evieroo

5 Ways to Read The Bible

2024-03-21T05:03:00.000-07:00

To some, the Bible is an ancient text. To me, it’s the living word of God. It’s a story about the love of God. It taught me who God is.

It tells of how God created us, and saved us, in-spite of (and because of) all of our flaws, again and again, right until the Saviour came down once and for all, to die for us because he loves us (he comes back though).

Parts of it are literal and parts of it are metaphors, sometimes it’s hard to know which is which. So, before getting into it, pray.

A quick breakdown.

The Old Testament: Stories we can learn from about ancient heroes of the faith (fully flawed people). There’s also poems, songs, laws, prophecies…never have I read anything that has so many different forms of literature in one place.

The New Testament: The story of Jesus, life as a Christian and Revelations, about the end times (it has dragons).

Here’s a few ways to start:

1. Start at 3 different points in time (easy and usual way).
Expect to read 3 chapters a day, one from each section and work forward.
Time: Usually 5-10min depending on how fast you read.

Start from MATTHEW 1. Jesus’s story is essential to understanding the rest of the Bible.
Then read GENESIS 1. Right from the beginning of creation, through the stories of ancient heroes that you’ll remember for the rest of the journey.
Then read PSALMS 1. Songs and poems from various people, often King David, as they go through the ups and downs of life and lean on the God that always holds them.

I used to read Psalms in the morning (quick and uplifting) and Matthew and Genesis at night (stories and fun, very flawed characters).

2. Bible in a Year Plan.
Follows a similar format to above but it’s already structured and you can tick it off as you go. Some come with explanations.

The one I’ve been doing (again and again) since 2017 is on YouVersion ('The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2023'.
https://www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/34130).
NB. Don’t worry if you miss days (or weeks) in between, you can shift the dates..as you can see I’m still in 2023…

3. Read book by book.
This flows well and you get to finish a good chunk of the story with each book. If it’s the first time you’re reading the Bible, this is a good way to start.
The order I would recommend:

Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (the story of Jesus from different angles)

Genesis + Exodus: creation, ancient heroes and God leading his people through a very long (40 year) journey through a wilderness where we learn with them about various facets of human nature and God’s much better nature.

Proverbs + Ecclesiastes: words of wisdom, and universal truths.

Acts and Romans.

Psalms

Leviticus - 2 Chronicles.

1 Corinthians - Revelations (the rest of the New Testament).

Ezra onwards, the rest of the Old Testament.

4. The New Testament then The Old Testament.
This is how I did it when I was little. Some parts of the New Testament references people or stories from the Old Testament that you might not know yet.

5. Chronologically from Genesis 1.
If you don't know the story of Jesus already, I wouldn't recommend this way. The story of Jesus is so core that you should ideally read this first, it helps understand the purpose of the other, sometimes complicated parts. Chronologically reading the Bible can help you understand the order of events in some sections, but in others the books aren't in the order they were written.

The Bible is the no.1 most influential book ever written and the greatest literary masterpiece. It holds the Guinness world record for the best selling book of all time.

These recommendations will serve you whether you’re reading for academic purposes, literary interest or faithful obedience. It’s easy to get lost. Let me know if you need a hand or clarification about anything. If you have a church, parents or a pastor, they can surely help!

Other resources I’ve found reliable to understand and remember the key stories and concepts:

The Bible project. Animated videos that clearly and simply explain the stories and more complicated concepts. https://youtu.be/KOUV7mWDI34?si=Zb3WXDdmHlwS-YhE

Super book. Cartoon focusing on the main stories. https://youtu.be/LxPfWVVtIRY?feature=shared

John Piper is a pastor who has articles with explanations and videos where he dissects parts of the bible to help understand it better in Desiring God. https://www.desiringgod.org/

The Gospel Coalition, a group of pastors coming together to write about pertinent issues relating to Christianity. Sometimes they go through passages in the Bible here, but it’s more about the overarching concepts and issues. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/

Would love to hear about any other resources!

RUOK day: One Call Away

2020-09-11T22:41:00.004-07:00

R U OK? I hope we haven’t forgotten to ask you when you need it the most. R U OK day is an initiative that was started to encourage us to ask simple questions to combat the silent lethality of suicide. At the end we have ideas that are just One Call Away, to stay connected during these socially distanced times.

We hope this finds you well, but most importantly we hope it reaches you early, when your sad days are few and far in between. It is most likely coming to you when sadness is all you’ve known for a little while yet. I suppose you may be finding yourself slowly reaching that point where the switch flips from despair to searing numbness, its getting closer and you don’t quite know how to stop. Let me tell you friend, hope is just around the corner, or if we’re being covid-safe, just one call away.

I can imagine it would be hard to suffer in silence, using all your energy to always be putting on a smile for those who have the pleasure of your acquaintance. Life seems to keep throwing its heaviest punches your way, and somewhere along the line you stopped letting us know about it. Maybe we said we’d call you back one too many times, maybe there were one too many strangers on the street that didn’t smile your way, maybe you’ve been watching the news on your own, noting down the daily death counts and not being able to visit your wife with dementia who is in a nursing home. You’re struggling to comprehend it all because your own cognition is declining too, we just didn’t know it then. In the end, you’re alone for a second, you have a knife or a drain pipe, a shoe lace or bedsheets for a noose. I can imagine it feels like the only way out, the only way to get away. Let me tell you friend, it is not.

You’ve never been the type to want to inconvenience people with your emotions. You told me once you felt too little to speak, or too much for anyone to handle. You found yourself looking up from the bottom of a pit and everyone above you kept walking past without realising you had no way out. So you stopped asking; stopped waving your arms about and your flares had run out, so you sat in the shadows hugging your knees. Let me tell you friend, you are not an inconvenience. We all have stories we’d go back and change to make sure we could convince you of that for certain.

We’ll sit here and listen, we’ll wait till you’ve told your story and we’ll chip in our own frustrations for you. We’re on your side. And all the time, we are in awe of someone from whom all the courage that they ever had was needed to ask for help to help themselves. Whatever question we may pose to you, we know that the courage to reply may have to be from an empty place where you feel like no courage ever could be. Let me tell you friend...

Isolation and social distancing makes suffering in silence so much easier, and so much harder. Don’t fret little pet, the Internet might be riddled with pitfalls but this is something it can be useful for. In 2020, while we were realising all of the things we’ve taken for granted before us we also found other ways of connecting. I ask one thing of you, say yes to an outstretched hand. If you can, send out another flare, the internet has an infinity of them. Let me tell you friend, we’re only one call away.

If you have a helping hand, reach out with these R U OK Iso Ideas.

-Exercise: Watch2gether to share YouTube at home workouts. Started by a couple of exercise queens in New Zealand when they were heading into weeks of stage 4 lockdown, this strategy provided motivation and connection.

-Isolation trivia: Live-streamed for lockdown. Make a team and share screen on Zoom.

-Quizup: only The Biggest Trivia Game! It’s an app where you challenge your friends, and other people around the world, to quizzes about various topics of your choosing.

-Netflix party: Iso saw some of the hot hits of 2020 including Never Have I Ever, Indian Matchmaking and The Last Dance (not to mention all the feel good classics you can revisit). All of which would be made better with sideline commentary from your friends via netflix party.

-Online Games: This was a big hit long before iso was a thing, in fact I vividly remember my brother yelling to his friends over a game of COD at 3am years ago. If you can figure out Steam Gaming Platform you can even play CATAN online! Other options: Jackbox games and the Houseparty app.

-Bookclub: choose a book to read as a group and try to go at the same pace so you can chat about it and really learn. I was forced to remove “watching lectures over Microsoft Teams” as a social activity, so this is a close alternative.

-Spotify Group Playlist: Share your fantastic music taste with your friends! And this way you have something to play when you’re all together again.

-Food: Use the same recipe and video call each other while baking your favourite sweet treats e.g. Cupcake Jemma.

There’s hardly anything chocolate can’t cure (except diabetes sorri, Ref: Whatcha gon do with that desert).

Alternatively you can drop off food for a friend. Nothing quite beats the feeling of eating something that a friend has taken the effort to send your way.

-Youversion devotionals: this is a Christian Bible app that lets you do devotionals with friends where you each read the same thing daily.

-Share a meme, save a life! (Ref: Laughter is the best medicine. Lol wat?) Nothing quite makes the sun shine brighter than a spicy meme from a good friend.

-Painting: have a go at a YouTube painting tutorial together. Bob Ross is a classic.

I’m writing this for you if it will even help to fill just one of your lonely moments because let me tell you friend, you’re not alone.

-evieroo

Getting your P's: Perseverance

2018-09-24T20:25:00.003-07:00

Some things take effort. Things like finishing a degree, getting fit, eating healthy, your spiritual life. You add to them every day little by little and not so suddenly, after some time you realise you’re closer to where you want to be. It’s called perseverance.

I struggle with perseverance. I always have an excuse. Right now, I’m supposed to be studying for my exams but I’m writing this. When I’m not, I’m watching Brooklyn 99 and even if watching tv shows usually helps me study, 95% of the time that’s just my excuse to procrastinate even more. It’s tough stuff to persevere sometimes, especially after 6 years of uni, but that’s just another excuse because this started well before uni :P. Honestly sometimes it feels like I’m swallowing a bowl of nails when it comes to persevering.

My personal relationship with God has definitely been the area of my life where I’ve persevered the least in the past. Only recently its come to my attention that it doesn’t need a million grand sacrifices (but do so by all means if that’s what you want to do). We do need to remember the grandest sacrifice of all though, the cross of Christ. Most often, perseverance consists of mundane every day choices.

“Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature.” - C.S. Lewis.

If you haven’t already guessed, I’m going to be talking about persevering for the cause of Christ.

"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12: 1

What is the race?

