Our natural tendency is to equate aging to maturing. We assume that as we grow old, we would mature. But in real fact, we can only say that as we grow old, we should mature. However, not every one who grows old, matures. This is all the more true for spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is a deliberate choice which requires discipline and training. It requires deep reflection as we feed upon the Word of God. We should strive to grow our spirituality so that it matches our spiritual age. Many of us, though spiritually old, are still feeding on milk. We thought that we can grow naturally, but we cannot. But the good news is this, just as there are people who mature faster than what their age should be, our spiritual maturity can also outgrow our spiritual age! So as we age gracefully, let us mature spiritually.

Everyone wants blessings from God. There is nothing wrong with it. But the problem lies in our understanding of the word. To some, blessings from God means a life of abundance; it should be trouble-free and smooth sailing. However, blessings from God need not necessarily mean this. We can be poor and our lives can be difficult but still be blessed by God. Blessedness is a state when we become the child of God. It is about living in the presence of God more than the presence of material goods or being free from all troubles. It is a spiritual inheritance of God more than a physical one although it can be accompanied by material goods. Next time when we ask blessings from God, it is good to ask what we are really asking God for. Do not just ask for material blessings, ask God for a spiritual one too.

Many times when we go through some difficulties and troubles in life, we like to ask whether God is testing us or the devil is tempting us. But why are we asking this question? We are actually interested to know who we can blame. But knowing who to blame does not solve our problems actually because the bible tells us it is the evil desire within us that is playing a trick on us. What is more important for us is to find out how we can overcome the trials or the temptations so that we can be built up by God. In every trial, there might be temptations and in every temptation, there might be trials. There is no way for us to know which comes first. Even if we know it, it would not help us to overcome it. Find out instead what God is doing through His trials or the temptations which He allows, and know how to overcome them with the power of God so that we can be built up and transformed into the likeness of our God.

In this world we are usually measured by performance. When we do not show enough progress, we are often criticised. We ourselves are afraid that we or our children will lag behind others. But God does not see us this way. We are not solely measured by our progress but the processes God put in our lives.  We may not reach the end that we hope to achieve, but God may put an end to it before we know it. Why? This is because God has finished His particular process in us and moving us on to another process. We may think that our children should have done better, but they failed instead. Why? This is because God is working a new process in them. We may think that we can move on, but similar experiences keep repeating. Why? This is because we have not learnt the lessons through these processes. We may make big progress or small progress or even no progress at times, but we are constantly being advanced in the processes of God so that we may be perfected in God. While God use us to achieve His purpose, He is also shaping us because we are part of His wonderful purpose. What is important therefore is that we get the most of these processes. When we work on the processes, we are sure to progress in God.

Very often we are very zealous when we start something. We may even invest a lot of energy into doing something when it just got started, but after some time when the going gets tough, we “lose steam”. The important thing is actually not how well we start, but how well we end. People can have a poor start, but as long as we can end well, we have lived a life well spent. Therefore, do not just measure our lives by how well you start the next time, measure yourself by how well you end. In order to end well, we need to have a constant input to sustain and grow the work we are doing.

We like to give excuses for not doing something because we do not like to do it. If we do it, we would be doing it grudgingly. As such, we conclude that it is better for us not to do it. Or else, it would only give us more headaches. But there are many things in life which we need to start doing even if it is done grudgingly. Without doing grudgingly, we may never learn to like what we are doing and as a result, we may miss a lot of precious lessons or skills that would be acquired in life. Therefore, before we decide not to do something, think again about the benefits it might bring. The benefits it brings can be more than the inconvenience it may cause.

Many people spend a lot of time seeking and thinking what the will of God for their lives is. But many people are still unsure after a long period of seeking. They end up not doing anything about their lives. They end up being passive. Rather than waiting for God passively to show us His will, we should also think about what we want to do for God too. For a matter of fact, we may never be 100% sure about what the will of God is for our lives. But when we ask what we want to do for our God, this burden may gradually become the will of God for our lives. Pay attention to what people are sharing about the will of God for their lives and you will realise that many can accomplish great things because they dare to dream big for God. Whether the dream initially comes from God, we are not sure. But What we can see is that because of what they want to do for God, they accomplish the will of God.

Zeal is a positive word. We need zeal to live our lives and to do the things we need to do. But I learnt that zeal can kill too. Zeal can cause us to be insensitive to others and just wanting to “bulldoze” our way through. It can cause us to disregard whether those who have less zeal compared to us or those who have a different aspect of zeal are able to catch up with us. When the differences are too great, instead of catching on to the zeal, we are killed by it. When we are showing our zeal the next time, be sensitive to the people around us. Others may not be feeling be same way you feel. How you are feeling might actually “kill” them rather than excite them. They may actually be put off by what you are doing.

We can understand the strive for academic excellence. But the higher you go, the more disappointed you can get about the education system. People are always trying to impress others with their knowledge and language skills by the complexity in their writings. They seemed to forget the original purpose of their writings. If the writings were to be so complex and difficult to comprehend, how many people would be able to understand? What is there to be prideful of even if they have written a masterpiece that only few can grasp. The education system has been abused to boost our own ego. Those who are really good are those who can explain and expound complicated stuff with simple language rather than making it more complicated. The crux of education is to make as many people understand our work as possible. The purpose of education is to benefit as many people as possible, and not to impress as many people as possible. To all teachers, do not impress your students by teaching them things they cannot understand. Do not feel great if you have been doing so. If you are not able to simplify the complicated concepts you have learnt, you have failed and missed what education is all about.

We often tell people that what is important is our intention for doing something. When other people hurt us and they did not mean to do so, we console ourselves by saying that their intention was good. But this goes on to mean that we can have good intentions but carry out using wrong methods. Wrong methods can hurt people even if the intention is good. The converse is also true. We can have the right methods, but our intention can be bad. There are a lot of people who are helping others so that they get selfish benefits. We shall not go into too much detail about this, but you can see that, right methods must be accompanied by right intention and right intention must come with right methods. Both are equally important. Next time, do not just check your intentions, check your methods too.