Day 94

((I have been wanting to post this particular contemplation. Since it's going to be quite long, I decided to separate it into two parts. This is part 1 of "Admirable People" posts. . .))

When I was younger I used to admire people with certain talents: writers, musicians, actors/actresses, or even fictional characters. Most of them seemed 'cool' in my eyes because they showed style or attitude that stood out from the crowd. Some of them were kind of 'rebellious' and attempted to break the conventional rules. I guess that sort of explains my teenhood—an era which my parents considered as my "depressing identity-crisis years" (oh come on, I was just super into punk/emo/melodic music, for Blink's sake!) My parents were too dramatic. Ha-ha. As a result of that admiration, I made efforts to look like those people. I wore similar clothing lines, fervently listened and memorised their songs, learned to play musical instruments, and stuck their posters on my bedroom walls.

As I grew older, I looked at the world differently and my admiration for people shifted. I began to look up to people who were creative and witty. I thought people like that were charming and amusing. I enjoyed being around them because I got to learn to appreciate a wicked sense of humour, to love the art of creating, and to connect with different types of people. I styled myself to appear more artistic and did things that were "hipster-worthy". Everything was still about what's outward than what's inside.

At some point, I also got to learn so much from people who were world-changers with inspiring testimonies and a heart of nations. I started to admire those who were full of wisdom, courageous, and compassionate. I immersed myself in meaningful activities, travelled to explore the unknown, tuned my ears to life-changing stories, and searched for wisdom and understanding in hopes of becoming as inspirational as those people I admired.

The more I was involved in ministry stuff, the more I realised that knowledge and wisdom were meaningless without action. I saw how availability (willing heart) and generosity played important roles to make a huge change in people's heart and community. Real and direct examples from my father, my aunts, and some of my mentors who never ceased to give their time, money, thoughts, and energy so generously and serve others selflessly developed a strong aspiration in my heart to grow as someone who is faithful, generous, and selfless. After all, faith without deed is dead, right?

I knew it full well that none of these admirable inspiring people is perfect, yet I kept on watching how they live their lives and I took notes on what they value. So far, all this has made me more aware of the fact that:

Having said that, I was surprised to find out that apparently such way of thinking is still incomplete. . .

--> continue to part 2