The path Jesus walked when he was here is clearly marked out for us in his Word. This is our race. It’s a unique race, a christian race, the path you choose when you choose Jesus. And make no mistake, this choice guarantees suffering and pain. If you want to follow someone who was persecuted, rejected and crucified by this world then you can know that your path isn’t going to be much different. Take heart in this! For he has overcome the world (John 16:33)! We are encouraged to 'rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope' (Romans 5:3-4).

Why do we persevere?

The intent is important to clarify. Perseverance is usually used in relation to achieving your goals, becoming the best and the brightest on your way to fame and fortune. Unfortunately, if that’s what you were hoping to read about, this isn’t that. The perseverance in the Bible has a clear purpose, to be an example to those around us. So that our lives and the love we give may be a sermon. So that the way we cry out to God, the way we worship him and adore him may be a reflection of the love he so willingly pours out for us. Not so that we may become more and better but so that God may be represented more and better through us. So that in becoming windows and mirrors we become nothing in and of ourselves, but all of whom we are revealing, God’s love story to a rebellious people.

I know, it sounds countercultural to persevere to become nothing, when everyone around us is working so hard to become something or someone. But as my pastor pointed out this sunday, as Paul drew closer to Christ he realised how much smaller he was, not in a self-loathing and self-pitying kind of way, but in awe and appreciation of the greatness of God. He compared it to walking towards Mt Everest. From far away it looks huge, you know it’s really big even from pictures, but when you get closer and closer you realise just how big it actually is. You don’t even think about your smallness because you’re consumed by it’s greatness first and foremost.

How do we persevere? (based on Romans 5:3-5)

Prepare:

Figure out what's getting in your way. May it be drive for worldly gain; money, fame, admiration or a group you want to fit in with that clearly don’t represent the characteristics of Christ or natures in yourself that keep telling you to go against the word of God; your flesh, your feelings, your fear. Most likely, its a whole lot of pride or a everything combined. "Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles."
Be brutal. The Bible is brutal in telling you to remove sin from your life. It uses words like FLEE and CUT OFF YOUR ARM and REMOVE YOUR EYE. Its brutal and exacting, because it knows that sin “so easily” entangles and its consequences can impact eternity.

Run:

One step at a time. Just put one foot in front of the other. Whether that’s asking God to help you get out of bed each day or crying through a broken heart every night. One step at a time, there’s no need to rush.
Do it daily.

Know your end goal: When you know where you’re going, the steps to get there become all the more clearer.

Read the Bible to remind yourself of his story, of the nature of God and all his goodness through the mistakes of thousands of years of humanity that is recorded there. "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Pray for strength. Whatever you’re doing you need the energy to do it. God is an endless source of strength, he will be the arms that hold you up when your knees hit the ground. "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

"For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21

You can do it! Make that your conviction every single day. Make it your life motto.

"Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world.” -J R R Tolkien.

-evieroo

Choosing God's Authority (4): Obeying God even when you don't want to.

2018-09-23T02:23:00.001-07:00

Sometimes there’s things you don’t want to do even when you know it is the right thing to do. Your heart just doesn’t want to. If we spent our lives following what our heart wants we’d end up in a deceptively wicked place because the way of the heart is deceptively wicked. We’d be swaying back and forth and wouldn’t go forward in our journey.

I used to argue with my mum about doing the right thing. I had the epitome of the classic rebellious teenager attitude. I argued that I didn’t want to be fake so I should be behaving on the outside as I feel on the inside. She said I should behave correctly on the outside even if I didn’t want to on the inside, because atleast half of me was doing what was right. I thought it was ridiculous! The hypocrisy! But as I grew up I realised that sometimes you just have to do the right thing even when there’s nothing in you that wants to. That’s what they called obedience.

(Disclaimer: obviously there are exceptions to this and we need to be checking everything against scripture instead of blindly following everything but more than the rules its the heart posture God talks to us about with words like obedience)

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. - Psalm 119:105

When you read the word of God you learn more about the character of God and the Holy Spirit speaks to you through this knowledge of God’s character in every situation, guiding you in the right way. His word becomes a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. It’s called the straight and narrow road for a reason. Because there aren’t a million options you can take to go the right way, you can’t turn this way and that and bend the rules to get to where you want to go. You’ve got to walk through a straight road, following it despite opposition from your own body and the works of the devil around you.

This isn’t at all a self sufficient reliance on your works to get to God.

I used to think it was. No. It’s you loving God, trusting him (because that is surest sign of love) and obeying him (because that is the surest sign of trust). Not because you want to look better in the eyes of others but because you love God; the God that died for you and gave himself up for you. It’s the intent that I’d been missing. I thought my mum wanted me to appear good because other people would think I was good and in turn see her as a good parent. Maybe that was part of it. But she knew I wouldn’t always understand why, and I needed to get to a place where I could obey God even when I didn’t understand everything about him. This is also acknowledging that apart from him I wouldn't even have the will to obey him, it's all about him.

Today, I know who God is.

Not all of him of course, a finite mind can only understand so much of an infinite God. I know that this whole thing, this life and otherwise, it really is all about him. I also know my God is good and God is great and God is true. I know God is love, he is more stern and splendid than mere kindness (1) but he is kind too, the kindest. I know he gives us free will and hopes that we will believe him. God does not change, despite our feelings or our fortune. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Knowing this character of God means I also know I want to serve him, I want to follow him. This is in-spite of not understanding everything and not wanting to do everything he says we should do. I want to obey him. I want to want to do what he wants me to do. I want my heart to be inclined towards God rather than toward it’s natural inclination in the flesh.

I pray for grace to be so full of love for God, that when I know what I have to do I can put aside my feelings of discomfort and fear and do what God requires of me, what God has commanded of me. To reasonably and logically look at his word and follow it, no matter what, be lead by the Holy Spirit and not my own heart.

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the LORD thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest. - Joshua 1:9

- evieroo

(1) C.S. Lewis

Choosing God's Authority (3): Obedience.

2018-09-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

Obedience in the Bible means to have a hearing heart that is intent on doing whatever God asks from us. Most importantly, a hearing heart that is rooted in love.

I must admit that obedience was once the word I hated most in the bible. The word I ran from when I was a flighty little kid. The word I rolled my eyes at when I was an emotional teenager that already knew what was best, clearly. The word I skimmed over and ignored when I moved out of home and started uni. I mean what harm could come from a little bit here and a little bit there? Surely this was a flexible thing.

"It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." - C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (1).

Obedience. It was the word that was spoken, crisp and clear in the middle of an acutely painful situation. The pain showed me where I was pushing God away, where I needed most to be mended (2).

Since then it started to draw me in. It appeared highlighted, bold, italicised and underlined whenever I read the bible. It was a self explanatory, obvious word. There was nothing here or there, a little or a lot, about it. It was so simple. It gave me a knowing look and with a wise smile it queried whether I’d ignore it this time. It dared me to roll my eyes again.

Obedience didn’t force me to bow. Neither did it condemn me. It wasn’t the sting of a cruel whip nor was it a disappointed, condescending glare.

Instead, it went straight for my heart with fingers of firm assurance. Under the command to be still I watched as with strong, bold letters it began to write. It wrapped itself around the tables of my heart (3) and slowly but clearly, it taught me. It taught me what it meant to love God with everything I had and to love others as myself. It taught me that it had nothing for me to prove, nothing for me to finish. Christ on the cross did not say with his last breath, “it is finished (4),” to no effect. Grace has already completed what we never could.

Obedience was no taskmaster, set over me to afflict me with a heavy burden (5). Obedience is not a slave being whipped to work faster, walk further and do better than the others. That kind of obedience only lasts as long as we can remember to imagine the atrocity of hell and feel the sting of the cruel whip. It only lasts as long as our feelings last.

But God doesn’t promise to remove feelings of bitterness or prolong our feelings of love to help us obey. We are called to obey in-spite of our feelings. We are called to choose God over and above every temporal satisfaction and gain because we know he is worth pursuing, more than anything else that exists.

"The full acting out of the self's surrender to God therefore demands pain: this action, to be perfect, must be done from the pure will to obey in the absence, or in the teeth, of inclination. How impossible it is to enact the surrender of the self by doing what we like.” -C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (6).

When grace breathed life into dry bones (7) obedience becomes the arms lifted high in worship, a heart standing in awe, eyes filled with tears of gratitude and a mind that chooses God again and again and again. Obedience draws you back even when we've run away too many times.

This time we obey because of a love that never fails. In servitude to an eternal God who is the only one that can promise us infinite words forever.

We obey this time because we don’t want to break his heart. Not again.

'Anyone who says they love God but doesn’t obey his commandments is a liar,' Obedience said (8) (9) (10).

-evieroo

NB: For the Hebrew word that relates to obedience check out this video by The Bible Project!

The Screwtape Letters, C.S.Lewis.
The Benefits of Pain, Siri Leknes and Brock Bastian.
Proverbs 3:3 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+3%3A3&version=ESV
John 19: 30 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+19%3A30&version=ESV
Exodus 1:11 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+1%3A11&version=ESV
The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis.
Ezekial 37:7-10 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekial+37%3A7-10&version=ESV
John 14:23 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14%3A23&version=ESV
1 John 2:4 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+john+2%3A4&version=ESV
1 John 4: 20 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+john+4%3A+20&version=ESV

"Whatcha gon do with that dessert?"

2018-09-13T01:27:00.004-07:00

According to the Royal Children’s Hospital’s guidelines on pain management in infants, small amounts of sweet solutions may be used to reduce pain and distress during minor procedures in infants (1). This is because the taste is pleasant on the tongue.

I’m going to apply this, not based on any evidence based research, to us, now, today, on RUOK day. Since we were all babies once, I’m sure that there’s a baby in all of us that could use some sweetness to numb the pain.

The theme this year will be, "Whatcha gon do with that dessert?” (Recommendations at the end!)

Suicide has the onion effect.

