End of January and I've not read a single book

I've been quite pleased with myself over the past few years for catching up on my reading, all thanks to the mobile and versatile electronic books. 30 in 2012, 30 in 2013, 56 in 2014 and 41 last year, I've never read so much in my entire life. 

But I have not read any in the whole of this month and it's not a good start of the year. For one, I've got myself into too many things and my plate is really, really full at the moment and what more, with free internet streaming, I've been spending too much time on TV. 

I must do something about it.

pearlie

I haven't properly cooked for the longest time

I used to bake and cook so much. But every since I started my work in consulting, I stopped cooking. That was a really long time ago. 

Recently I had wanted to get back to cooking but I needed something to kick start me on. I heard my colleague talking about her air fryer and I thought hmm, maybe it's time I got caught up in the kitchen scene. Kitchen appliances have gone a long way since. 

I did some research and got myself the Phillips Air Fryer and I'm loving it. Had I known it to be so useful, easy-to-use and versatile, I should have gotten the XL model. 

This was what I made today. It's Luca Manfé's Mother's Meatballs. 

Here's here how to do it using the air fryer:

And here's the recipe: My Mother's Meatballs

It was yummy delicious!

pearlie

Abide with Me O Lord

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea—
Come, Friend of sinners, and thus bide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

~ Henry Francis Lyte

pearlie

Take Rest

pearlie

The Fox and the Star

I found out about this book today. I have no idea what it is about but the cover is just spectacular. I must soon get a copy.

pearlie

Chromecast did not work

We got for ourselves a Chromecast adapter on Sunday but it did not work. It started ok but when I wanted to stream a movie it wouldn't connect to my phone and then all it casted onto the TV was alternating green screen and black. We got it changed yesterday but it was the same. It gets connected for about 10 minutes and then it will be disconnected. Nothing we do will reconnect it, even switching it on and off. 

My husband had been at it for hours trying to get it to work till he was just too frustrated. Arrgghh!!!

pearlie

P/S 27/1/2016: my hubby finally managed to get it to work. I don't know what adjustments he did, but it works...so far so good. I just feel that for this branded product, it should work better. 

No lazying today

It's a public holiday today and I was out practically the whole day, which is unusual. What I usually do during off-days is to stay home and just rest, but I will end up watching TV the whole day and really regret it. But I'm glad it was not so today.

For one, we went shopping! I seldom go shopping with my husband--it's not a preferred activity for him--but we were at 3 shopping malls in one day! For very, very specific purposes though. We were at KLCC to get the ChromeCast adapter replaced. The one we bought yesterday was not working. (It is still not working but that is a different story.) Then we were at Low Yat Plaza. My husband wanted to get some cables and a new tempered glass protector for his phone. We had lunch there. We then decided to go to Sunway Pyramid because I wanted to get an air fryer. I know, there are nearer electrical stores around but I was more used to Sunway Pyramid and what more, we got a good deal and lots of free gifts from our purchase in the Aeon outlet there.

And two, I again had an amazing choir practice on Handel's Messiah led by Chi Hoe Mak. It was just fun and I had a great time singing together.

It was a good day.

pearlie

Televisions through the decades

Ok, I admit. I'm a TV addict. But which of these TVs have you used before? Mine would be from the 1970s. And I still remember one in a red plastic box with only a 12 or 14 inch screen. But I think I've used one from the 1960s with sliding doors that cover the screen when not in use. Yes, sliding doors!

And how we have watched TV has also changed so much over the years. From national free channels (RTM's faithful TV1 and TV2) to private free channels (TV3 in 1984) to paid cable (Mega TV in 1994) to paid satellite (Astro in 1996), all timed and scheduled kind of entertainment, up till now with online streaming. We have the local but limited iFlix and NetFlix was just made available to us some weeks ago. 

I certainly wonder how will it be a decade from now. 

pearlie

Medical Checkups

How often should we perform a medical checkup on our body and from what age should we start? 

