A good me-time afternoon

 

I am having a nice me-time this afternoon with a cup of coffee and lemon slice. I know...I know...I did say I don't drink coffee much anymore but I didn't say I don't drink it at all. Just less. 

I am sitting here doing my stuff, mostly on 7 Cups but my attention was also on this family at my diagonal left. I noticed them first when the 4-5 year old girl sneezed into her cup and her father began scolding her angrily for getting sneezed onto his arm or something. I thought it was funny, I am even chuckling right now because it was a really good sneeze. Haha. 

That was 15 minutes ago and the father and daughter are now having a really good time talking and playing and laughing. This brings me to marvel at the human relationships that God gives to us in families. 

I find myself being like what the father angrily did to his daughter with my son. And after I berate him, I'd feel so guilty and ashamed. But in no time at all, my son and I would talk and behave like nothing bad has happened and it will be all good again. But I do apologize, especially when I know I have gone beyond the line. Ahh...parenthood. 

Anyway, it has been awhile since I've had a nice me-time like this, having coffee at the coffee shop, no TV to watch but watching people. 

And now a one-year old kid at the next table is talking to me, in kiddy talk of course and I just said "hi".

I must do this again soon. 

pearlie

Mothers are not always right

It was a good service today as the church celebrated Mother's Day, although I have some misgivings about celebrating us on the Lord's day, more so the sadness it brings to some people, especially to single women and especially the barren, God bless them. I am okay with the acknowledgment but not a celebration. 

Nevertheless, the message from the sermon and a mother's sharing was clear. We as parents need to be genuine and we need to be humble. We are not always right. We are fallible human beings. We need to admit it when we are wrong and we definitely need to ask for forgiveness from our children. 

This is a good lesson that is apart from all the messages as to how great moms are. We are not great, but we are there whenever our children needed us. We do our best but sometimes make mistakes. We try to make it as best as possible for them. Sometimes we may seem to be unfair but we thought it may be the best for them. Sometimes we may seem to be uncaring but we thought we need to teach independence. But sometimes we are definitely wrong and we need to be told that and apologize. 

God gave us the privilege to be parents. Our children are gifts from him and are placed in our care and to be loved. Our love is not perfect but we pray we will teach and lead them into godly people, pleasing and a fragrance to our God. 

pearlie

What's this about married life?

I had the privilege to attend the Ladies Fellowship Ministry meeting in church today where they had a guest speaker, Mr Lee Wee Min, from Focus on the Family Malaysia to talk about marriage. It was an insightful session, and too bad my husband could not attend. 

He spoke about the basic five items couples should focus on for a good and fulfilled marriage relationship. I cannot remember them all but they consist of stuff around communication, making time, trust and the rekindling of romance. These were the most common subjects discussed in couple counseling sessions. 

What impressed me most from the session was the realization that married couples nowadays need to make time for each other. We live in a busy world and not only are we busy with work and kids and chores and church, we are also too busy with our own digital devices. We need to make time for frequent face to face chats just to talk about normal ordinary things. We need to chat and laugh about trivial things. We need to go on dates again. 

There is this Marriage Conference Crazy Little Thing Called Marriage that will be held on 2 July 2016. Couples who longs to rekindle and strengthen their married life should attend it. 

I also checked out the Focus on the Family Malaysia site and found this interesting: The Drop Box, Charity Movie Screening, 29 May 2016. It is a film about a South Korean pastor who built a baby box at his home to receive unwanted babies. I must say it is quite controversial but for the single mothers there, at least they have this option. 

There are lots more events at the FOTF website. Marriage, parenting and youth programmes. Go check it out.

pearlie