In the wake of RUOK day more suicides have been occurring around me than any other time of year. A friend of a friend, a mother or father of a friend, a friend. When a person is affected, all the layers of social contacts around them are shaken too.

Suicide creates confusion.

Like most unexpected death you wonder but by far the most common question related to suicide is “how could no one have known they were struggling?” The lethality of suicide depends on it’s silence. With suicide, unlike sudden cardiac arrest, you know that there was a slippery slope they were trying really hard to go against before getting to this point. Whether anyone else was aware of it or not, it was most likely a long time coming.

It’s a million stars that have a million questions thrown at them asking, why me? It’s a million tissues with a million tears crying, when will this end? It’s a dark corner and a silent whisper, saying “I can’t take any more.”

Confusion leads to guilt.

Guilt is a cruel cruel friend. He speaks all sorts of lies and pain into your life. He makes you live in "what abouts" from the past and "what ifs" from the future. He flames fires of a twisted imagination. No one can rid you of this guilt. You either choose to accept that it was not your fault. There is nothing you could’ve done. Or you don’t.

Let me tell you friend, I don’t know why and I don’t know what you could’ve done. Their memory and their life is so precious to you, you want to hold them one more time and hear their laugh just one.more.time. Let yourself grieve them. Remember them and know that no matter what choice they made it doesn’t change who they were and who they still are to you. Let the love of them rest on your heart, don’t try to let go too soon- it’s too painful, it will hurt and bleed too much because love is definitely not meant to be torn away. Even though I’m sure that’s what it feels like. Even though they’re gone, their memory makes them very much alive to you. For a loved one that you’ve lost, rest in the pain and know that there is someone bigger than you who is looking out for them even now and looking over you always. Like any wound the loss of them will hurt and sting for a long time but know that wounds do heal. Their scars will shape you, open up your eyes to the world or close your heart but remember-

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” - C.S.Lewis

It hurts but we do it anyway because we're told it's worth it and deep down we know this to be true. Love them if they’re in heaven, love the memory of them even when they’re not here because your love only breeds more love.

“Love is never wasted, for its value does not rest upon reciprocity.” - C.S. Lewis

Let your heart be filled with it and let your life overflow with it. If they are still with you love them so hard that all the darkness disappears.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr

How do we do this?

Asking someone RUOK is easy enough. The initiative highlights how simple and effective four letters can be.

So let’s think of more simple and effective ways to lend a helping hand. In previous years I’ve written about some other things that I thought would help heal. This includes-

1) A little hug later...

2) Laughter is the best medicine. lol wat?

Today I’ll focus on desert. More specifically, CHOCOLATE!

"Whatcha gon do with that dessert?"

This year I’ve found that there is little that chocolate doesn’t sweeten. Including your blood, I know, I’m not here to promote diabetes. If you know someone is struggling, or if you’re struggling and its not too hard to ask for help, ask them out for chocolate!

For those that are struggling I know that when you’re feeling down and out you’re much too vulnerable to put your hand up and say excuse me can you please come get chocolate with me? I know. So I hope for you, I pray for you that you have friends that can see your face fall and know right away when something is wrong. But I am not naive enough to think that all may be in this position.

So I challenge you, you with the hurt and the pain and the thoughts of taking your own life, not knowing whether anyone would care and convinced that everyone would be better off without you, AND you without these thoughts too, with the friends around with sad eyes and the ones you know have heavy hearts, reach out and ask them- anyone, whether they want to have some chocolate with you.

"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." - Gandalf.

You can talk. You don’t have to. You can just stay silent, resting in the assurance that there are those with bright eyes and smiles that are there for you to lean on when you’re weak, shoulders to cry on when yours fall and eyes that love you when you can see nothing to love. Chocolate and company can cure all sorts of things.

Some chocolate deserts that I personally live for (in no particular order, just as I remember them):

San churros chocolate dip with churros (just tried real ruby chocolate, its actually real, and it feels so exciting to eat pink chocolate and know its real!).

Hot chocolate (from anywhere, anytime, any day but especially at Max Brenner with a friend, you know who you are)

Peanut MnM's

Rock melon flavoured chocolate
(omg one of my favourites for sure,
was a japanese chocolate that a friend kindly gifted, thank you God).

White chocolate brownies

Chocolate chip cookies (especially those thic ones from woollies,
especially after microwaving them and having it with some milk!
and also the ones my sister makes at home nom nom).

Home made chocolate brownies (you know who you are)

So next time you’re craving desert, or in the next moment you can spare, remember, “whatcha gon do with that desert?"

- evieroo

NB: For anyone with diabetes who struggles with these things I did not mean to offend with this post.

https://www.rch.org.au/rchcpg/hospital_clinical_guideline_index/Sucrose_oral_for_procedural_pain_management_in_infants/

Choosing God's authority (2): our motivation

2018-09-01T06:50:00.001-07:00

When our motivation is GOD and just not OUR self improvement the whole plot changes. Its no longer a drive to become a better version of yourself, which will eventually drain everything from you. You don't go to God to make yourself better for this world, to be more successful or more likeable. You go to God for who God is. In this you find a drive to become God’s version of yourself because you believe God is good and knows all things. It happened several times that even going to God was about making MYSELF better, more likeable, more agreeable. Go to God again and again and again until going to him is for him, not for you.

This automatically means you are striving for the best version of yourself that can ever exist, and you know as soon as you reach this truth that at this moment God has worked a perfect work in you; all your quirks, all your weaknesses and failures, he knows them and he knows you. Every dark corner you hide from the world, he knows it. And he loves all of it. He will never give up on you. His love reaches those parts you think no one can reach and it shines light there till all the darkness flees, all the guilt and lies and pain just cower and eventually disappear before the might that is our God.

BUT the unchangeable fact is that it is not about us. He made us in his image, to look like him. He made us to obey him and experience the fullness of his love. He made us to look like him. It's not about us, it's about him. Your perspective has to change from a ME-world to a God-world. Your drive changes from self-love, which runs out and is easily wearied, to a love of God, that is given FROM God and has an eternal source that never ever shuts you out.

This can only work if you can see that this whole story, from creation to revelations is NOT about YOU. It's about one main character- GOD, and his love. This whole thing we're involved in, it's HIS love story. We’re waves tossed in the ocean, flowers quickly fading. We come and go and our lives matter immensely to him but this world is not about us. It’s about him. HE created us so he could be LOVE to us. We are side characters and he is the lead. So we choose. We choose to bow to his authority, his instruction. We choose to persevere through all our weaknesses and our failures, knowing he is giving us the strength.

Remember the end scene of The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King, where Aragorn leads the tiniest army you ever saw to the black gates of Mordor and with all their strength and courage they rush forward, even the tiny little hobbits with their tiny little swords against the giant terrors that were in Mordor, the innumerable army of the enemy who seems to overwhelm us again and again.

It feels as though we fight with toothpicks or a feather against metal and leather, but we know our God has already won the battle, its already over.

I was trying so hard to be “better,” to become this person that I wanted to be or I thought I should be. It was draining because it was impossible to maintain. This didn’t come from purely lacking the willpower to resist temptation, but rather an accumulation of a constantly moving target of what is good for me, what I want, what society says I should be and who the circumstances of life are making me. It was so HARD to do anything right for any decent amount of time. But then you just look up, you stop looking around you and you just look up and you know who died for you, who conquered death for you. Jesus. That name itself holds power. That cross held the power to break death, what feels like the most powerful force in this world. If it can break death it can definitely break anything that is tying you down, that is shackling you.

As Christian says to Ignorant in The Pilgrims Progress,

"You are ignorant of the true effects of saving faith in the righteousness of Christ. It will bow and win over the heart to God in Christ; to love his name, his word, ways and people and not as your ignorantly imagined."

For me, the true effect of saving faith was knowing that there is NOTHING in this world more worth pursuing than the cause of Christ.

Know that you are here to do God's work, fight in his army and be a door for HIS love to walk through. It's not about you. At all. The sooner you know that the better. The sooner you let go of everything to do with YOU, the sooner you will gain everything to do with you. Anything you let go of is another invitation to let God in, until he is ALL you are. It becomes such that existence itself becomes about God, every breath, every task, every suffering becomes about GOD and his glory. Not you.

Think of yourself less, and of God more. This way you'll see less of your failures and more of his perfection, less of your weaknesses and more of his strength, less of your brokenness and more of his love. In this world, you still have failures, weaknesses and brokenness, but your focus shifts. And when you start to see God, you will understand what all this is for. That gives you the strength to carry on. That gives you the courage. That gives you the perserverance and the motivation. That gives you the pure intent, the integrity and the compassion that you were never able to have. That gives you your soul, as you surely lose your whole world.

- evieroo

Choosing God's authority.

2018-08-27T03:08:00.002-07:00

When I was running yesterday, I thought about how God made this body. There is a way that our body functions. It has weaknesses, emotions, desires and impulses. It was made with those. We eat the food we want to eat, we treat people how we want to treat them and we live the way we want to live. We go the way we think is right toward the destination we set up with the map we create. All of this is influenced by the media and our culture and the other voices in our ears. We’re slaves to our desires and our fears. The whole journey becomes all about what we want.

But following what we want just follows the course of this physical body and sometimes, a lot of the time, what you want isn't what's good for you. Sometimes it feels like I’m forcing a body that naturally depreciates in value to appreciate and I’m doing it my way. Im just a human and I’m living this life for the first time, how am I supposed to know what is good for me? I don’t.

In God we have a stable foundation we can step onto as the ship we were trying so hard to keep afloat, directed by our own authority is slowly but surely sinking beneath our feet. We can step onto his destination, his journey, his instruction and his love story, written throughout the ages, which never changes.

