The Cacti

Recently we had a new addition to the family of plants who live in our garden. This one looked much worse off than many others when they came in.
It's a thorny Cacti with its leaves all broken, obviously by passers by who where scraped by it perhaps. It looked tough and wild and probably has not seen water for a long time.

But it was taken into this garden with much pleasure and delight. Of all the plants that are treasured in the garden this one took a special position. It is loved by the keeper of the garden, my mum and cherished. Every bit of it - the thorns, the broken leaves, it is all accepted and admired!

Many a time when I walk through the garden I wonder what the keeper finds in these very plants that in my opinion are quite a nuisance and really are not very beautiful. I don’t understand it. I just have to take the words of the keeper when she says they are her prized possessions and that by the way she says every single day.
Hats off to her! :-)

Dear Mister God, this is @ina talking . . . I am grateful that you are my keeper.

What do you see?

In black you can read the word Good, while in white you can read the word Evil ! (inside each black letter is a white letter)

I guess it visualizes the concept that good can't exist without evil.
What say?

Dear Mister God, this is @ina talking . . . I guess it’s the ‘evil’ in me that keeps the good growing within me. Stronger or weaker, is a choice I make!

Fun - Define it !

It's the weekend (finally) and the most common question I ask my friends is "So, what you doing this weekend?” And after a lil tête-à-tête on that we usually wind up with an "Okay... Have fun!”

Was going through one of those rituals when A, a friend of mine was describing A’s weekend plans, in other words what was *fun* for A when another friend B cut in claiming that A had no idea what fun was simply because the way B had *fun* was a whole lot different!

It was amusing but I could relate. It’s *fun*ny how sometimes 'My' way of defining/ having fun (or anything for that matter) can be *so* different from another’s. Like for some it’s fun to hang out in a mall while for others it’s sitting in the attic wrapped up in a book, for some it’s dabbling in fine arts and for some it’s climbing rocks...

And yet when I meet someone with entirely different tastes I either discredit them on the basis of that difference or I at times wish I *could* do that too, even if it isn’t my definition of fun, not quite realizing that.

What matters though I suppose is being able to both accept myself and others for our differences whatever they may be . . . after all the world will be too boring a place if we were all alike.

Dear Mister God, this is @ina talking . . . Wonder how you would define fun. (???)

It wasn’t for nothing

I offered to drop one of my friends at the bus stop today. It’s on my way home and so she agreed quite happily. We had hardly driven a mile when my vehicle began to give us some trouble. It just suddenly went dead. This has almost never happened before and I was a little puzzled. We struggled for awhile trying to get it started and then again, just as suddenly it roared back to life and we where on our way! We made it to the Bus Stop in the nick of time and she boarded the bus.

Driving back home, wondering about the strange way my vehicle gave trouble, it just dawned on me that It wasn’t for nothing. A little earlier or later and we could have headed in another direction as she was unsure of which bus she would be taking and so we would have missed the bus completely. It was perfect timing.
And must add, was made possible because of the struggle with my vehicle!

I was not too happy about the trouble with the vehicle, it even briefly gave me signs of life and went dead again causing me to despair. I really could not *see* how any good could come out of it but good did come of it.

It’s the same in life too. That tear, that weary work, or that lost dream, that hidden hope, or that risk I took that went badly wrong or that friend who hurt me or simply that dull day. . . Whatever it is - It wasn’t for nothing. I don’t think God allows anything for nothing. Instead he works in it *all*, and I mean *all*, to bring about something beautiful in me and through me.

Dear Mister God, this is @ina talking . . . Perhaps it’s the tests and tough times that I want to forget and would rather not experience that really keep me on track and make me a tool of blessing.

Taking a break

Since my last post, something went seriously wrong with my PC and I found myself disconnected from the world. It’s taken me an unreasonably long time to get things together again but I couldn’t help it.

I’m so glad to be able to sit back in my chair again and get things done with a couple of clicks. We are a spoiled lot! :-)

I think I’ve got so used to reflecting and writing, it felt weird not to be posting for awhile. But then again taking a break is nice in its own way too. Somehow you value things more when you are not doing/ having them than when you do.

Dear Mister God, this is @ina talking . . . So glad to be doing just this. Wish I did all I do, like so.