cried, rushing out into the garden.

He had a ladder against a tree and was at the topmost rung, perched and holding a saw, gazing up into the leafy arms. On the ground lay several piles of leaf-sprouting branches.

He saw me standing arms akimbo below and waved down at me, yelling, “I’m pruning the trees!”

“But why? They looked so beautiful with their crowns of green,” I pouted. “Now they look all ugly and bare!” I looked at the stumps of nothing against the bright blue skies and felt upset all over again.

“I feel like the trees have wasted all their efforts growing themselves out.”

“Yeah I know; they were glorious weren’t they?”

He came down from the ladder and stood beside me, looking up at the stumps too. “But pruning has way more benefits that outweigh this temporary ugliness.”

“Well yeah… I suppose…”

He glanced over at me sulking and laughed.

“Well, pruning helps to remove deadwood that hampers trees from growing to their best potential, and also helps to shape them and redirect their growth.”

He leaned the saw gently against the tree, then continued, gazing kindly at me.

“When they grow better, and in the right directions, they become healthier. At the same time, risks from falling branches are reduced while yield or quality of flowers and fruits are increased.”

“Yeah… I suppose you are right,” I replied grudgingly.

“That’s what you can look forward to. But it will take some time.” He patted me on the shoulder and winked. “But I assure you, it will be a magnificent sight to behold.”

And so I wait, for that magnificence to unfold.

Conversing Birds

I flopped into the couch and sighed loudly. He looked up, amused. I sighed again and pouted.

“It’s so difficult being real.”

“Why is that?”

“There’s so much hatred and self-centeredness out there. There’s just no point. No one cares anymore.”

He closed the book.

“What do you propose to do then?”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe I’ll just not go out that much anymore. It’s all so tiring.”

“Listen. What do you hear right now, outside the window?”

If there were such a thing as squinting my ears, that was what I did right then.

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Listen carefully.”

It was then that I heard it. The quiet chirping of a bird. But it was so soft that I would not have noticed it.

“It’s a bird chirping.”

“That’s right. Now, listen again and tell me what you hear.”

This time, I was getting the hang of this little exercise.

“Ah, there’s another bird. No, wait actually there’re two more.”

The birds were sounding pretty lovely actually, sort of like they were having an animated conversation.

“You see, the first little bird was just chirping the way he knows how to. The way he should. That is his nature.”

“And at first, he was just chirping by himself. But then, you heard another one responding to him. And there was a third. And it all started sounding pretty amazing. It became a beautiful three-voice song.”

He looked at me, smiling.

“But here’s the thing. No one could hear him at first. And even when he could be heard, not everyone likes his song.”

“Still, he continued singing that melody, not changing it or replicating another bird’s tune, because that’s what he was made to sing.”

“He’s just being himself. He’s being real.”

“And look what happened: other birds came. They understood what he was singing and responded to him, and now they’re having a mighty fine session.”

“I think I know what you’re saying…”

He gave me a wink before reopening the book.

“You do.”