We’ve seen the love that hung on a tree for us, ashamed and bleeding, experienced his grace and believe that it is true, not because of any good thing in us but because a God exists that is good. We’ve seen how this love stops us dead in our tracks and whips us right around towards the way of Christ, "the only way, the truth and the life.” When we respond to the awe we feel at such a thought, we decide to submit to his authority and leave aside our own, knowing his goodness and our numerous weaknesses. Submitting to God’s authority means that our body, and when I say body I mean the whole of it, the physical and the spiritual, works as it is meant to, to reach its intended purpose.

God created our body. He knows and fully understands how it functions mortally, he came down and experienced it himself, if we couldn’t otherwise believe him. He also knows how we are intended to function; physically, morally and spiritually so that while we physically depreciate, our soul is appreciating and becoming transformed. He’s instructed us on his intentions for our lives through his word and he’s given us the strength to carry these things through, for, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” He’s also given us the Spirit of truth, which helps us to remember God’s instructions and his promises, comforts us and helps us to recognise God’s truth amongst a billion voices telling us the world’s lies. In this way we might reach the intended purpose of our lives, who we were created to be, to further the Kingdom of God here and exist later in all the perfection that comes with eternity.

- evieroo

To love at all is to be vulnerable - C.S.Lewis

2018-08-26T01:55:00.001-07:00

To love at all is to be vulnerable.

Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.

If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one,

not even an animal.

Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries;

avoid all entanglements.

Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.

But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change.

It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

To love is to be vulnerable.

- C.S.Lewis

2 Samuel 12:20 And he went into the house of the Lord and worshipped.

2018-08-26T01:49:00.002-07:00

When his baby son was sick he lay on the ground, fasted and prayed

But God was, as always, bound to have his way.

He still wondered whether the Lord would be gracious,

For he’d followed him and fought his battles through the ages.

Then his innocent baby son died,

to never again return to his side.

Then he washed and from the ground arose,

He ate food and changed his clothes,

And he went into the house of the Lord and worshipped.

Through his sadness and hurt,

Through the days of laying in the dirt,

He went into the house of the Lord and worshipped.

After all of the faithfulness of the Lord to him through his life,

After his own manipulation and indiscretions with Uriah’s wife.

He went into the house of the Lord and worshipped.

This was, after all, the Lord he leaned on from before his birth,

The Loving father who’d always been kind and just, foremost and first.

For the plans of a man’s heart are many, we’re often lead by pain-

But it is God’s purpose that has and always will and forever remains.

- evieroo

Context: King David after he lost a child from Bathsheba.

Prayer for Unity

2018-08-26T01:32:00.003-07:00

Break our hearts and bring us down.

If that's what it takes for us to look at you and see,

There’s no point in our animosity.

There’s no space for hatred.

There’s no space for lies.

There’s no space for judgement, jealousy and impatient sighs.

Someone might die tomorrow.

There’s no more time.

Someone might die, someone who, yesterday, was fine.

Help us to see each other the way you do.

Help us to look beyond ourselves.

Help us to remember the beautiful memories collecting dust on our shelves.

Remind us to love each other, as you have loved us.

Remind us that we are one big family,

That we need every organ to function, for through the blood of christ we are the body.

- evieroo

The riddle of the vine - Tessa Afshar.

2018-08-26T01:28:00.001-07:00

The vine needs to suffer. Going down into this earth-fighting to survive among stones, among the lime rock-this is what gives it its from. Its taste. Its unique character. These grapes will create a wine few other vineyards can compare with not because their life was easy, but because they had to struggle to survive.

The vine needs to suffer? To be at its best, it needs to suffer, yes. And fight.

I’m sorry for it, then. No creature should have to bear pain.

Pain is part of this life. No one can escape suffering. Not the vine, nor we humans, as you well know, my lady. But what if we are like the vine and that affliction only makes us better?

Consider, my lady, I’m the gardener and I know what the vine needs in order to thrive. You only see the stripping, but I cut the vine in order to restore it. I take away from it to enrich it. You hold in your hand a withering branch and that’s all you see now, but I know that I have given the vine a more abundant life.

Two things tole my breath as Bardia taught me the riddle of the vine.

- First, that suffering improved the character of the vine’s fruit. Perfect ease and comfort would only ruin it. If my life were anything akin to the vine, then these calamities I bore need not ruin me. They could very well be my redemption.

- Second, come the right season, Bardia, the expert gardener, Bardia, the tender caretaker, Bardia, the one on whom these plants depended in order to survive, slashed and hacked into the vine. He added to its suffering. He stripped it until, from my vantage point at least, there was hardly any life left. Yet the vine needed his implacable care. Bard had claimed that he cut the vine in order to restore it; he took away from it to enrich it.

I knew that he was selective in what he called the vines suffering. He would not allow pests to brutalise the plants, for example, or let weeds anywhere near them. Though he was shorthanded, i had seen no sign of a weevil or beetle near the crop. he knew what to destroy, what to improve, what to protect.

Was I one of God’s little vines? Was he the Bardia of my soul? Did he shield me from what would destroy me? Was he stripping me now on purpose only to give me a more abundant life? Would I, one day, bear fruit worthy of a king’s table?

The thought bought tears to my eyes. I would not let them fall. I gripped the dying branch Bardia had cut until my fingers grew numb. This was the life I wanted, and God had taken it from me. I did not want more abundant fruit. I just wanted what I’d had before.

- Excerpt from Harvest of Rubies by Tessa Afshar.

Don't let the world change your smile.

2018-08-23T17:50:00.001-07:00

Over time we let the world make us less compassionate, more bitter. Going into the medical field it feels like an inevitable destination, not always the one we hope to reach and never the one we want to remain in.

The bitterness that built up was an accumulation of several things, realisations that-

Life isn’t fair. Good people get bad deals and bad people get good ones.
Life, Love and Death don't discriminate between sinners and saints. They come for all of us. Everyone has some kind of suffering, some pain that no one else can do anything about.
People aren't always as nice as you believe they should be. Sometimes "friends" aren't very friendly.
Not everyone will like you. And the ones that do sometimes won’t as well.
If you love people too much they can hurt you too much and it’s not always clear whether it’s worth it, even when you’ve been told it is.
You won’t always understand why.
People enjoy labelling you because it helps them think they can understand you.

Bitterness grew as a defence mechanism so that I wouldn't feel down and out about every little hurt and every little pain I saw around me. It was also a selfish weapon so that i wouldn’t get offended at every slight and every remark. I told myself that what other people said didn’t matter because I was better than that, I knew who I was. But I didn’t realise that instead of wearing confidence, I’d put on pride. Things would just ricochet off the shell but little by little by little it started to crack. Instead of building up my bitterness I should’ve been taking off my pride. Hard things like shells and glass don’t bend, they break; well and truly shatter. It’s nearly impossible to put them back together and when you try it just looks ugly.

Humpty dumpty sat on a wall, humpty dumpty had a great fall. All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put hunpty together again.

Its human nature to become bitter, after seeing the bad in the world you become “jaded.” But this nature encourages the negative aspects of humanity and it tells us we don’t have to always be nice. It feels justified because the world all around us is being cruel and telling us that’s what we need to survive, to not get stepped on.

I’d become a bad egg with a proud shell. It did not go well when I fell.

The world is harsh enough. We don’t want to make it even worse for the people we love, or the people that have gone, or the ones that will come. Everyone deserves a pleasant world, as far as we can go to make that happen even if it’s just changing yourself, your thoughts, words and actions. We’re all worlds inside worlds, creating the world outside us today.

But bitterness is hard to shake off once it's taken root and even when it’s out there's still a lot of work to be done to repair the holes and uneven surfaces it leaves behind.

Here are some things that helped me:

Recognise it. Look at your actions, your words and your thoughts. See if they are being fuelled by love for others or bitterness against others and the world.
Decide whether this is something you want to overcome. Like most things wanting to is half the work.
Find the root cause(s). For me it was pride; a self-pitying, moping and pointlessly pouting pride. I was too proud to look soft so I thought i had to become hard. Uproot each cause one by one, challenging them head on and facing all the discomfort and confronting realisations it brings about yourself.
Find a good, solid foundation. Jesus was mine. He did not change and his words always remained. Bitterness will not grow in a place that is created to nourish goodness, compassion and love. Matthew 7:17-18 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt :tree bringeth forth evil fruit.18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Plant some good seeds there. I found some good seeds in the Bible; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Water them every day. Remember, a seed will just always be a seed until it’s given the right conditions to grow. This means reading God’s word every day. You need this like you need water. Psalm 42:1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
Let yourself be broken. The seed needs to break so it can grow into what it was intended to be. Let it grow till it consumes you and you overflow to everyone around you.
Be fruitful. Let your actions speak louder than your words. 1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Pray to be able to do this. It takes effort to go against the nature that pulls you to reject love and choose your own well being above others and your pride. Fight this nature through prayer, through God’s grace and through his strength, because his love for you encourages you to want to love others too.

- evieroo

NB: Godly advice - pray for those you feel bitter towards because anything that advantages them will be an answer to your prayer and God will change your heart towards them through this.

Proverbs 14:10 The Heart's Bitterness and Joy.

2018-08-11T00:57:00.003-07:00

Proverbs 14:10 (KJV)

Although I’ve read proverbs before, the reason I looked into this passage today is because I came across it in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Christiana, her four boys and Mercy are going through the Shadow of Death with Great Heart as their guide when they quote this verse. Proverbs 14: 10 The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.

The writer of proverbs means those times when you feel like no one can understand the pain you are going through. Our hearts know their own bitterness but no person, no matter how intimate, no matter how close or like-minded they may be, can see into the depths of our heart. There are many dark corners, knees falling to the ground, heads bowed and tears shed that even our best friend does not know and may not ever understand.

