Monday, 29 August 2016

Divine discontent and counting blessings

"What I would like to have is that we be blessed with a divine discontent. Always not quite satisfied with what we have, always driven to do better," Lee Hsien Loong said at his National Day Rally speech earlier last week.

J and M know this feeling well. Not only are they driven, they put themselves on tough roads and make their journeys well.

"At the same time" the PM added, "that we have the wisdom to count our blessings, so that we know how precious Singapore is, and we know how to enjoy it and to protect it."

Last week has been a truly happy week for us. It started with M's getting Academic Excellence award at her Founders Day. She also got citations for her leadership contributions as the vice chair of the school's Peer Support Board and her sporting achievements in softball at the school and national level. 

Then, we had an awesome joint birthday party with her grandpa: FM 75.16, we dubbed it. Her friends showed up in force. They composed a song specially for her. J organised party games, and toasted her. D did everything else. Friends mean a lot to her, and she means a lot to them.

Grandpa F is 75 and hard of hearing nowadays. Still I am so glad he still had enough amplification in his hearing aid to hear his big brother M's touching and funny speech. Later the weekend, I even managed to get him into the pool to do some Aqua-Walking, an activity he continued to do in Malacca, that really gladdened my heart.

Then, of course, J got conferred the President scholarship. He deserves it, and yet he has not become big headed about it. As Mrs Tan wisely said to him, in front of us, "it's just the start."

Photo from President Tony Tan's Facebook 

It's a new journey for him now. Well, beginning right now with a 9-day exercise in the Brunei jungles, on a 2-day ration, and a third of that all alone. It will test him and it will grow him, no doubt.

M will shortly be on a new journey too. She will soon be concluding her penultimate term in secondary school, and just as 2015 was a big finish for her, 2016 will be as well.

Then, as only He can, the reading at Mass last weekend was from the book of Ecclesiastes. A book of wisdom that is so wise it mocks wisdom, human wisdom that is. 

The happy week has been experienced. New journeys has started. And may we continue to be blessed with divine discontent. And every now and then, when contentment happens, we count them. 





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