Sunday, February 22, 2009

One day at a time

There is a thin line between life and death, happiness and sadness. One day you are so much alive and extremely happy, the next day you could be terribly sad and dying. As an ordinary human beings, we would never know what will happen in our life because life is full of surprises. Knowing this will teach us to stay 'alert' and always be prepared with what may come next.

My brother and his family are trying to cope with life surprises one day at a time. Just barely 2 months ago, my brother was extremely happy for his beloved wife has finally found a job she had dreamed for so long. This was a very good surprise as many people were losing their jobs in this economic downturn. And then, another great news came along when they found out that she was 10 weeks pregnant with their 3rd child. Everything was fine. They rejoiced God's gracious gifts for them everyday.

But then, just less than a week ago, their happy moment was cut short. My sis-in-law was admitted to the emergency room in Panti Rapih hospital for a very high fever. They suspected dengue caused the high fever because my sis-in-law developed rashes on her body. The blood test came out to confirm their suspicion. For 4 nights my sis-in-law had a high fever of 400C.
Her ob/gyn was very concerned about the development of the fetus inside her womb. The scan result showed that the fetus' growth was disturbed by this virus. The fetus didn't grow properly. The mother was trying her best to cope with all symptoms of dengue fever.

On the 5th day, her body temperature was normal. Her blood pressure was also normal. But then, she started to bleed everywhere because her thrombocyte count was very low. When the ob/gyn did the scan to see the fetus, they found out that the fetus has disappeared.
Up to present, she's still under observation in the hospital. I've been asking my brother to provide her with guava juice and guava leaves juice to help increasing her thrombocyte count.

I'm so far away from her and all I can do is praying and I would be grateful if you could pray with me for my sis-in-law's recovery.
Please do take good care of yourself and your family and keep your environment free from mosquitoes breeding ground everyday. This is one way of 'staying alert' and 'being prepared' for any life surprises one day at a time.

Friday, February 13, 2009

The Giant Maze - my life philosophy

Playing games is still one of my favorite activities to keep me occupied since I was small. I used to play games in the computer but since I have a handphone, I love to play games in my handphone because I can just use 1 hand even 1 finger to play the game so I have my other hand free to do other stuff and it is very handy. But in this post, I'm not going to talk about the games on my handphone or my favorite computer games. I'm going to discuss about how I view my life as a game player.

I always picture my life like a giant cruel maze game with me as the game player. Not only the maze has so many branches that I can choose, it also has many surprising challenges along the way that I have to face on my mission to find my way out. I'll get points whenever I win the battles but the points are only given if I do good things, fight the battles according to the rules and don't cheat. I also have to beat my opponents to be able to get out alive with respect and dignity though I'll be bruised and full of scratches everywhere. At the end of the maze my points will be calculated and there'll be an award for me, it's called Heaven. There is no limited number of trials when I fail to fight the challenges or when I hit a dead end. The only one that can be my guidance is God the almighty who has created everything and the only way to ask for guidance is by praying.

Every time I reach an important milestone in my life, I have to find my way out of a new level of maze. This new level of maze will be more complicated, has more difficult challenges and there are more opponents along the way. But in this new level of maze, I may get a partner to help me fight my way out and may get gifts when I manage to fight certain challenges. When I am lucky, I can get a partner that can work together with me in everything. We complete each other and can't be separated. If I'm lucky, I can get a partner that will support me and boost my moral spirit when I'm down or when I feel like giving up. But then my partner may not have the same fighting spirit as me and can't work with me. My partner may be a quitter or a loser. My partner may be someone that likes to cheat or break the rules. All these will pose a different level of challenges in already complicated maze I am in.

As a person, I am not a quitter. I don't like to cheat. I don't give up so easily and I'm very competitive. But I also have my weaknesses. Along the way in the maze, I have break downs and confusions. I get tired and worn out. I fall down and I am disappointed. The worst of all, my partner think that the maze I am in is too complicated. He is thinking of quitting his partnership with me so that he can work his way out alone.

But then, because I always pray for His guidance, He gives me help and pull me up again. Just like playing the games in my handphone/my computer, I always want to win and get into the next level though I know things will be more complex and more difficult. But the reward I'm going to get when I finally find my way out boost my fighting spirit higher and higher. I determine to get it.