Although now it’s become clear that being vulnerable with others is vital to the human connection, I’ve also learnt that it’s okay that they don’t fully and won’t ever fully understand. They’re not there to satisfy your need because your need is created to be fulfilled by the almighty and they’re not God and never should be expected to take his place in such matters. The truth is God is there, not for my pain and not for me but he is there because he is God. He is the star of this story and I am a side character, a flower quickly fading, a wave tossed in the ocean. But even still, despite his position, he came down as a man and he does understand. Today, he is listening and instead of going to him demanding answers and demanding him to change the situation we are called to go to him in humility and surrender to his ultimate will and plan, knowing he understands our pain, feels it as acutely as we do and knows the very depth of the bitterness that is in our hearts right to the very worst of it where we think no one can see.

On the other hand, we want to share every ounce of our joy with other people. I was surprised by joy being mentioned in this verse because it’s not something that I’d thought much of before. I didn’t think joy had the height that sorrow had, nor did it matter as much that others did not feel as i felt when i was soaring, flying, as long as something happy in me made them happy too!

Now i know, that like the ocean reaches deep and the sky rises far, so as deep as sorrow goes, as high does joy.

As another cannot know the reach of the deep of our heart so can they not know the heights to which our joy can go. This can be because the joy is all the more sweeter for the depth of the sorrow that came before or because it took the intricate workings of our exact story, trials and temptations to know the joy we feel today. We’d like to have a living breathing human being that understands just how much joy fills our heart in that instant where the sun freezes mid-fall and the sky is streaked with all the warmest and most joyful colours the world knows. And yes, we should share joy and awe with others, there’s not enough of it in the world already. But don’t rest in other’s appreciation of your joy, because they can’t ever fully intermeddle in what you’re feeling. Your joy is your own, Jesus can see it and he rejoices with you, you are blessed to rejoice and called to rejoice, and again i say rejoice!

So 'the scope of the proverb may be, to keep men from murmuring under their own troubles, or envying other men's happiness.' But whatever lesson you take from this verse the truth is that there is no man that can fathom the height of our joy or the depth of our sorrow, none other than Christ.

I find it easier to go to God in my sorrow than to other people. Even back when I didn’t understand how exactly he could help me it was easier to go to someone I couldn't see to share my vulnerability and pain than to share it face to face, to be truly intimate and vulnerable and it was easier to write about it than speak about it because you don’t have to watch as someone doesn’t react the way you expect them to, or say what you want them to say at that moment. In God, whether we truly believe he’s listening or not, I had an ear that I could scream at, place blame on and shift my burdens onto.

Now I see this - that Jesus was involved in the way we are knit together in our mothers womb and in our existence today, in a way so intimate that even our own parents could not fathom. He wept human tears that look just like ours and he was tempted just like we are and has taken his overcoming human experience with him to heaven. In him we have someone who can share our darkest corners, our sorest and most painfully bent knee and our heavy heads lowered to the ground.

Thank you Lord for understanding the depth of bitterness and the intricacy of joy. Thank you for giving me a God that can share in my life with me, that leads me and cares about me. Thank you Jesus for allowing me to know you, and the father through you.

“Each in his hidden sphere of joy

or woe,

Our hermit spirits dwell and range apart.

Nor e’en the tenderest heart, and next our own,

Knows half the reasons why we smile or sigh.”

- evieroo

Courage, dear heart - C.S. Lewis

2018-08-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

A line of cold sweat ran down his face. The same idea was occurring to everyone on board. “We shall never get out, never get out. He’s steering us wrong. We’re going round and round in circles. We shall never get out.”

Lucy leant her head on the edge and whispered, “Aslan, Aslan, if ever you loved us at all, send us help now.” The darkness did not grow any less, but she began to feel a little - a very, very little - better. “After all, nothing has really happened to us yet,” she thought. “Look!” There was a tiny speck of light ahead, and while they watched a broad beam of light fell from it upon the ship. It did not alter the surrounding darkness, but the whole ship was lit up as if by searchlight.

Lucy looked along the beam and presently saw something in it. At first it looked like a cross and at last it was an albatross. It circled three times around the mast and then perched for an instant. It called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them. After that it spread its wings and began to fly ahead. But no one except Lucy knew that it had whispered to her, “Courage, dear heart,” and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan’s, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face.

In a few moments the darkness turned to greyness ahead, and then, almost before they dared to begin hoping, they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm, blue world again. And all at once everybody realised that there was nothing to be afraid of and never had been. And then first one, and then another, began laughing.

- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis (excerpt from the book, not written word for word).

Syrian Refugee

2018-08-04T07:39:00.001-07:00

Alan Kurdi, 3 year old Syrian boy.

Home is where the heart is. Home is where you rest your head at night on a soft pillow, happy and warm. Home is where your family is, where you feel the most loved. We should feel safe at home, right?

For a refugee the concept of home is lost. Home is where you rest your head -with chest constricting fear that you'll be waking up to shrapnel, again. The place where your family is - and could no longer be tomorrow. The place where any happiness you knew was taken away, shredded and used to stuff back into your throat until you choked on your own blood as your baby boy was pulled from the rubble and left in an ambulance, forgotten. He knows nothing except the torment the world has taught him, a home that doesn’t want him.

The daily grind magnifies our personal issues and shrinks everyone else, pushes them into the periphery till you can justify your lack of concern. Sometimes it’s necessary to see, to really see, instead of just pass by and ignore what’s going on around us.

Yes, it makes us uncomfortable and it makes us sad. That sadness you feel when you see that precious little boys dead body lying lump in the water reminds you of compassion, of love, of what it means to be a human. It’s by seeing the darkness that we can really appreciate the light.

As Martin Luther King Jr said, “darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that, hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that.”

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thank you for giving me the best life you could.

I know it was hard, especially with a young boy to look out for.

I know you were scared. I was really scared too. But you knew that..you’re my family..thanks for trying to be strong for me. I don’t know what it means to be strong, the bombs and the guns are all I know.

Thank you for holding me while I slept, thank you for trying to keep me safe.

Thanks for my clothes and for shelter and for my food.

When the boat fell over the water surrounded me and I couldn’t see anything or hear anything and I didn’t know what to do. Im sorry I didn’t try harder, I just didn’t know how to.

I’ll look out for you from here.

I miss you Mom and Dad.

Love from your son.

NB: I've taken a creative license on the letter, it is not written by Alan or anyone related to him and is not intended to cause offence in any way, shape or form. It's written for the purpose of exploring the perspective of a young child who was an unfortunate casualty in a war ridden country.

-evieroo

Letter to Guilt

2018-02-20T13:06:00.001-08:00

Dear Mr Guilt,

I have noticed you hovering around dark corners in your top hat and trench coat smelling of tobacco and burnt coffee. I'm writing to request that you stop following me around.

The last time we came face to face it was about 4am and I hadn't slept all night. You tried so hard then, as you do each day, to drag my head down, my shoulders down, my gaze down with your brand of shame. You told me you were my conscious and you told me you were repentance. You even had the audacity to tell me that you were necessary. I know now that you're not.

In 2 Corinthians 7:10 Paul told me that "godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."

You are regret, you are worldly grief. You make me feel worthless and inferior. You take any sense of self-worth I may have and crumple it up in your cold dead fingers. You have a uniquely condescending way of doing this that I have become familiar with.

Every time I do something wrong, step out of line or find myself not strong enough to stop, I notice you standing there. You look down on me time after time with your high minded gaze, smirking through a haze of deadly poison.

You continue to put horrible thoughts in my head. You keep telling me that I'm not good enough and never will be. That I must be a failure for failing so many times. You convince me I am dark and evil and filled with hatred. You had me believing that could be the only reason I kept doing the same mistake again and again. You tell me that it wasn't a moment of weakness but that I'm weak and I can never be any better. You've tried to have these thoughts engraved in my heart since I was just a kid. The more I heard you, the more I thought that was all I could hear.

Fortunately it dawned on me that the more I wrote God's word in my heart, the less room I had for yours. I realised that the more I listened to the voice of my Saviour, the easier it became to ignore yours. He speaks love and you speak fear. Through grace I choose love.

Love is open and dancing in the middle of a cornfield under a bright blue sky and a sun that never burns.

Love tells me that I am worth the life of God's only Son, he paid that price for me. Love tells me I am a new creation in Christ. Love tells me that I am beloved of God, a child in whom he is well pleased. Love tells me that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Love is patient.

Love is kind

Love is never jealous, proud or rude.

Love knows to mend it's ways and forgives the wrongs that others do.

Love is sad about injustice but rejoices when the truth prevails.

Love protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres.

Love never fails.

I write to you with the authority of my father in heaven.

Not yours anymore,

evieroo

Laughter is the best medicine. lol wat?

2016-09-08T04:30:00.002-07:00

Last year, I wrote a blog for R U OK day , about how a little hug could go along way. This initiative aims to raise awareness for suicide prevention by starting life-changing conversations with three simple words, four letters "R U OK?"

Some wounds are really obvious, bright red bleeding things that you can spot from a mile away. Some pain you can hear, so loud and so soul shattering that you would not deny them their suffering. But there’s some sort of hidden trauma, some injury, some suffering that is misunderstood as just minor, "you'll get over it." It stands as tall as the highest, most insurmountable mountain to anyone in it's path. It twists your insides and wracks your mind without ever showing its face. It’s that nightmare you have where you open your mouth but you can’t scream, where you’re trying to run away but your muscles are frozen, where you think for just the shortest and eternal moment, wouldn’t it just be easier to quit? It’s those unseen, unheard and “insignificant” moments that lead to the premature closure of so many precious lives.

What if three simple words could save a life? R U OK?

Or any version of those words. My twist on it for this year – “Have you seen this meme?”

(I know, it’s two extra words and so many extra syllables :P)

In the past couple of years, I can’t count the amount of times a conversation has started with a link to a meme. Northwestern University even offers a meme studies major now to respect the internet centric youth of today. It seems trivial right? But you’ve got to admit that sometimes scrolling through your newsfeed cracking up at memes is like the go to past time when you can’t be bothered to get out and do anything else. A meme is pretty much as good as a virtual hug! No, I’m not just lonely. I believe that memes can literally brighten up a dull day.

