Praying for time
These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers
This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance and legitimate excuses
The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much but we’ll take our chances
‘Cause God stopped keeping score
I guess somewhere along the way
He must have let us all out to play
And turned his back
And all God’s children
Crept out the back door
And its hard to love
Theres so much to hate
Hanging onto hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above
Say its much too late
Oh maybe we should all be praying for time
This is the year of the empty hand
Oh you hold onto what you can
And charity is a coat you wear twice a year
These are the days of the guilty man
The television takes a stand
And you find that what was over there
Is over here
So you scream from behind your door
Say whats mine is mine and not yours
I may have too much
But I’ll take my chances cause God stopped keeping score
And you’ll cling to the things they sold you
Did you cover your eyes when they told you
That he cant come back
‘Cause he has no children to come back for
And its hard to love when theres so much to hate
And hanging onto hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above
Say its much, much too late
Mm, well maybe we should all be praying for time
- [originally performed by George Michael]
This summer holidays have been officially the most tiring holidays ever! What irony! I wish to go back to school to resume some semblance of normalcy in my life. But the most rewarding part of this holiday is catching up with people I love and interacting with new friends.
The first time I heard Praying for Time was when it was performed by Carrie Underwood on the "Idol Gives back" episode of American Idol Season 7. I was struck by the profundity of the statements made.
So you scream from behind your door
Say whats mine is mine and not yours
I may have too much
But I’ll take my chances cause God stopped keeping score
Has He, really? Has God stopped keeping score? If there was one thing burdening me this week, it was the rapid moral decline of society in the form of a widespread acquiescence that premarital sex is acceptable. I see a picture of a world that portrays sex as something “dirty” when it is supposed to be sacred. Even if you disagree with the religious standpoint you can agree with me from a moral standpoint. Promiscuity without batting an eyelid is unnatural. Sex as one of the ultimate expressions of a love shared with another should not be desecrated with the prevalence of multiple partners just doing it “for fun”. It’s not just fun, it has real consequences. A life-giving consequence, for instance is when an embryo is formed from a one-night stand, making sex no longer relegated to just the arena of fun.
As for the culture that contributes to this general acquiescence- I think that sex has just become a commodity, which greatly decreases its genuine intangible value- which is that of a reflection of the intimacy in an exclusive (and in Christianity’s view-legitimate) relationship. Therefore one can easily treat sex callously and use it as a clever marketing strategy. In Singapore- Orchard road is plastered with lingerie advertisements. Every where I turn, there is cleavage in my face. This is not art, but lewdness. And why do we need to objectify the women's body like that? Our TV and movie diets feature couples frolicking in bed very often and NOT being in a marital relationship (as this makes for good plots) and having fashionable "nights of passion". As much as we now champion some form of curtailed liberalism in a secular nation, sometimes I wish we’d actually examine the knock-on effects of promoting this kind of morality. Does it destroy the family unit? Can’t economic prosperity go hand in hand with retaining some family-centric values?
Necklines are getting lower and hemlines are getting shorter. I don’t understand. Am I a prude? A self-righteous puritan who feels that there is something wrong? Or was there, somewhere in our distant past, a definition and appreciation of modesty that was lost?
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These depressive and angry notions aside, I met the most tender and beautiful hearts last week at the Turning Point, a Christian rehabilitation centre beside Sembawang prison. Here I came face to face with inmates whose lives had changed because of Jesus. One woman, M, was a substance abuser who revealed her rebellious and criminal past to us, but was now a radiant reflection of God’s joy! It was all in the way she talked; I never saw such humility for a long time- she was one that knew she needed Jesus, but yet, was content to rest and simply be glad that she was saved. That’s true humility, I think- when you come to the end of yourself.
Another lady, T, shared of how God lifted her out of depression caused by her gambler husband. Auntie K’s tragic story gave me the most hope. She told of how her son committed suicide because of her- she was in and out of prison 9 times and her son threatened to commit that fateful act right before she went in the 9th time. The guilt and sorrow got to her and she sunk into depression, unable to accept her son’s death. But now, she’s grateful that she found Jesus (her son introduced Christianity to her) and she’s ever thankful that her daughter-in-law has forgiven her and is still taking care of her.
The visit warmed my heart tremendously. These were inspiring women who offered us so much love and openness, and even warned the teens who were with us not to go down the same destructive path by starting with cigarette addictions. I realized that each woman had her own story to share. The circumstances behind their substance abuse were very often tragic and out of their control, but there were points in time where they could have made better choices.
But well, who is to judge? I met a 16-year-old girl there who had lost her mother when she was 9, and turned to glue sniffing, alcohol, then drugs, and whose father was a secret society member who could not care less about her. I saw the sadness in her eyes whenever she mentioned her father.
All in all, I saw humanity at one of its rawest and realized that we were One in Christ as believers. We were one and the same, all sinners, all people who had made mistakes, succumbed to addictions and pressures, but it's just that the mistakes that these people made attracted legal consequences. These women inspired me with the honesty and courage in the way they faced their past- it was a no holds barred confession that they had done wrong. The beauty of it is that they did not lapse into sorry states of self-despair and self-pity.
On the bus back, one of the teens shared spontaneously, “I used to have a different view of people at rehabilitation centres. But now I think they have more meaning and purpose in life than we do.”
“And what meaning may that be?”
“To live out the rest of their life well…”
The fondest moment I will remember this holiday was when I was offered smiles freely the first time I stepped into the Turning Point. They were beautiful “I-want–to-open-my-heart-to-you, I-want-to-share-the-love-I-have-with-you” smiles… the ones that make you smile back without a thought and thank God that there’s still hope left in the world. On this note, I would disagree that there is “no hope to speak of”. God cradles His children in a firm and loving embrace, though He may spank our bottoms from time to time for doing wrong. (:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.”- 2 Cor 5:17
<<全新的你>>
你說陰天代表你的心情
雨天更是你對生命的反應
你說每天生活一樣平靜
對於未來沒有一點信心
親愛朋友 你是否曾經
曾經觀看滿天星星
期望有人能夠了解你心
能夠愛你賜你力量更新
耶穌能夠叫你一切都更新
耶穌能夠體會你的心情
耶穌能夠改變你的曾經
耶穌愛你 耶穌疼你
耶穌能造一個全新的你