Check it out here. 

pearlie

Praise the Lord, A Prayer

Prayerfully I kneel before you Lord, I become
Rested, renewed and restored
All that I need you will provide, so
In you my soul will I abide
Surely sovereign you are magnificent, and
Everlasting, all-knowing, omnipotent
To you anew each day I come, yet
How much more you are and then some
Each day I seek of you
Lord and each day I yearn for you
O God so much I need of you, I
Rest in you
Delight in you

pearlie

There is just too much mail

What do you do with your inbox when you do your email housekeeping? Or do you even do it at all?

I need to because there isn't much memory in my inbox though it is way more than when I was working in KPMG, way way more. But I still need to do my email housekeeping in order to keep my inbox lean and efficient as well as to make sure I have read and responded to all my emails. 

But there are just so many of them. 

I used to keep them in specific folders before but not anymore. I now follow the gmail way - I just put the emails I have attended to in just one personal folder, one or two for each year's worth, all received and sent emails. I never delete any emails. 

I try to do that every week but sometimes I don't. There is just too much!

pearlie

I almost gave up singing in a choir

I posted only a picture of the coming production of Handel's Messiah on Monday. I did not say anything about it because after attending one practice session that same day, I felt lost and I did not know if it will be wise to continue with it. In addition to feeling lost, the pace of the practice is too fast for me, more than I am used to, and the piece is one tough one.

So by the end of Tuesday, I've decided I will pull out. But I wasn't 100% sure about it and so I thought I'd leave it till today to inform the conductor, Paul Baker. Except that I spent the whole day today titter-tottering between staying and pulling out. I wanted to but my inner voice kept saying no, stay on.

I have drafted a text message to be sent to the conductor to pull out but every time I wanted to send it, I stopped myself. I keep feeling that it was not the right thing to do. This happened the whole day today.

By the time it was 4pm, I felt it will be too late if I had not sent it out already because practice will begin today at 7:30pm. I felt I must be fair to Paul and inform him quickly. So I just sent it out without much thinking any more.

It turned out that my inner voice was telling me the right thing - I should stick on. The conductor graciously sent me a reply saying that he understands what I'm feeling and encouraged me not to pull out. He said that it is normal for us to have cold feet in the beginning but it will be all worth it in the end.

And so I turned up for practice and I was so glad and so thankful I did. We had Chi Hoe Mak as our choral master today and he was simply excellent. I have learnt most of what I know from Joanna Lau, my choral group Grace Notes conductor, but Chi Hoe brought more technicalities to it and then more.

I am still reading Willard's book, Hearing God and from the chapter where he touched on our inner voice, I now know more of what he was saying:

I believe I can say with assurance that God’s speaking in union with the human voice and human language is the primary objective way in which God addresses us...the familiar King James Version of Proverbs 20:27 says, "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly." This is possibly better put in the Jerusalem Bible: "Man’s spirit is the lamp of Yahweh, searching his deepest self."

I will surely have regretted pulling out and I am glad God spoke through me, and for Paul to be understanding and gracious.

If you are in town on 18 or 19 March 2016, you might want to come listen to the majestic and brilliant work of Handel, the Messiah.

For more information, call 016-537 2599 or visit www.messiah.grace-intl.com.

pearlie

Buying ebooks

Buying ebooks in kobobooks.com is not fun anymore. There were many promo codes that I could use to get good discounts, but not anymore. And as a result, ebooks are expensive, what more with the weakened Ringgit.

However, in helping a friend find a book he needed, I just found out that Amazon have extended the sale of ebooks to other countries including mine. And the beauty is even though there are no promo codes available, the prices are generally very reasonable.

And since I have yet to complete my collection of the Preaching the Word Commentary Series, I checked up on it. But to my shock, the prices has really gone up, both in Amazon and kobobooks.com. Sigh...now I wish I had bought them all back then when I had unlimited-usage promo codes. I can't afford them now at more than USD30 per copy, in ebook format no less.