Take Harambe for example, the gorilla which was injustly, or otherwise, shot. Harambe is an internet sensation. The injustice, the loss and whatever else complex feelings humans of today were experiencing over the loss of the gorilla and the other social implications the situation bought up, has been publicised using memes.

Maybe it’s just humour to some people, but to a society that is pretty much governed by the internet - humour is one of the quickest and easiest ways to express pain and joy and love, without actually having to admit to anything (and not really being blamed that much for it) and I’m sure many would agree. I mean come on, these days not much trumps a quick fix.

Whether this is healthy or not, I don’t really know. Does it even matter? On friends, Phoebe’s psychiatrist boyfriend seemed to criticise Chandler for using sarcastic humour to avoid serious feelings. Of course it shouldn’t be a substitute for any real human expression, but it’s not a bad way to get the ball rolling.

Memes are some of the most truthful and funniest pieces of art in today’s society. Years ago they had Michaelangelo and Rafael, today we have 9GAG and tumblr. My collection of memes says as much about me as my Spotify playlists and my Pinterest boards. Maybe that says more about me than memes themselves, but judge what you will my fellow humans and angels.

Forcing a smile every once in a while can do wonders. So why not a couple of lols and giggles just for fun?

What better way to brighten up a day? What better way to help a hurting heart? (maybe many other better ways, but open your mind up and add memes to the list asap).

“They” say that laughter IS the best medicine after all. The all knowing “they” strike again.

Here, let me force some medicine down your throat. Take care and remember to laugh a lot! (lal)

-evieroo

Just Human things.

2016-07-03T18:56:00.001-07:00

You see yourself in the world all around you.

Everyone says, “everyone else is fake.”

The line came quit perfectly, almost as if on cue.

It shattered a crack that had long been threatening to break.

I looked for honesty, I wanted truth

But I wasn’t willing to step outside my own shoes

My cubicle, my walls, my computer screen

It protected me from the people, the ones that were here and the ones that had been.

I wanted to find myself in other people’s eyes.

I thought they could see something that I couldn’t find

But I was afraid of risk, the gamble, the dice

I was terrified of what was in my own mind

Did it make me human to feel anger, to feel hate?

Does God allow me to feel those things? or does it change my fate?

Heaven and hell, I've been taught right from wrong

Am I evil for not being better, even after so long?

What’s the point of rules and restrictions?
Is it really about love? Can you say that with conviction?

They chain me, untie me, I’d rather die than suffocate.

They say it’s about Jesus, did he preach of a life-long wait?

In the mean-time there’s the do’s and the don’ts

You shan'ts and you won’ts.

The too fat, the too skinny,

Selfish-arrogant, there’s no winning

It's not God who made us turn on each other,

When we look up is it only for Abba Father?

Religion is our vice and our virtue.

Instead of my success, the day that I met you.

Every day thereafter has been a tale as old as time,

Of a girl that lived life afraid, every action, every thought a crime

But my time has not yet come to be judged before all,

I’ve got moments to go, a love that catches me when I fall.

So I will live as a human, for it is human you have made me

But I will strive to find, to worship and adore thee

Because I chose this life, the Christian life

It’s complicated and it’s difficult but you never said it’d be nice

Oh wait actually you did, and it is when I’m not being lazy

All the things I have to remember, so many things that seem hazy

But I will keep living this life of love

Waiting, just sitting here, looking for the man up above.

-evieroo

EURO2016: Another song of Ice and Fire (Spain v Italy)

2016-07-03T01:53:00.003-07:00

Individuals don’t win football games, teams do. Whether it’s the controlled steady nature of an old Spanish flame or the fresh and icy Italian breeze tossing the waves; rising and falling and leaping and bounding, wild and passionate. It was that day unlike any other day for many number of days that Spain lost a knockout game to Conte’s Italia.

And I hope they may always be spoken of as Conte’s Italia, for the man with the volcanic personality shouting the wind into alignment deserves to be the man who is recognized for Spain’s defeat.

Spain were autumn leaves that night when they could have been the summer. La Furia Roja was a dwindling flame to their once all-consuming power. Don’t get me wrong, they were still masters at their familiar game, outstanding on a familiar stage - their control, their precision, their stillness. They had the best line up in the EURO2016 tournament. They were still where they once were. But that’s just it. That is all they were.

Italy were a cold fury, an icy blizzard. They bought the storm with 11 excessively-tanned men visibly corded in muscle, bounding forward in full strength. It takes a great man to take a fresh Italian side, criticized for their lack of- rather than their ability to-, and make them into a legion worth standing against a widely adored, and even more widely admired Spanish nation.

Spain stayed true to their academies, true to their traditions and true to the depths of their truest natures that won them the titles and the names that will forever go down in footballing history. But the truth was little more than a meagre stroke in the midst of the Italian orchestra. Conte, like the rest of the world had finally figured out how to beat Spain. He amputated Spain’s midfield without even waiting for yesteryears world cup scars to heal. “In Andres Iniesta, Spain have arguably the best playmaker in the world who can create something out of nothing if the game is close.”

Iniesta maintained Spain’s heartbeat, but he was almost always surrounded by a blazing circle of Italian blue employing a Spartan style defence. When once his every pass meant another moment of Spanish dominance, this time it was just another attempt caught in the cross hairs of the stubborn Italian defence. “I asked for Iniesta’s shirt because it was the first time I’d beaten him,” stated Gialuigi Buffon. It was like they’d done the plays a million times over. I’m sure they had. It was like Chiellini had memorized Iniesta’s game before he even played it, analysed Iniesta’s feet before he even moved them, read Iniesta’s mind before Iniesta even thought it.

Chiellini wasn’t just defending Iniesta, he was one with Iniesta, he was Iniesta. And at the same time he was everyone else, as every other Azzuri.

They were not a single man looking to shine, they were a well tuned, well practiced, well versed unit - yet still stumbling and rolling unnecessarily as Italians had always done through the ages. This time any lack of precision was converted to the mathematical, any mistake was worn proudly and leapt over, carefree. The lack of individual greatness was pushed aside to become the Azzuri. They were no one and yet they were all.

As the midfield is for España so the defence has been for Italia. Bambi Morata faced their BBC; Bonucci, Barzagli and Chiellini. They sound like a cheese platter but boy did they know Bambi's play back to front.

For goodness sake the men had known the young Spaniard from the moment he stumbled out of Madrid and into Juventus! Not only did this defending combination start 122 league matches together for Juventus last season, they won the Serie A after conceding just 20 goals throughout the campaign.

“They told me to wear a helmet to play against them,” Morata laughed in an interview, explaining, "Bonucci is the boss, Barzagli the quality and Chiellini the strength.”

They reminded me of a Spanish combination not long ago stamped into legend. The Pique-Puyol pairing in the centre with a feisty Ramos patrolling the edges. But suddenly, despite the captain’s armband, Ramos looked like he was out for his own glory. Featuring in Spain’s “hymn” La Roja Baila, sporting a very billionaire playboy-like beard and walking tall and proud as Spaniards were known to do, it was hard to imagine Ramos pulling an individually independent team together like Iker had once managed to do. I could almost see Ronaldo’s shadow stamped all over his nature. Maybe, as a Barcelona fan it’s just my own intrinsic bias. Nonetheless, he was a strong player and together they held out as Shakira and mini-Pique watched from the sidelines...

On either side of the pitch, the keepers sent us into a reverie. At 38, Gialuigi Buffon outlasted even Casillas.

Buffon was the great wall that contained the winter, the wall that protected the Azzuri and let them play their structured football with a wild and hungry twist.

I don’t blame our Dr Seuss inspired goalkeeper whom I will proceed to refer to as Thing 2. “The best player on the pitch against Italy,” Del Bosque said about De Gea. I may be inclined to agree. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that he is still very fresh to the international stage. The commentators said Spain had not lost the last 10 knockout round games, but all those 10 times Iker Casillas was in goal. They said Spain had not conceded a goal in a knockout stage during their reign, but each of those 10 times it was Iker Casillas in goal.

An Iker that Mourinho prematurely destroyed to leave Spain in shambles. Yes, I blame Mou still and I always will.

Dr Seuss inspired Thing 2 (Cat in the Hat) v De Gea

Italy came out with a sub-par team led by a sub-par manager who showed the world that Leicester wasn’t the only team that could take what little they had and make even more from it. They were what I had hoped Spain would be. What every supporter prays their team can become. Italy were a passionate echo of their coach, Conte ~~sitting on~~ pacing back and forth in front of the bench.“We need to do something extraordinary because the ordinary will not be enough,” he said before the game.

Similarly, Spain echoed their own dictator. Balding and stone faced with a weathered expression that showed little but absolute composure. "We hardly changed anything, although coaches do obviously have to have a bit of flexibility,” Del Bosque said not batting an eyelash. His words spoke for themselves. The man was straddling the borders of folklore and retirement.

Spain have often shown they are averse to change. Obviously it’s easier said than done when what you’ve been doing has worked so well for so long. Why alter a brilliant thing? Many of us felt the same way last World Cup when we were adamant that anyone who doubted Iker were false prophets sent from hell itself to plot against España. But De Gea proved himself true this tournament. He let goals in when Iker in his peak may not have, but his youth and his rigour was clear. He made brilliant saves and showed us a glimmer of Spain’s promising future.

If we are always thinking of what could and what would, where is the moment for what is?

Del Bosque instructed Spain’s brilliance and orchestrated their other-worldly glory. But for everything there is a season and now it’s time for him to be sent to a well-meaning museum in the heart of Spain to sit alongside the others in the golden-era of football section.

