Keeping the dream alive.

I'm supposed to be doing my lab reports now.
I've got 2 reports dued.
A presentation on friday.
Another presentation on tuesday.
A test on monday.

Good stuff.

anyway..
one reason why i'm like online is that..
i wanted to d/l the AMI songs.
heh..that was the initial reason la

but...
i saw a friend's msn nick..
(note that friend is someone whom i very very very extremely seldom talk to online albeit the fact that we're always online...)
the nick was..
"One day all will disappear - would love as small as a mustard seed move mountains?"
and my first reaction was...
yeah...one day everything of the world will disappear...
and that everything is fleeting..
i think that love as small as a mustard seed would be able to move the mountains...
apparently...she feels that she doesn't have any talents etc..
and i just mentioned a point that...she's a wonderful listener...and being able to listen is a talent..
seriously.
that IS a talent.
to be able to truly sit and listen is a GIFT.

Next..on simulcast on msn..
this other guy whom i haven't really know till this sem...albeit being in the same class for 3yrs..
and he's nice la...
His nick is.. The paradox of life: the more we have, the less contented we are, the more we want
and to me...i feel that...it's a matter of defining what true contentment is.
Does contentment stem from material goods or spiritual treasures?
and his view is that...literally..the less you have..the more contented you are.. (i.e. poor people are satisfied easily)
But...i've seen plenty of poor people with such big big big huge ambitions.
so...that doesn't tally with his view exactly, does it?
If i could change his statement..
I would say that...The less we know of worldly goods (i.e. less bombardment from the media etc.) the easier we'll find contentment.
Example: Kids were so contented just by mucking around in the playground. Until they understood what the tv adverts were trying to sell..
that prolly lead to the whole 'I want I want' syndrome.
and..I guess that blurred the line between 'I want' and 'I need'
because...everyone seems to NEED everything nowadays..
like how I so totally need an ipod. or I need to get my hands on this new [insert thing].
yeah.
-shrugs-

The coolest thing about all of this is that...I feel like i'm in some revision class.
I saw this whole part of His study plan for me..
Super cool and interesting...
And silly ol' me just saw it like recently lor
Tho He's been teaching me for like 1.5-1 month already.
Thank You for Your patience.
-beams-

Righty ho.
About the study plan.
Remember my recent bout of burn-out?
yup.
Before the whole faint-y spell thingy happened...
J was telling me to learn to surrender to Him.
Apparently..I only knew that I needed to surrender only after the faint-y thing happened.
and i was happy after that..I thought I finished learning that lesson already.
but..
He wasn't done with me yet.

Was emailing a friend about that whole incident...telling him that i learnt to surrender etc.
And he asked me what does it mean to surrender?
And does that mean passing all my burdens to Him?
Because..the term 'surrendering' is frequently used by Christians..and so...what does surrendering mean?
That so made me think and questioned it.
Pondered over the question for roughly 2weeks.
had on-off minor discussions with J about it.
Finally came to my own set of answers last week.
Happy happy!
and then. He showed me yet again that I was far from done.
that the lesson just started.

Because..somehow...in the course of last week...
I was reading my Bible..and I decided to read the book of Ecclesiastes
Which teaches that basically...everything of the world is fleeting..
(see any similarities between this and the msn convo?)
and to me...everything just seems to tie in with the idea of surrendering..
This is going to be such an interestingly cool lesson.

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
— Brennan Manning