Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam

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Friday, July 22, 2005

The story of the little wood and the everlasting Fire

Once a upon a time, when the earth was young, there was a place that never went dark. It never went dark not because night never came, but because there was an Everlasting bonfire that never dies.

There were thousands and thousands of woods in the everlasting bonfire. There were big woods and small woods. All of them made up the everlasting bonfire.

There was a small little wood inside the bonfire. This small little wood looked to the world outside and saw how beautiful it was. She wanted to go. To go away from the bonfire. To go and look at the world. And so the little wood said to the everlasting Fire, "Fire, I wanted to go away and find my happiness". The everlasting Fire said to the little wood,"Little wood, This is the place where you belong. This is where your happiness lies.". But the little wood refused to stay and went away from the everlasting Fire.

The little wood walked step by step. She walked further away from the bonfire. How beautiful it was, the little wood thought. How great Life is, said the little wood in its heart. The little wood walked and walked, and the bonfire could no longer be seen.

The little wood kept on walking, but the little flame in its body started to dim, the little flame in its body started to die out. The little wood walked further and further, and the cold of the wind started to buffet its body. The cold weather made the little wood stopped. "This is too cold", the little wood said, "This is too cold", she repeated.

But the little wood kept on walking further away. And she started to get tired. The air was too cold, the wind was too strong, the sky was so dark. The little wood tried to warm herself, but there was no more flame in her body. So the little wood sat down and cried.

While the little wood cried, she started to remember the time when she was in the bonfire. How warm it was, how nice it was to be with other woods. The wind might be strong, the bonfire stayed there, and the little remained safe. But that was the past. Now was different. Now it was cold, alone, no more flame to warm her body. And the little wood sat, and cried.

"This is not my happiness", the little wood suddenly said. And the little decided to come back to the bonfire, the her home, to the place where she belongs. So the little wood walked back. Slowly. The dream of being with the everlasting fire kept the little wood moving, the desire to have the warm in her body kept the little walking. And the little wood walked and walked.

And one day as the little wood walked, she noticed that the sky was no longer dark, the air was no longer cold. And the little wood saw the everlasting fire, and she ran, she ran toward the everlasting fire and she jumped and lied down inside the everlasting fire. The everlasting fire said, "My little wood, How great it is to have you back, I missed you and I kept on thinking about you."

And the little wood cried and said, "Fire, you are right. My happiness...my happiness is here...it is here with you.". The everlasting fire smiled joyfully and he hugged the little wood with his flame. "I love you little wood", said the everlasting fire. And the little wood looked up and said, "I love you too Fire. I do not want to leave again. I want to be here with you, always.". And the everlasting Fire hugged the little wood and kissed the little wood.

And the little wood felt something in her body. She felt the flame. She felt the warm. She saw again the litte flame that was in her body. It was great. She felt alive. This is Life. This is great.

And the little wood stayed with the everlasting fire forever. Time past by and the little wood was still with the Fire. The little wood started to change, the colour of her body became white. Time past by and the little wood realized something. She could no longer saw her body. She looked everywhere and asked everyone. But she just couldn't find her body. And so the little wood asked the everlasting Fire, "Fire, where is my body, the wood and all its part?". The everlasting Fire answered the little wood, "You are no longer a little wood". The everlastin fire continued, "You are part of the everlasting fire". The little wood just could not understand, what does that mean? So the everlasting fire knew that the little wood was confused, so he said, "My fire, little wood, has transformed you ...from a little wood...to be a fire, a part of the everlasting fire. You are no longer little wood, but you are the fire, you are with me and you are part of me, the everlasting fire."

And the everlasting Fire continued, "I need your help little fire. I need your help to be like me. I need you to help transforming other little woods, just like your old self, to be like what you are now. That is what fire is meant for, to purify, to transform.". And so the little fire did what the everlasting fire asked her to do. She helped other little woods to be another little fire. And she found something that was missing all this time, she found her reason to live, she found the purpose of her being.


Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
-For the greater glory of God-

your brother in His love,
oka

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Commitment to God and the Prodigal Son (II)

----continuing

And I saw how wonderful it was to be close to my Father. How wonderful Life was with Him, to be in His house. And I saw myself got up and walked back to the house. I told my self, I wanted to give this life back to Him, I wanted to serve Him back, to be His servant. And so I walked, and I saw the house, and I saw my Father ran toward me, and I felt on my knees.

I wanted to give my life back to Him, I wanted to give myself. I said to my father, "Father, I am no longer worthy to be called your son, treat me as your hired servant.". And my Father opened His arm, and he said, "No...". He hugged me, and kissed me, and he whispered these words, "You....are ..my..son....., my beloved. I do not want you to serve me as a slave or servant. Love me and serve me like a son love His father. You are my son, my beloved".

And I felt again the Love which I lost, I felt again the joy in being with my Father, the joy of being loved, the joy of loving.

And I realized how God showed me what commitment to God is all about. It's about experiencing the Love of the Father and this Love drived me on to give myself back to Him, to stay close to Him forever, to commit myself to my Loving Father.

You might want to know what a Dictionary (Collins) said about the word "commit". It is written:

"If you commit yourself to someone, you decide that you want to have a long-term relationship with them."

This is what commitment is all about, to have a long and everlasting relationship with our Father, our Loving God. Commitment to God is not about burden. It's about experiencing the Love, and because we know that we are loved, we can freely give ourselves to the one who loves us. And as we give ourselves, we love that person. Love is always giving.

This our reasons to commit ourselves to God. Not because God "demanded" it. But simply because it is our home, it is the place where we should be. We commit ourselves simply because we experience the Love of God, and we know that the only way to Love back is to give our whole life back to Him, to commit ourselves to Him.