While Spain has been waiting out the siege, the other teams have become faster and more and more furious. La furia roja can’t just sit back and play their passing game anymore. This much was obvious last world cup. It’s understandable though, the position they are in right now. They are being forced to recover from the loss of some of the greatest players the world has ever seen. There have been casualties from every area of their pitch, so many changes to so many crucial roles. The team of today needs a visionary, someone to teach them how to be strong now, and not yesterday. A man that is willing to leap off the bench and threaten to set the world on fire for his cause. Come two year’s time, Spain must settle their issues with the past and write history anew for España.

Nothing lasts forever.

Spain can always contest the world as a team of awe-inspiring individuals but for eight glorious years they were also La Furia Roja. Their football still remains uncontested, but their victories? Not so much. Maybe I’m just a little bit giddy about seeing Iker being replaced by a character from a Dr Seuss book.

It’s taught me that one cannot always hold onto what once was just because it was so good.

Nothing lasts forever.

Spain must learn to become no one and everyone, they must be themselves and be each other just as Italy have done. Not for fame or fortune, but for victory…for España.

-evieroo

I forget

2015-12-08T20:49:00.002-08:00

I don’t know if I regret my life in these last days. I know it’s the end because I’m forgetting the beginning.

I forget where the bathroom is when I need to urinate at night.

I forget my grandchildren, whom I had long considered the equivalent of my life's work.

Yesterday, I forgot my eldest son. For a long while I thought he was a stranger sitting in my house in my son’s clothes. I had been waiting for him to arrive, to relieve me of some of my worries. I had been telling everyone around me that my son was coming! I was very excited. I know my son can do it all much better than I can now. He can calculate the numbers and keep the house in order. He can sort through my things and do the work that I cannot do anymore. He can look after his mother much better than I can now.

He can remember.

He can remember much better than I can now.

But I worry. If I forget my first child what else have I forgotten?

I don’t want to forget my life before it’s taken from me.

I’ve always loved to learn. I’ve collected knowledge my entire life; poems and stories, history and mathematics, English and French. A lifetime later, my mind is not mine anymore. It's all going.

I sometimes drag my wife into a chair and read her poetry. I need to feel like I can still control some of me. I’d like to hold onto some of me. I can see that she doesn’t really care about the poems. She worries about me. She can barely stand on her own for more than a few moments let alone take care of a me when I am no longer myself.

I’m forgetting the life that I lead.

I’m forgetting the people that I fed.

I forget…and I regret that I forget.

But I don’t know if I regret the life that I had. I hope it was a good life.

I don’t know if I know anything anymore.

NB: A short piece I wrote to come to terms with being told that someone very close to me had been diagnosed with Alzheimers. I explored the perspective from what I'd been told, to make peace with it.

-evieroo

A Little Hug Later...

2015-09-09T20:45:00.001-07:00

In the spirit of R U OK Day, September 10th I thought it'd be appropriate to write about the following statement from Grey's Anatomy Episode "Beat Your Heart Out" concerning the effect of deep touch pressure on anxiety. [We'll conclude with a series of favourite hugs]. In the nature of self-directed learning I wrote out the quote and googled it. 'Cos how else do you study medicine? #amiright

"Cows are squeezed tightly in a chute before they're slaughtered. The chute applies intense pressure, resulting in decreased pulse rate, and muscle tone. It calms them down."

Dr Virginia Dixon states as she commands Bailey and Cristina to hug her while she is having an anxiety attack.

"The same principles apply to people like me. A hugging machine is used to relax the sympathetic nervous system, it slows the heart."

Before we begin, it's important to note that Dr Virginia Dixon had Asperger's Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. In persons with autistic conditions, it is often uncomfortable or impractical to expect them to turn to other human beings for comfort as their social an sensory interactions are largely affected (Grandin, 1992). "As a little kid I wanted to feel the nice feeling of being held but it was just too much overwhelming stimulation," Dr Grandin said in an interview on BBC (Grandin, 2006). Although Mary Temple Grandin invented the hugging machine for those with autism, the principles of the machine can certainly be put into effect for anyone experiencing anxiety (Grandin, 1996).

"Light pressure touch, say stroking of the skin, excites the sympathetic nervous system, which raises heart rate and raises respiration. The squeeze machine doingl produces a controlled deep pressure touch, which has a significant relaxing effect, it lowers heart rate and lowers respiration." Dougal Hare, Psychologist, University of Manchester.

"Deep pressure touch is a sensation produced when an individual is hugged, squeezed, stroked, or held (Krauss, 1987)." Although further research is necessary, deep touch pressure has been found to decrease anxiety (Warber, Gillespie, Kile, Gorenflo & Boiling, 2000).

Autism or not, anxiety can affect anyone, anywhere, at any time.

As the BeyondBlue campaign goes "I'm the ill ease that you feel when you walk into a crowded room. I am the one that raises the whip to your already racing heart. I am the tightening of your chest, the snowballing worries that feel like they might become an avalanche and just bury you in an instant. I'm the voice, you know the one, it's always questioning questioning questioning. And I am every single staring eye that watches you. So, now that we have become acquainted, what are you going to do about it?" But…

What do you do when you can't run from the darkness inside of you?

What do you do when you are your own worst enemy?

If a hugging machine can be used to calm hypersensitive persons as a therapeutic form of stress-relief, a real hug sesh could only exentuate what the machine is trying to emmulate. #amiright

There is little that feels better than a simple, natural, raw hug in all it's warm sweatiness.

Here are some of my favourite hugs for you to revel in before launching into your own hug venture.

Tehe: Scrubs

Bane is just another
misunderstood villain.
He just wanted to
be hugged: Batman - The Dark Knight Rises

An awkward hug: Harry Potter

An Aragorn hug: The Lord of the Rings

A meaningful hug where alliances were made: The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey, even a little hug can go a long way.

A Gandalf hug: The Lord of the Rings, another little hug.

More little hugs: The Lord of the Rings

Another little hug: The Lord of the Rings

A little bollywood hug: Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

Share your odour.

Hug a friend.

Save a life.

References:

Grandin, T. (1992). Calming Effects of Deep Touch Pressure in Patients with Autistic Disorder, College Students, and Animals. Journal Of Child And Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 2(1), 63-72. doi:10.1089/cap.1992.2.63
Krauss, K. (1987). The Effects of Deep Pressure Touch on Anxiety. American Journal Of Occupational Therapy, 41(6), 366-373. doi:10.5014/ajot.41.6.366
Temple Grandin, M. (2006). Temple Grandin's Squeeze Machine. UK. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/temple/squeeze/data/config.xml
Temple Grandin, M. (1996). Interview with Dr. Temple Grandin. University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. http://www.autism.com/advocacy_grandin_interview
Warber, S., Gillespie, B., Kile, G., Gorenflo, D., & Boiling, S. (2000). Meta-analysis of the effects of therapeutic touch on anxiety symptoms. Focus On Alternative And Complementary Therapies, 5(1), 106-106. doi:10.1111/j.2042-7166.2000.tb02379.x
http://weknowmemes.com/2012/08/bane-just-wanted-a-hug/
http://giphy.com/gifs/hug-awkward-1rQQjM3XCoYBq
http://www.dailyedge.ie/awkward-greetings-ireland-1616339-Aug2014/
http://www.brendo.com.au/2015/01/hate-hugs/
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/greys-anatomy/picks/results/223544/favorite-guest-star-out-buddy-tvs-most-memorable-guest-stars-greys-anatomy
http://greysanatomy.wikia.com/wiki/Virginia_Dixon
http://www.buzzfeed.com/imaansheikh/accurate-and-honest-summary-of-kabhi-khushi-kabhi-gham#.vlVvbl70y

-evieroo

We fear to forget.

2014-11-24T19:44:00.001-08:00

We all come to a point in our lives when we want to let go. We want to remove from our future what dragged us down in our past, or to simply start again. Occasionally, life forces us to this point as it's gentle push forward toward a clearer perspective. We are reminded that we are no longer defined by who we once were, our past, but rather who we have become.

As part of my personal attempt to achieve this, I tried to delete a lot of my online accounts today. Keyword being "tried." But it's true what they say about the world wide web, once we commit, seems like we're bound for life. I struggled to delete everything. Firstly, the process of deleting all the interlinked accounts is extremely complex. Secondly, it takes so much effort to comb through years of online media to completely remove yourself from the web and finally, and most thought-provokingly, because it is a struggle to let go of our past.

To erase everything would mean erasing collections compiled over years; whether its photos and friends on facebook, music and videos on youtube or pages and pages of unread emails. It's our history. We pile up albums and journals, so that we can look back at what we feared we would one day forget.

The fate of all memories is to lay in our mind untainted and pure for a moment, later they morph in their natural struggle against time and eventually they fade into a blur. We must all admit that we can't remember every single day of our lives, we can't even remember the days which we once thought we'd never forget. Birthdays, weddings and loved ones; their significance caged inside a photograph, their importance restrained by the greatest limitation that is a paragraph. It's all because we fear to forget.

Our fear manifests in albums and journals that remind us of the people and places in our past. It reminds us of childhood homes, fresh faced parents, before their stresses and worries started to show, proud grandparents for whom we were the result of their life's work. It reminds us of our teddy bears, wondering why they couldn't talk back, of learning to colour between the lines, striving intellectually and igniting a fire emotionally, uncontrolled and untamed passions. We remember sketching to release a feeling or expressing a thought in a tune. Our documents further remind us of ourselves as children; from an age of innocence to an age of manipulation and further on to an age of change.

In their moment, each of these memories served their purpose. Now they are a collection of experiences compiled to create the individual. They are the fingerprints on our clay, proof of a meddling hand fashioning us ever so subtly into the person we have become.

In our journey of self-discovery, these photos and moth-eaten memories are the only explanations we have for who we are now. We want our experiences to help us understand our reactions. These documents are our notes for what life has taught us. Society pens the textbook we use for our life, our parents give us their lessons, when we let them, and we try put all of these resources together to make our own set of notes.

