back to the source

This weekend's retreat was really quite good, better than I expected. Initially I was quite "nua", you know, just being the usual me. I tend to shun from activities if possible and I always only like to chill if I had a choice. But I've come to realise that many many decisions in life cannot be based just on mere feelings. And strangely enough, sometimes when you don't act based on just your feelings, but also by principle and purpose, you experience a greater sense of fulfilment.

And that's what I experienced during the retreat.

I think my faith was stretched and challenged again, and the retreat reminded me about how I cannot just stay comfortable where I am, whether it is in my faith or in my ministry or in life too. There's always more, always room to grow, even though sometimes they are just reminders and things that are nothing new. And I really hope that by grace, I'll grow and people will grow too.

I realised during the retreat that love, joy, peace, patience etc and many other virtues that we all would like the embrace and uphold cannot be truly lived out without our relationship with Someone greater than us. That's so..humbling. As a social worker, sometimes it's easy to just believe in these values and virtues and deem them the "ultimate" thing in life. But if all these virtues are isolated from this Relationship, we are at best Man-centred. But love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control as they were meant to be are so much more radical when we begin to know Him. We become God-centric rather than Man-centred/Idol(whoever or whatever they may be)-centred.

Thankful for the retreat. Thankful for the brothers and sisters. Thankful for grace and mercy.