This is what Jesus said as He was on the cross.

"Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. "
(Luk 23:46)

Jesus knew that the Father loved Him, and He experienced that Love in His life. And that Love drived Him to go to the cross, to give himself fully to the Father. Into the father's hand, Jesus commited himself. And He knew that it was his place to be in the Father's hand, to enjoy His love, and to Love Him back.

And this is what God is inviting us to do. To commit ourselves into the Father's hand. Because in His hand we will experience Love, in His arm we experience what Life to the fullest is all about.

And this is what the Father said to his sons who stays with Him.

"And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. "
(Luk 15:31)

As we commit ourselves to God, God is saying to us, "My Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.". All that the Father has is yours. All that God has since the very beginning is yours. All that God of the universe has, God of Love has, all that God the source of Joy has, is yours. All that the Father has is yours.

Some people are afraid of the words commitment. Maybe because we see that word as a duty. We do not see it in the context of experiencing Love. I remember one of my brother said that love starts with a beautiful feeling, but true love goes to commitment. We need to commit ourselves to God out of Love and not out of fear or duty. And as we Love God by commiting ourselves, there won't be anymore fear.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love."
(1Jo 4:18)

My brothers and sister, God is Life. As we walked away from Him, we walked away from Life. We will not be able to survive. We might thought that we could survive. That prodigal son thought that he could survive. But we cannot. We cannot simply because we walked away from Life. That is why death entered into the world when Adam walked away from God.

It is only when we come to God, and give our Life to God, we will find Life.

"For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
(Mat 16:25)

"It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"
(Luk 15:32)

My brothers and sisters, let us come before Him. Not out of fear, not out of duty, but out of Love. Come and give ourselves to the one who loves us. Come and be loved, Come and give Love.

"My beloved speaks and says to me: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;"
(Son 2:10)

"Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. "
(Luk 23:46)

Next: Story of a little wood and the evelasting fire.

-----to be continued

Commitment to God and the Prodigal Son (I)

Dearest brothers and sisters,
I would like to share about my reflection on Commitment to God. Last night I tried to reflect on this. And I started to ask my usual questions like why do we have to commit ourselves to God, what is so great about commiting ourselves to God, and etc, etc. I asked so many logical questions and while asking those questions I tried to find passages from the scriptures that could give answers to my questions.

But I heard a voice telling me to stop asking questions and to start looking at my life, to reflect on what is happening in my life. And this is what I would like to share with you.

As I flipped through the scripture pages, I finally stopped at the story of the prodigal son. Well, I said to myself that I knew this story quite well, and so I just scanned the story. I didn't think I could find anything related to commitment to God in this story. It's about sins, conversion, and the loving and forgiving Father, full stop.

But I decided to read again slowly since I learnt to read the scriptures out of love and not just "to know the story". And so I read the story again. You can read it from Luke 15:11-24,31-32.

As I read the story again and tried to reflect on it, I began to forget on my intention to reflect about commitment to God. I started to reflect on my own life. I started to listen what the story means for me.

And as I reflect on it, my mind was drifted back to my past. To the time when I just had an experience of God that changed my life, to the time just after I joined the Life in Spirit Seminar, to the time when I was so close to God, to the time when I felt life is so great even in the midst of difficulties, to the time when I felt the joy of serving God, the time when I felt the joy of giving my life to God.

And then my mind was brought to another time after the previous one. It was the time when I started to get busy with study. It was the time when my prayer time was reduced to study. It was the time when I thought that it's ok since I still went to church every Sunday. It was the time when my prayer time was taken to have a chat with my friends. And my thought said it's ok, since there were many people who were worse than me. It was the time when I was so tired and I made an excuse not to read the bible just for that day. And my thought said many people even didn't read bible at all. It was the time when I served God out of my rutinity. And my thought was saying that it's better rather than not to serve God at all. It was the time when now and then I made excuses for this and that. And it was the time when everything became so dry.

And suddenly I saw the scene of the prodigal son in my mind. The scene when the younger son left the house of the Father. And I saw me, myself, walking away from the house. I saw my self took a little step further away from the house everytime I made an excuse to reduce my prayer life. I saw myself took another little step further when I made an excuse not to read the bible for that day. And I saw there were more steps walking away from the house out from the same reason "only today". I saw myself walking away evertime I compared to the world and I saw myself better. I saw me walking away evertime I decided not serve God. And then I saw that the house could no longer be seen. I have walked far away from the house, from my home. And I saw that "me" felt dry, felt tired, felt empty, felt that life was without purpose.

And then I saw that the younger son, myself, came to his senses. He started to remember the time when he was close to his Father, the time when he was at home, the time when he felt Love, the time when he experienced the Love of the Father, the warm of the family, the joy in giving, the joy in serving the Father.

And that son, myself, remembered the time when I was close to God, the time when I prayed regularly, the time when my prayer life was good, the time when I served the Lord. That son remembered the time when he felt joy in serving God, the joy in seeing other people's life was changed and touched by God through him, the time when he could see the fruit of loving the Lord in service, the time when God was so close, the time when Life was beautiful even in the midst of difficulties. The time when he was at home, when he was at the Father's house, when he was at the Father's arm.

I realized that I was that prodigal son. I was the one who limited my relationship with God, I was the one who little by little walked away from my Father. My father has always been there and He never leaves. It was I who walked away from Him. I thought I would see the world, I thought I had other things to do, many things, and I walked away from my father. He was there, and I walked away.


Next>>

-------- to be continued