We learn through experience. We study the memories.

But have we truly learnt anything if we keep referring to our notes for all our answers?

Nothing can be bought into our final exam except our values, our beliefs, our minds and our hearts. Non-programmable calculators may be allowed and english translation dictionaries, all other equipment will be considered a breach of the rules. We're not allowed to talk to the person next to us, not allowed to have any communication whatsoever, collusion is not possible because we all experience differently. To each of us, even the same situation may be interpreted individually.

So we search. We search inside our heads for the answers and when it's not there, we make it up.

We trust that the impression each moment has had and the perspective each person has shown us, is strong enough to shape us into who we are meant to become.

Take a step forward without all the burdens from the past; without the labels and the judgements, without your eyes clouded with tears, without your heart stuttering with fear. Take a step forward; weightless, strong and steady.

You are now, who you were meant to become.

-evieroo

2014 FIFA WC: Spain - The end.

2014-06-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

"Perhaps people will learn to love Spain when the show finally ends," - Del Bosque.

I saw in their eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day had come when the strength of Spain failed, when they sacrificed Xavi Hernandez and broke the most important bonds of fellowship on the field. An hour of Dutch and another of shattered defences, when the era of Spanish football came crashing down. This day they fought, by all that they held dear on this good earth - but Spain are done with their philosophical game. The day had come.

People questioned whether Vincente Del Bosque would offer up the "high priests" of intelligent football, the master minds of both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, Xavi Hernandez and Xabi Alonso.

The answer was yes, if that's what it took.

Grace sat on the bench, making room for desperation on the field.

The desperation that other teams once clung to when they thought of the great Spanish Nation.

Spain, unfamiliar with the desperate game, couldn't understand how to control it, and it overwhelmed them in the form of Holland first and now Chile, powerful and vigilant.

But every good thing must come to an end.

"We've been blessed by the generation we've been able to watch, but every great generation has a lifespan," and just when the Spanish had almost perfected the game to the point of poetic.

But the game waits for no one, the game always moves on and in the end, it's the game that wins.

One by one, the legends step off the field, their untouchable aura - a memory. And we thank them for the football they've given.

Spanish Legends: Xavi Hernandez
and Iker Casillas, friends since 16yrs of age.

A Spanish revolution:

For the sake of their football, they would need to lose of hundreds of caps,

millions of experienced football minutes,

millions on millions of immaculate passes

and even more sweat and tears.

It means, for Spain, the call for another David Villa, a David Villa post-broken-leg, a striker willing to do and capable to do what a striker must, a striker that can work amongst world class individuals and still stand out, a Spanish striker.

Legendary Spanish striker, David Villa Sanchez.

And a honorable farewell to the players in whom the legendary tiki-taka philosophy was ingrained from the moment they considered football, for the rest of their lifetime.
Years on we may see another Xavi Hernandez, another maestro, whom the world cannot yet emulate.

Another sweet sweet Iniesta, another calm spirit who moves through the game, trying to ignite La Furia Roja.

Another Xabi alonso with another warm ginger bearded penalty that brings the only comfort in about a ton of pain.

Maybe we can even hope for another Iker Casillas - another San Iker, El Capitan, the light to us in dark places when all other lights go out, the rock of all Spaniards, the hope for his players and the strength of his fans.

But we can never have the first generation of First class Spaniards again, because the First is alone, and the First occurs only once, and it never happens again. The First legends who held the First world cup for the nation of Spain, the First legends whose First smiles faltered right from the national anthem of their First game,

the First legends whose pressure forced them to kneel at the feet of their own name.

The legends are finished, but their football lives on in history surrounded by a tinge of the undefinable.

The FIFA WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS 2010

The EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS 2008

The EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS 2012

Whether changing or constant, the future always remains a mystery.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

P.s. There is so much to say about each of these Spanish players, that words alone would not do them justice. Words cannot describe the feeling they gave us when they controlled their game, the feeling of peace and calm, the feeling of content at their unquestioned domination, the feeling of gratification.

I conclude with a voice in my head yelling, "There is so much about each of them that still needs to be written! The time they spent on the stage wasn't nearly enough to get everything down! There is so much poetry, so much drama, so much magnificence that has yet to be created from their football, there is so much to say, so much to write, and such little time." *sobs*

The end.

-evieroo

Six personal secrets of Happy people

2013-10-04T08:16:00.002-07:00

For all those concerned, happiness is a subjective issue. Happy people is a broad classification. The following is a presentation of conclusions based on evidence both personal and from experiences told to me through reliable, first hand witnesses.
Before continuing to read, find a focal point for this blog. Find a happy person and where you stand in relation to them. Perhaps you are one of the Happy People in your circle of friends, perhaps a Happy person is a close friend of yours or perhaps a Happy person is your worst nightmare, the most annoying type of person life could have created.

For each of you, I hope these few secrets that I’ve learnt over the years are an interesting, if not enlightening, experience.

The first and possibly most important truth all must know is that:

NO ONE is ALWAYS happy.

People have occasionally proclaimed to me, “Evon! How’re you always so happy?”

I laughed.

Only I could hear the voice in my head, which said, “I do not know you well enough to show you my sadness.”

This is often the case with many people mistaken to be ALWAYS happy.

With that being said, let me warn you now that many of the secrets about happy people revolve around their sadness. I guess you could call this a dark twist.

1. They are happy because they are grateful for their life.

When I was 13 years old, the civil war in Sri Lanka concluded.

I witnessed it from my safe cocoon in New Zealand.

There were photos circling through the news, bulk emails, forums, blogs and documentaries displaying the horrific events in Sri Lanka.

My family had left when I was 6 years old and during my time there I never saw even fragments of the war – nothing. I was completely shielded from the 27-year war that was going on or I was just too oblivious then, to recall those memories today.

Either way, when I saw the photos…piles of Tamil children, massacred and burnt on the street. Mothers, fathers, children, grandchildren, elderly – shelled, bleeding, hopeless – with no one looking out for them, no one caring what happened to them – their own country looking to destroy them. The world trying to wrangle away their only defence by labelling their army a terrorist group. My mum’s cousin (a journalist) mistaken for the daughter of the man leading the Tamil Tigers, dead. Other women striped of their dignity even in death. Family’s broken. Hearts wounded. Heads, hands, feet not necessarily attached. Injustice coating our motherland. I had a question in my head, which I asked God, “Why did I escape that and not them?”

This experience hit so close to home that the cries from across the ocean bought tears to my eyes. It hit my sense of belonging, it hit my trivial worries, it hit me right in the face.

Years later, when I turned 16, I remembered that moment of conclusion.

Now, nothing that happened could shake me from where I stood – I believed in a God who had taken me to where I was that day and I knew he had a reason for placing me exactly there and I decided that life would be lived for that reason. This decision made me grateful; it made me happy beyond my wildest imagination.

To think, I was chosen to live in this moment.

2. They have a lot of sadness inside.

Sadness is not a stranger to anyone.

Whether it is thoughts of moments past or the loss of a future they once dreamed of, sadness shows itself as a “private number” to happy people – they don’t know when it will hit them.
Just because you did not know them in the times when sadness was all they knew, it doesn't mean they have never had to face sadness before.

This sadness is often due to people rejecting them, excluding them by making them feel like outsiders, speaking condescendingly to them and treating them like silly idiots.

Just know, you people who enjoy doing that, happy people seem like they see the world in rainbows and glitter but in reality they see the world exactly how it is – that’s why they choose to be so happy in the first place – to brighten up what seems so dark and dreary. You would be surprised how much of the world they have actually seen.

In other words, they see the light in utter darkness because they have been in the dark long enough and their eyes have adjusted.

3. Happy people hate being alone.

They know that when they are alone the thoughts of their past, fond memories and regrets, as well as the future they once hoped to have will come out to haunt them.

Thoughts about reality – about the consequences of their decisions, about their actions in the past, about the person they are becoming are a happy person’s worst nightmare.

4. Emotions of people around us influence us easily.

Sad people make us sad. We hate the feeling of being sad.

Happy people are the ones who decided to get like Gandhi and be the change they want to see in the world – happiness.

5. Happy people may have once been angry, jealous or bitter people.

These happy people have hurt many others in their “previous life” as they like to think of it. The feeling of knowing that someone else is suffering because of you became too much for them and they converted to happy people – because the guilt drove away all the sadness.

6. Happy people love the spotlight.

Happy people realised once during their lives, they don’t want to just watch other people be happy – they want to be happy too.
Of a pair one will be the dancer and the other the watcher – we all want to dance once in a while.

Excuses that happy people make when you ask them, “are you okay? You seem sad.”

When a happy person seems sad, know for a fact – they are sad. If they were a little unhappy they would be able to mask that over easily enough. True sadness gets through though because happy people are transparent even if they are not always honest.

1. I’m tired (gives them an excuse to sound sad as well as look sad without people thinking they are actually sad).

2. It’s just my time of the month (A valid excuse for every single problem to exist in the known universe…Hitler started WW2 ß it was probably his time of the month).

3. I’m ok (I can’t talk anymore because if I do I might cry or say something I will regret when my head is not clouded over with sadness).

4. I think I just need to sleep (They believe that sleep will cure sadness. A morning is a new day, a fresh start. But it also takes away the weight of lying about being tired).

5. NAH. WHY? I’m OK (defensive technique for loud people who tend to reply immediately. Often, I think, you can judge how much someone is hurt by how fast they reply to a suggestion of them being hurt).

Everyone is a happy person when they need to be. True happiness is when it lasts. By all means, judge people by what you see because they are only showing you as much as they want you to know - but don't label people and put them into your own classifications before understanding them. That will only make everyone involved, misunderstood.

P.S. The above comments are made in a generalized nature with the highly biased view of a highly biased blogger. Please, happy people, do not take offense if I have not described your secrets clearly as you would like them explained. I tried my best.

-evieroo.