God Hunts, Sipping Tea, and Collagen Face Masks
Chong, Grace, Malcolm, and I would gather around the living room coffee table every evening after dinner. This became our cherished ritual: enjoying a pot of hot tea brewed by Grace with a candle flickering on the center of the table. We always began our God hunts with a few minutes of silence as we looked through our day. Where did we see God today? We sat silently as our eyes gazed at the flickering flame. The silence wasn’t awkward; we felt a connection to each other and with God. Malcolm likened it to electromagnetic currents connecting us- kindred spirits. I prefer to think of it as a circle of rhythmic and graceful dance.
Those were precious evenings, like huddling around a campfire, sharing gratitude, desires, grief, and anxieties. God’s presence enveloped us like a warm and cozy cloak. We even bonded over putting on collagen face masks! It’s a pity we didn’t take any before and after pictures, we looked silly! It was a rare and unusual sight but a strangely bonding one. It was typically reserved for the privacy of my home with my daughter. Surprisingly, Malcolm didn’t put up a fight either. With Chong and Grace, I was in the privacy of my own home. I felt safe and free to be who I am.
The other night shenanigan was braving the 5-degree cold to gaze at the stars. The nursery rhyme automatically turned on as I looked up in the night sky, “Twinkle, twinkle, little stars, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky,” In an instant, I was brought back to my childhood home in Jalan Kampong Tengah, Punggol (in the northeast of Singapore). I recall the little diamonds in the clear, dark, and cloudless nights. Memories of my late pa and ma gently came to my mind. I was brought back to the present by the two men exchanging notes on the different constellations and trying to capture the night sky with their phone cameras. If stars could speak, I wonder what they would have said to us.
Those evenings in Gapyeong are etched in my memory forever. If God had favourites, we’re definitely his, and Gapyeong is his favourite place!
Is it in the stillness that I notice the beauty around me? Or is it the beauty around me that inspires the stillness?
Boat Quay, Singapore. Photograph taken by Malcolm.
My last blog was posted three weeks ago. I had intended to post bi-monthly, but life happened and showered me with situations out of my control. So, here I am with my latest chapter of Gapyeong Memoirs, which is all about our nighttime activities. While proofreading what was written, my mind drifted to darkness and light. So, I pondered contemplatively ^^
I’m not too fond of literal or metaphorical darkness. When there is no light at night, my vivid imagination creates spooky things that feel so real: a moving shadow here and a rustling movement there. It’s debilitating, I assure you, to have fear like that. You may think I’m silly, but it’s real to me. What about the difficult seasons, the metaphorical darkness, in life’s journey? All of us, I’m sure, have gone through some of these before. They crush, oppress, and leave my soul in great despair. I don’t intentionally choose to enter into these dark seasons. I’m ushered into one. In the darkness of my soul, when things surrounding me are clothed in gray, the light of Christ, in contrast, is made more visible. His brilliance is powerful, a lamp guiding me till morning breaks. Isn’t it true that without darkness, we can’t see the stars twinkling like diamonds in the sky and the magnificent Milky Way arching over the cosmos? God’s creation in all its glory and majesty, visible only in the deep, dark skies.
It's plain to see that there is beauty in darkness. Perhaps I’ll learn to embrace darkness so I won’t miss Beauty.
I hope you enjoyed the photograph taken by Malcolm along Boat Quay on one of our walks. The darkness enhanced the scenery.