I bought the copy on Exodus for just USD6. It's now selling at USD33! Are you kidding me? An increase of 450%? This is too much.

pearlie

Handel's Messiah

pearlie 

It's now our family theme song: You Can't Always Get What You Want

It's official. We have made this our family theme song. My husband and I have been watching, again,  the TV series House M.D., and some weeks ago, my son asked for something. I said no and he was unhappy. I was very serious when I said this to him, "You can't always get what you want." 

I then thought, "Now that sounds familiar," and started singing the song. My son obviously looked at me incredulously. LOL. 

There are a few versions of the song, originally by The Rolling Stones,  but I found this one brilliantly done.

My husband and I sing it in jest quite often when we are together to the chagrin of my son. It's good that he still has some patience with his parents. 

pearlie

Two good things today

Two good things happened to me today.

I returned to the gym. Finally. I have not been going since October last year. I know I need to every morning but I kept snuggling deeper into bed. But I finally went this morning. Yay!!! But now I need a compelling reason for me to get up early every day to go to the gym. What shall it be?

I watched iFlix for free today. And will be so for the rest of the year. My colleague told me about it being free for Unifi subscribers. I could not get in my TV, will try to figure that out in the next few days, but I got it without effort in my iPad. All I did was download the app, make sure I'm connected to my Wi-Fi when I opened it and I got connected free automatically. And apparently, I only need to do that for the first sign in using my Unifi account, after which I will be able to use it free even if I'm not in my own Wi-Fi environment.

It's a good day. Simple, but good. And it's the small things in life that I need to learn to appreciate, and be contented with what I already have.

pearlie

Prayer for a Busy Day

“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”
~ Martin Luther

O Abba Father.
It is in busy days that I must stay closer to you.
It is in busy days that I need more of you.
Lest I flail in faith.
Lest I fail in faith.
Keep me close to you, Lord.
Keep me close to you.
Amen.

pearlie

Thanks for the rain

I love it when it's raining, the sound, the aroma.

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain. 

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

pearlie

Photo source: old black cat boo

My life is awesome, yours is not. What???!!!

I attended this Christian fellowship in the afternoon for the first time and I am worried. The message given was supposed to be on "following the way of God", but all I heard was man's ways, not God's way. It was man-centered and sounded like prosperity gospel.

This statement was said several times in the message - "Walk in the way of God and you will be walking in his supernatural blessings and your life will be awesome". The speaker then told us how her life was awesome because she walks in the way of God and how the lives of the people she shared with us were not awesome in comparison.

I was aghast. I get worried when Christians tell themselves they must be thankful because they are so blessed compared to the others, that they are so blessed whilst others are suffering. But where is the love? Where is the compassion?

This is not the Gospel of Christ. We don't follow the way of God so that our lives become awesome and that the lives of others are not as great. We belong to Christ only because of his grace, which we do not deserve. Our lives belong to him and we live in honor of him, in good times and in bad, and there will be bad. Life is not all awesome, and when it is not awesome, it does not mean that God has forsaken us. It is in bad times that we have God to depend on, he is all-faithful.

And it is a commandment that we have compassion for others. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31)

(Check here for more on Prosperity Preaching: Deceitful and Deadly.)

Anyway, the irony was that while I was leaving, slips of paper with bible verses were given out. The one that I got was this: Therefore each one of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour, for we are all members of one body. (Eph 4:25)

Err...does this mean I need to do something about it? But what? I certainly need to pray about it.

pearlie

A Thousand Words #182

pearlie

My Lectio Divina

I continued reading Dallas Willard's Hearing God, Developing a Conversational Relationship with God last night and it was timely that I came to the section on a Lectio Divina, or Divine Reading.

I needed it because of a challenge I'm currently facing. The passage was exactly what I needed. It was on 2 Kings 6:11-17, where the king of Syria was at war with Israel at the time of prophet Elisha.

Lectio Divina is a traditional Benedictine practice of scriptural reading, meditating and prayer, to have a close communion with God. It has four parts to it: lectio (reading), meditatio (meditation), oratio (prayer) and contemplatio (contemplation).

