The Flickering Light at the End of the Tunnel.

Hope at times makes no sense, and we tell ourselves to not keep our hopes high so that we won’t be disappointed later, and I read one of my friends IG story asking “What does ‘This too shall pass’ mean anymore?” This is definitely one of the greatest testing time of our lives, we dread the news each day, I hate looking at my phone every morning for the fear of more “not so great news”, and I dread the times when the phone rings unexpectedly. Ironically, to our human eyes when we look for a justification for “This too shall pass”, all we see is more cases around us, or us coming into direct contact with a Covid positive unknowingly, or family members being tested, close ones and acquaintances dying, news of possible floods as if a pandemic wasn’t enough.. As if that wasn’t enough, of riots, explosions and plane crashes? All like an icing on the cake of 2020!

Coincidences are God planned incidents.

Veeta was on her second interview for the day when I met her. She happened to be sitting next to me on the bus and for a minute I thought I was on the wrong bus and she reassured me I was on the right one and we started talking for the next half an hour or so until my stop arrived. That was an interview I was going to where I came across this person.

Mr Khanna was an 85 year old retired auditor who happened to sit next to me during one of my long waits at an airport. What started out as a conversation to hand the newspaper over took multiple turns into the past and I could see his eyes shine as he was telling me stories of the days in which he could jump and run.

These are two of the people who have crossed paths with me in two of my journeys that I was reminded of today.

I did not know why certain things happened, why I went for that interview if God knew this job wasn’t fit for me. Why did I go till the last round of the interview if I’m not going to get that job. Why this? Why that? Basically a lot of whys!!

That’s when I got a tiny answer today, a mom with two kids was traveling in the bus i took today and I helped the mom, maybe that was why I had to be on the bus today. I randomly smiled at a lady (who definitely thought it was creepy) and perhaps that’s why God wanted me to go that way today.

A lot of things that seemed like coincidences are actually God working behind the scenes for the good of all who love Him and who he cares for.

So it’s okay to not be called back after every interview. It’s okay if we had to go the hospital multiple times for a lot of tests. It’s okay to get low marks.

God is in control. He knows what is best for us.

Boats of Hope

My Sunday school kids and I decided to make small boats of hope and write “Smile, Jesus loves you :)” on each of them so that we could give it to a person who is not smiling or someone close to us.

Once I told them what to write, this seven year old wrote “Smile, Jesus loves me” so I asked him why did he write like that cause my whole idea or lesson for the day was around giving this boat to person who is not smiling.

This young boy’s answer took me by surprise. He told me “My mother is smiling, my father is smiling but I’m not smiling so I

need this”

His honest and innocent answer got me thinking.

How many of us are so innocently honest like this seven year old?

My surprise didn’t end there.

I had the “boat of hope” that I call, which I made so I asked the rest of the class if we could give it to this boy who felt he needed it the most and to my surprise they wanted him to have it.

Do we do this growing up?

Are we sensitive of our feelings as well as the feelings of those around us?

Has growing up changed the way we feel, think and react?

Would you make yourself a boat of hope today?

Why I called it the boat of hope?

Well Noah was one of the only Godly men during the difficult and tough times. God told Noah to build the ark and he didn’t question God or ask for an action report as to why he should build the ark nor did he know why. He just built the ark and slowly he saw the big picture and the why’s and the when’s.

So when you build a boat of hope for yourself it’s a symbol of hope that God is there with you and you are not alone.

So build yourself an ark of hope.

Broken Crayons Still Colour.

Back when I was a kid, I received a huge Crayola box full of crayons and I felt like I held in my hand, every colour in the world.

I remember how sad I used to be whenever a crayon broke, and how the broken pieces were so small compared to the others in the box.

While the ‘perfect crayons’ stood tall and proud, the ‘imperfect crayons’ cowered below, short and stout. The ‘perfect crayons’ held their place, while the ‘imperfect crayons’ wiggled out of the box and sometimes even got lost. The ‘perfect crayons’ were easy to colour with, while the ‘imperfect crayons’ were hard to hold and even more difficult to colour with.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the brokenness in your life, but you must never ever let your past, your brokenness and your hurt define you, but let them mould you into someone stronger than you were as you redefine what lies ahead.

No matter how broken you may be, what you’re made of hasn’t changed. No amount of brokenness can change that. You are still you, and all of your broken fragments too.

You were created in the glorious image of a God, who wants to carry your hurt and your burdens for you, and He wants you to see you healed and restored and whole again.

You may think you’re a mess right now, but you are one beautiful and unique colour in God’s masterpiece. There is no one like you.

You are your own crayon, full of vibrancy and life. You are purposeful and you add your own signature hue to all you do. There is no colour like you.

You may not see His big picture right now, but God has already drawn the outlines, and He knows where each colour will go to complete His work of art.

God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. His masterpiece consists of a colour palette so beautiful and varied because He uses all the crayons in His box – the broken and the unbroken.

Our past may have broken us, but that does not mean we cannot colour out a beautiful future.

Broken crayons still colour.

So will you.

The Waves.

When was the last time you visited the beach?

Well I am taking you back there now; remember the hot windy air on your face, or the cool night breeze, the sound of the waves crashing in intervals that you can’t really predict. Imagine yourself sitting on the shore, looking at the never ending building and crashing of waves, receding and crashing over and over again. The tireless cycle. Now you are lost in thought, thinking of absolutely nothing but the beauty of the waves in front of you. How refreshing was that?

Every time I visit the beach, the waters give me a new perspective on life. My last visit was the most fun-filled experience in my life and yet a very educative one too. It left a learning in my life that I still haven’t forgotten. Playing in the water, I lost my glasses. And I, not predicting an event like that to occur, hadn’t carried an extra pair. I was literally blind for the next twenty four hours.

This taught me to put set of spare glasses anywhere and everywhere I go, not only because I may lose it, but also because I learnt how temporary everything really is.

We think right now that losing that wallet or those pair of glasses is the biggest problem of the day, but it doesn’t really matter in the bigger picture because God is in control. I didn’t get lost when I didn’t have my glasses, but I learned how to let go of the fear of the unknown. It wasn’t a major step but a small start to a big step.

TRUST is a five letter word that holds so much in it. But that is indeed a step closer to not being worried of what goes by and anxious about what is to come next. For it says “ The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do.” Psalm 118:6.

Fear is a liar. If God is there with me, whom should I fear?