of happiness, wisdom and the days of our lives.

it's been a long time since i went to work for a full week of 5 days. i miss the holidays, where for 3 weeks consecutively, we had holidays and half-days. but amazingly i didn't feel as drained or tired as i expected to be. no doubt the sleepiness hits when my alarm sounds and i press the snooze button 5 times before i wake up. and one cup of coffee in the morning and one cup of teh-o in the afternoon gets me through the day. but my soul is refreshed everytime i read God's word. and THAT gets me through everything.

***

i opened the yahoo homepage on my firefox just now and saw in the headlines, a featured video where singapore was named the happiest place in asia. at first i was quite shocked to see that. i didn't think that singapore would come out tops considering how big asia is.

then i clicked on the link that brought me to a video. it's 20/20, a program produced by ABC news in USA. i know the program from the days of downloading clay aiken clips and also my 6-month stay in US. and as an intro, the host asks a series of rhetoric questions for her audience.

"Picture this: A country where you have no choice on who to vote for. No jury of your peers deciding your fate in a courtroom. And chewing gum is banned. So how could it be that a place with the most rigid and unbending rules is the happiest country of the continent?"
- ABC news, Jan 9 2008, source

well you know i can't exactly blame the americans for asking such questions. it just goes to show again how different and yet similar 2 countries can be. and how singapore, no matter how we try to be westernized, we can never escape our cultures and values, and even personality. of course the narrator lists all the big bad things about singapore first (like no press freedom, no jury proceedings, drug users are executed etc. etc.). then the video goes on to explain (with interviews of the normal singaporean uncle in a hawker center and mark zee, of all people) why are singaporeans happy when we are a "fine" city?

well americans cannot understand because they have a country which was built on freedom many many years ago. and they are paying a price for that freedom. singapore took a different approach, one that is radically different. we restrict freedom so we and our children don't have to pay the price. and in exchange, as the video reiterates, we get peace, stability, corruption-free, booming economy and a stable government run by smart people. i'm not saying one way is better than the other, and i'm not an expert at anything, but both ways are working. not perfectly. but the 2 models have produced top-notch nations and citizens and are top players in the global market and leaders of the world. so maybe america can be a little less critical about how other people run their governments. that's just my 2 cents worth.

do watch the video. the link is found at the end of the quote.

***

anyway this week has been a good week in lab. my RNA probes are working very well and the signal in my zebrafish embryos are strong and in the correct places of the brain. which made my supervisor and i so happy. (: i've got some pretty pictures of the expression of this gene called YAP1, which has been linked to cancer in humans and other mammals. so now i just got to mimick the conditions in human cancer and overexpress this gene in the embryos and see what happens.

and also prayer meeting was a good time of reflecting upon the Lord's word and praying and fellowshipping with shannie and praying with her. there was also a meetup with the girls from my tj class, where we spent 4 hours at waraku talking about the good old days and the people we knew in tj. we talked about so many and it was nice catching up with catrina and caiqun.

today i had lunch with tr. chen kee at biopolis and i really thank God for her wisdom and guidance. she has been able to help me see things from other perspectives and to turn my focus back onto the Lord. and it was also very nice catching up with her 'cos she's always busy in church. we got to talking about boyfriends and growing up at my age in the early 20s and how unstable this period is for us. and the uncertainty of our future can be very daunting. and i'm thankful that i have one less burden because my near-future has been made certain by MOE. but i know my friends are going through that phase of not knowing what the future may hold and what life may throw at them in the coming months.

but even then, i have my fair share of doubt and uncertainty. will i make it through NIE? will i be a good teacher? what happens after my bond is up? will i be in education forever? am i cut out for other sectors of work? when will i get a boyfriend?

hahaha. but she shared with me how trusting and being secure in the Lord helped her through her years of growing up. trusting in God's plan for us. and if a boy comes, he comes. but if not, really it doesn't matter. i need the Lord more than i need a boyfriend. (:

it's amazing how much wisdom God gives to get us through our lives. that's what tr. chen kee said. and as she said it i got reminded of the song Be Thou My Vision, a song that i heard on my phone on the way home yesterday. and i remember pondering over the lyrics and appreciating how meaning they are all over again. and in an amazing God-driven coincidence, tr. chen kee mentions that same song over lunch.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light

Be thou my wisdom, and Thou my true word
I ever with thee and, Thou with me Lord
Thou my great Father and, I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art

High King of heaven, my victory won
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

one of my all-time favorite verses, which incidentally was first shared with me by tr. chen kee. (:

"But as it is written:
“ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”"
- 1 Corinthians 2:9