I found this article helpful: Step by Step Through Lectio Divina, although it's Catholic in context. I will be using some of the material from here and from Willard's:

Firstly, I prepare myself in a quiet place free from distraction. I become quiet before God. I still my heart and place myself in the loving presence of Jesus. I commend to him all my worries, obligations and hassles of the day. They will still be there when I finish, or they will be resolved.

Lectio
I read the passage attentively, reverently, slowly. I patiently wait for God to reveal himself. His divine mystery cannot be contained or controlled by me. I let myself be taken in by his word and be drawn to him. I will not rush. I take my time, with patience and perseverance. I will allow myself to be immersed in the situation, because “those who lived through those experiences felt very much as we would have if we had been in their place”. I will listen with the ear of my heart for a word or phrase, a detail of the story that shimmers or stands out to me. I will see where I find myself in the passage: as one of the people in the passage, or a thing or even a fly on the wall watching it all happen. I do not choose this myself. I let the Spirit bring it to me.

The section that shimmers to me from the reading was v.12, where the king asked his servant if there was a spy in his army. The servants replied, "None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom." And the I find myself as Elisha's servant in v.16-17 when he found an army with chariots and horses all around the city. Elisha said to him, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Meditatio
This is my human response to God in his word. I ponder and ruminate what I have just read. I quietly savor the word and meditate on it in expectation. I consciously open myself to him and let him touch my heart. I will engage my thought, imagination, emotion and desire. I reflect and consider the word or phrase that stood out to me and ask: why do these words resonated with me? Who or what I found myself to be in the passage? How does it feel to be this person or object? What draws me? What am I thinking or feeling about God? I ponder awhile and then I ask God: how does this connect with my life today? What do I need to know or be or do?

The passage stands out for me because God is indeed all-present. Really, whom shall I fear? And as the servant of Elisha, I felt I was in awe of God who is all-powerful and able to protect me and save me, no matter what happens.

Oratio
This is the prayer of my heart: unique, personal, honest and spontaneous, specific to the experience of encountering God in his word. I pray whatever I need to pray. I thank God for something or ask God for something.

I thank God for revealing himself to me, for showing me I need not be afraid because I have a sovereign and loving God who will not leave me or forsake me.

Contemplatio
This stage is God's response to me, totally beyond my control. I cannot create contemplation by myself. It is his divine gift. I do as I am led. I'm totally passive, held by the mystery of God. I will wait on him or simply be with him. I sit in the companionship of God, the one who showed up and can be seen. It's God's gaze on me and my gaze of faith back at him. I become focused on the Lord. It can be deep, intimate, intense and somstones tearful, often too deep for words. It's childlike, a surrender to the loving will of my Father in an even deeper union with his beloved Son. His gaze purifies my heart, illuminates my eyes with the eyes of Jesus, and teaches me compassion. I allow the Holy Spirit to shape me in the form of my Savior.

I nestled into the presence of God and enjoyed his peaceful and complete presence. I then fall into a deep peaceful slumber trusting in his love and righteousness.

I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of God.
~ St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

pearlie

Abide in Him #1

I was early in church this morning and whilst I was seated in the pews, I took out my iPad and continued reading where I left off in Hearing God, Developing a Conversational Relationship with God by Dallas Willard.

This statement really brought me closer to God in the praise and worship session that followed: "Our understanding (of God) must grow before we can have any significant appreciation of what we are experiencing on occasions when God intervenes in our lives."

I know we need to worship in spirit and as well as in truth. But I have not been doing that in a long while. I have been singing only for the sake of singing. I was not worshipping. There were too many other things in my mind.

It is time I revive my life in Christ as I learn to abide in Christ. When I worship, God is my main focus, not me and my problems or me and my thoughts, but God and God alone whom I worship.

Again, I need to come back to heart of worship, God alone.

pearlie

An Overdose of Star Wars

I'm more a Star Trek than a Star Wars fan. But when I watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens a couple of weeks ago, I have enjoyed it very much. I thought it was very well done. But I could not appreciate it fully because I have forgotten most of what I've watched on the previous six episodes a long time ago other than the more well-known facts.

