i took about 5 mins to type out the sentence above. mainly because i had to type in hanyu pinyin and that takes up quite a bit of time as i would have to check the correct words and all. partly because i havent installed the software/app that allows me to hand-write chinese characters on my trackpad. that would be brilliant, i must say.
as i have mentioned in chinese, the distance between chinese and i is, sadly, increasing. i remember starting primary school getting average grades in the subject and i never especially loved it. it was just something that i thought was natural for everyone to go through. things changed in primary 5 when i grew to love the language. perhaps it was under the influence of the teacher, but i started enjoying doing the exercises in the 好朋友 publication every week. then in primary 6, i knew i was the chinese teacher's pet because i was conscientious in doing my work and also giving model answers to the questions in the exercise. i guess my pride slowly ballooned. not adding to the fact that i was a prefect among other roles and responsibilities.
since then, i've never hated chinese or the lessons in school. in fact i began to appreciate the idioms and whatever else there was during my time of learning. i did my own 习字 and made sure i grasped the meaning of every 词语 in my textbook and 词语手册. there was banding for chinese classes in sec 3 and it was no surprise that i was assigned into the first class for chinese lessons. i mean, i scored A in most of my tests and exams. my grades in chinese surpassed what i thought was my best subject - english. i remained humble, to the best of my knowledge at that point in time.
the rest, they say is history. my idea of humility has changed over the years and it is only and truly by the work of His Spirit. i have been redeemed, and i am being transformed daily. sometimes oblivious to it, but as i reflect on the days gone by, i certainly see them in His hands and how He's shaping my life, for His glory. this is His story in me. because He lives, i can face tomorrow. such hope and assurance is mine. only by His grace and revelation.
when i die one day, i would want 3 words on my tombstone. not rest in peace, but forgiven and redeemed.
we are all bound for eternity. the question is, which direction are you heading towards?