True Maturity

I realised I don't find it very natural or fun to share about things in chronological order... in fact, when my friends ask me how's my week, I literally have to take out my handphone calendar and scroll through my past events to remember what I did!

:P Talk about short-term memory...

But yah, really want to thank God for my bros and sisters who celebrated my birthday. I can barely believe I'm 28 years old. Somehow, it feels that my life has only just started... that I've only just started living, if you know what I mean.

LOL. I don't just want to add years to my life... I want to add life to my years! :)

Shared this with my boss some time ago, and she was quite impressed... one thing she remarked was that she finds me mature in my thinking, because not many people think that way - living only for the moment and just making a living, but not stopping to think about really living.

I was very pleasantly blessed by her words... and it struck me for two things:
i. Whoa! I'm making a good impression on her!
ii. Whoa! She is a wise woman indeed... who really wants to make her life count.
iii. What is true maturity then?

I've been thinking. What is true maturity? Is it about acting properly and so on? Being socially mature? Laughing and dancing and so on? Or being serious and solemn?

Think true maturity is not the absence of childlike behaviour, but rather, knowing the right times to laugh and to weep, to sing and to lament, to work and to play.

True maturity is an 80-years old man singing and skipping barefoot along the beach, singing "Jesus Loves Me", and teaching his 8-year old grandson to do the same.

True maturity is an 8-year old who knows the value of self-control, of holding himself back and not grabbing that marshmallow, in order that he may gain another marshmallow if he waits.

True maturity is a 28-year old man playing a fun and silly game of soccer/Nerf/etc with a boisterous group of 12-years old boys, in order to bond and influence these young men-to-be for the Kingdom of God, even though some people may cluck their tongues and mutter, "How childish!" (I'm talking about you, Weizhu.) :)

True maturity is being willing to sacrifice your dignity for the sake of bonding with those less dignified in the eyes of society.

True maturity is being willing to kneel down in front of a little child, so that he/she can talk to you at his/her eye level.

And true maturity is being willing to take the pain and effort to grow in wisdom and stature, so that you can better mentor younger men/women.

Hmm. I think... perhaps we may not enjoy connecting with children, because we think them too immature for our standards... then probably we are not mature enough to connect with them. :)

If we can't explain the kingdom of God simple enough for a little child to understand, then it means that we ourselves don't understand the kingdom of God well enough to understand.

Let's put aside childish ways, but let's also grow more childlike in faith, hope and love. :)

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Anyway, yah, haha, I'll share about my bday... actually I found out that I lost my wallet on my bday! First thing in the morning! So went -____-'''... prayed and asked God to show me where my wallet went to. Then... I saw a picture of myself leaving my wallet in the MRT toilet while I was using the urinal. Pengz. So went over to the toilet, but didn't find it. $150+ gone...

But thank God, my mum blessed me with $200 that she'd won. Whoa! Praise God... v touched! :)

My CG treated me to pasta! :) And Huaqiang did something very sweet - he got my CG to send in their bday wishes... and he typed it all out... AND on top of that, he hand-folded each printed message into a heart! Wow... super-touched. =D

And Spencer bought me the Star Trek III DVD! The Search for Spock! Wow... very touched again. Haha...

And Eilton got some ppl from the HopeKids team to bless me with Astons and Ben & Jerry ice-cream... wow..

And Ellson organized a bday dinner for me as well... he asked me whom I want to invite... so I know that Huanyan, Shuyi and Minchen are from his unit... then Shuyi told Joyce about it, and Joyce came down too! :) Very very very touched. =D Shuyi chose a very nice card too... "we are children of the light," that's how the title went.

And Jon called me just to nuah with me... HAHA... THAT MEANS A LOT TO ME LOL...

Not to mention the lots of fb messages that I got...

So was sitting back and counting my blessings - literally... wow... feel deeply touched. I think over the years, it seems that quality time is actually my primary love language... and words a close second! :)

I think, reflecting on all this, this teaches me to be more and more appreciative of every person I come across. And some people you never really expected to bless you so much... actually went far beyond what you expected, and you got a deeper insight into their hearts and character.

And other people you kind of expected... forgot your birthday. LOL. No hard feelings lah... for some dear friends I know, their memories are such that if they can remember even your birthday date, that is really SPECIAL for them ok! :)