Therefore, after I have seen the show, I read up a bit on it and realized I have missed quite a lot from the movie. So I decided to watch it again, in Imax 3D. And before I do, I decided to catch up on all the six episodes to get a better understanding of the whole story.

I watched them in the suggested sequence of IV, V, (I), II, III and VI, which I only completed an hour before I was supposed to meet my friend to watch The Force Awakens again.

Watching the movie in Imax 3D was awesome. I love the first few scenes in Jakku and especially when Rey and Finn was flying in the Millenium Falcon. After that it was mainly watching for details I have missed the first round.

I had a great time but I think I will lay off anything Star Wars for a while. It was really an overdose for me already. Enough...for now.

pearlie

Prayer in Time of Trouble

I have started to blog in the Daily Prayer blog by invitation by KC Bob, and I posted this today which I found so close to my heart that I decided to put it here in my own blog too. In any time at all, seek the Lord - he is indeed good all the time.

Prayer in Time of Trouble
Anonymous
Lord, in every need let me come to You with humble trust saying, "Jesus, help me."
In all my doubts, perplexities, and temptations, Jesus, help me.
In hours of loneliness, weariness, and trials, Jesus, help me.
In the failure of my plans and hopes; in disappointments, troubles, and sorrows, Jesus, help me.
When others fail me and Your grace alone can assist me, help me.
When I throw myself on Your tender love as a father and savior, Jesus, help me.
When my heart is cast down by failure at seeing no good come from my efforts, Jesus, help me.
When I feel impatient and my cross irritates me, Jesus, help me.
When I am ill and my head and hands cannot work and I am lonely, Jesus, help me.
Always, always, in spite of weakness, falls, and shortcomings of every kind, Jesus, help me and never forsake me.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
~ Deuteronomy 31:6

Amen.

pearlie

Ten Years!

I've been blogging since 1 Mar 2006 and it will soon be a whole ten years since I've started blogging.

Ten years!

For those who have been following me from the beginning, you would have noticed that I've changed my blog name, again. The first change was on 27 Jan 2007 and the second was done several days ago on 5 Mar 2016.

The interesting about blogging the way I do is that I could read way back through the ten years of blogging and see how I've changed over the years.

For the new year though, I thought it would be timely that I got my blog into Facebook and Google+ where I guess all the action is now.

And I think I should be more active in Facebook, shouldn't I? Who blogs anymore? The thing is, I do.

pearlie

Lamenting and Grumbling?

As much as I appreciate that the book of Psalms is honest, that it does not only have happy psalms but also lament psalms to depict the reality of life, I sometimes find myself complaining and lamenting too much. But it seems unreal and fake to be happy when you are not, so how do we find a balance?

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?" And they said to one another, "Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt."
~ Numbers 14:1-4

Do all things without grumbling or disputing.
~ Philippians 2:14

I think that is why we are called to always be thankful in everything.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
~ Ephesians 5:20

pearlie

My 2016 Reading List

In my 2016 goal to Abide in the Lord, I'm set to re-read Dallas Willard's Hearing God.


Hearing God, Developing a Conversational Relationship with God
by Dallas Willard

I have been getting recommendations to books in my GoodReads account. However, I've just realised that by putting one book in a folder, I could get a more focused recommendation. I did that with Willard's book and I got these very interesting titles, which I will put in my 2016 reading list.


God is Closer Than You Think
by John Ortberg


A Testament of Devotion
by Thomas R. Kelly


Sacred Companions, The Gift of Spiritual Friendship and Direction
by David G. Benner


Sacred Pathways, Discover Your Soul's Path to God
by Gary Thomas


The Deeper Journey, The Spirituality of Discovering Your True Self
by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

Ah! I look forward to getting copies of these books and get started on them.

pearlie

Back to Work

After a two-week long break that passed by so fast but yet seemed like it began a long time ago, I'm surprised I'm glad to be back at work.

And this saying by Plato seems apt for the beginning of the year: The beginning is the most important part of the work.

Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.
~ Rumi

Nothing will work unless you do.
~ Maya Angelou

It's like Forest Gump said, 'Life is like a box of chocolates.' Your career is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get. But everything you get is going to teach you something along the way and make you the person you are today. That's the exciting part - it's an adventure in itself.
~ Nick Carter

What you are will show in what you do.
~ Thomas A. Edison

Work is a prayer. And I start off every morning dedicating it to our Creator.
~ Joseph Murray

pearlie

Abba Isn't Daddy

I will be taking on to teach some college students in my church on Christian theology. I'd rather do biblical studies but I agree with my fellow partner teacher that young people do need a good theological foundation in their Christian life journey.

I will only take about 10 classes and I'm now reading up on the names and attributes of God, which I will be taking on next month.

In my sourcing for articles, I found an interesting one written by James Barr, entitled "Abba Isn't Daddy". I use the term "Abba" in my prayer journal and I totally agree with that. I find it uncomfortable when people call God "daddy". It's just not right, but I don't have the technicalities as to why it is not right. Now there's this article but the problem is that it is not available online, not even in ATLA, the journal repository which I have access to.

But I did find this other useful article from here:
Sigve Tonstad, “The Revisionary Potential of ‘Abba! Father!’ in the Letters of Paul,” Andrews University Seminary Studies, Vol. 45, No. 1 (2007): 5-18.

The portion on Abba isn't daddy is only at the end of the article but on the whole, it covers the various readings and understanding of the term Abba Father. I understand it better now in light of Jesus using it when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsamane - there is nothing childlike about that term. It's as matured as it can be as Jesus called out to the Father in intense mental agony.

pearlie

Bookstore Time

I had a really nice time being out with my hubby and son today. We were at the bookstore, a place I haven't been in quite awhile. But since my son, who is still a print book person, wanted to go get some books, off we went to our favorite bookstore, Kinokuniya. I really missed browsing in bookstores.


Kinokuniya, KLCC, the best bookstore by far in Kuala Lumpur


One of my favourite aisle in the store. The other favourite is the Popular Science aisle.

These books caught my interest. The funny thing was, what I had with me when I left the bookstore were snapshots of the books I wanted. Back then, I would have walked out with a huge bag of books and a couple or more hundred ringgit poorer.

Anyway, I've enjoyed the visit so much I should come visit once every two or three months.


Someone Like You
by Roald Dahl
I tonight I have all of Roald Dahl's book but looks like I missed this one, or did I?


Phishing for Phools, The Economics of Manipulation and Deception
by George A. Akerlof & Robert J. Shiller
I do get attracted to interesting popular economics-themed books. Maybe it's because even though I studied economics, I still find there's so much I don't know.


Me, Myself, and Why, Searching for the Science of Self
by Jennifer Ouellette
I'm currently very interested in studying consciousness - why is there me? Why am I not you, him or her?


The Universe Inside You, The Extreme Science of the Human Body
by Brian Clegg
Ever since I've taken the course on psychology in Coursera, and my catching up on episodes of House M.D., this topic of the human body draws my interest.


Jeremy & Amy, The Extraordinary True Story of One Man and His Orang-utan
by Jeremy Keeling
I thought it's time I needed a good feel-good story. This may fit the bill.


The Soul of an Octopus, A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness
by Sy Montgomery
Octopuses intrigue me, and what more now that they're connected to the topic of consciousness.


The Diet Myth, The Real Science Behind What We Eat
by Tim Spector
Interesting topic, but would it be a good idea to know so much. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

pearlie
Photo source: Christopher Teh, Zafigo

2016: Abide in Him

My theme for 2015 was FERVENT IN PRAYER. But I wasn't disciplined enough, and I have not progressed much. But I will press on.

For 2016, I was thinking about building my relationship closer to God. And through the watch night service that I attended lady night, I found my theme. It's ABIDE IN HIM. I would like to be near to him, in thought, speech and deed. I aim to live my life in his presence, and bear ing the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
~ John 15:1-11

pearlie