Today has been an eventful day. In the morning, I had to attend a meeting which lasted two hours and my presentation went well. Praise the Lord!
I took the afternoon off to meet a dear sister-in-Christ from another church for lunch - I have not seen her for 8 months and it was a really wonderful time of catching up and fellowship. We went to a Japanese restaurant, Ikoi, in Miramar Hotel for our ala-carte buffet meal. Though it has been so long, I praise the Lord that we were able to just talk and talk till the last order was announced. I am glad to have known my sister-in-Christ better and pray that we will continue to spur one another on!
We walked to Boat Quay as my sister had a rehearsal to attend while I needed to go and shop for some stuff elsewhere. Well, I did not manage to buy the main item I was looking for and was quite disappointed as I made my way home. Hopefully I will be able to get it by this week.
Oh yah, the both of us detoured to the Chocolate Factory along Robertson Quay to buy some chocolates and a piece of cake. We just could not resist the temptation though my sister is still recovering from a sore throat while I could feel mine coming after eating durians the past few nights (thanks to grandma who has been buying them). :(
Anyway, I had a few unpleasant encounters which I feel was due to the self-centeredness of individuals - one was in the train while I was on my way to City Hall MRT Station. There was this middle-age lady who wanted to exit at one of the stations. The carriage was crowded and there was this gentleman who was kind enough to actually make way for her to pass through but because another commuter moved in to the available space, the passage-way became narrow again. Because of that, that poor gentleman was reprimanded by the lady for not making way for her. She was loud! Even when she was already out of the train, she glared at the guy and continued with her barrage of scoldings! Amazingly, the man just remained cool about it.
As she was so fixed on leaving the train, she has failed to notice what had happened where there was actually someone making way for her. Instead of being thankful, she had wronged a kind individual.
In another case, I was on my way home and again the train was packed to the point where every one looked like sardines stuffed in a can. Of course I was the oversized sardine in there. Haha. Anyway, there was this pregnant woman standing in front of a row of passengers. I was waiting for someone to give his or her seat to this lady. I also did observe that most of them were conscious of her presence. Suddenly from a bunch of wide-awake passengers, there was a sudden release of sleeping gas which made them all doze off. The poor lady continued standing till one of the sleeping passenger suddenly woke up and alighted at one of the stations. It was just so amazing to see that! Would it kill these commuters to give their seats to someone else who needed it more?
Anyway, I was equally guilty of this self-centeredness mentality - I was looking for something for my Senior Pastor and I was hoping to buy it by today because I know I will be very busy the next few days. Having fixed on that, I went to the main office of this particular brand of cameras. I managed to find the item but was told that the stocks were out. When I saw some at the counter, I asked the staff why she lied to me. She explained that those were for a shop which had already placed an order for them. I was again so adamant in getting my hands on one that I tried to persuade her to just sell it to me. She said she would call the shop to see whether she could do that. She came back and told me that she could since that particular shop will only be collecting the items on Friday.
Though I was happy, I also felt disappointed with myself after leaving the showroom. Questions like "what happens if I have got the staff into trouble?"; "What happens if a personnel of that shop which placed the orders has to come back another day just to collect that one outstanding item?"; "Why did I not just accept the fact that the stocks were out and look for a third-party product instead?"
Anyway, I walked back in and told the staff that perhaps I should return the item and buy it another day so that I would not cause any inconveniences to anyone involved. I also apologised. The staff smiled and told me it was alright.
Did I feel better even after apologising? Nope. It was a lesson learnt.
Well, I guess sometimes being self-centered does not make one feel happy - instead it adds on to the frustrations and in the worst-case scenario, causes someone else to be stumbled by our selfish actions.
Reflection time, I guess.
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4
I took the afternoon off to meet a dear sister-in-Christ from another church for lunch - I have not seen her for 8 months and it was a really wonderful time of catching up and fellowship. We went to a Japanese restaurant, Ikoi, in Miramar Hotel for our ala-carte buffet meal. Though it has been so long, I praise the Lord that we were able to just talk and talk till the last order was announced. I am glad to have known my sister-in-Christ better and pray that we will continue to spur one another on!
We walked to Boat Quay as my sister had a rehearsal to attend while I needed to go and shop for some stuff elsewhere. Well, I did not manage to buy the main item I was looking for and was quite disappointed as I made my way home. Hopefully I will be able to get it by this week.
Oh yah, the both of us detoured to the Chocolate Factory along Robertson Quay to buy some chocolates and a piece of cake. We just could not resist the temptation though my sister is still recovering from a sore throat while I could feel mine coming after eating durians the past few nights (thanks to grandma who has been buying them). :(
Anyway, I had a few unpleasant encounters which I feel was due to the self-centeredness of individuals - one was in the train while I was on my way to City Hall MRT Station. There was this middle-age lady who wanted to exit at one of the stations. The carriage was crowded and there was this gentleman who was kind enough to actually make way for her to pass through but because another commuter moved in to the available space, the passage-way became narrow again. Because of that, that poor gentleman was reprimanded by the lady for not making way for her. She was loud! Even when she was already out of the train, she glared at the guy and continued with her barrage of scoldings! Amazingly, the man just remained cool about it.
As she was so fixed on leaving the train, she has failed to notice what had happened where there was actually someone making way for her. Instead of being thankful, she had wronged a kind individual.
In another case, I was on my way home and again the train was packed to the point where every one looked like sardines stuffed in a can. Of course I was the oversized sardine in there. Haha. Anyway, there was this pregnant woman standing in front of a row of passengers. I was waiting for someone to give his or her seat to this lady. I also did observe that most of them were conscious of her presence. Suddenly from a bunch of wide-awake passengers, there was a sudden release of sleeping gas which made them all doze off. The poor lady continued standing till one of the sleeping passenger suddenly woke up and alighted at one of the stations. It was just so amazing to see that! Would it kill these commuters to give their seats to someone else who needed it more?
Anyway, I was equally guilty of this self-centeredness mentality - I was looking for something for my Senior Pastor and I was hoping to buy it by today because I know I will be very busy the next few days. Having fixed on that, I went to the main office of this particular brand of cameras. I managed to find the item but was told that the stocks were out. When I saw some at the counter, I asked the staff why she lied to me. She explained that those were for a shop which had already placed an order for them. I was again so adamant in getting my hands on one that I tried to persuade her to just sell it to me. She said she would call the shop to see whether she could do that. She came back and told me that she could since that particular shop will only be collecting the items on Friday.
Though I was happy, I also felt disappointed with myself after leaving the showroom. Questions like "what happens if I have got the staff into trouble?"; "What happens if a personnel of that shop which placed the orders has to come back another day just to collect that one outstanding item?"; "Why did I not just accept the fact that the stocks were out and look for a third-party product instead?"
Anyway, I walked back in and told the staff that perhaps I should return the item and buy it another day so that I would not cause any inconveniences to anyone involved. I also apologised. The staff smiled and told me it was alright.
Did I feel better even after apologising? Nope. It was a lesson learnt.
Well, I guess sometimes being self-centered does not make one feel happy - instead it adds on to the frustrations and in the worst-case scenario, causes someone else to be stumbled by our selfish actions.
Reflection time, I guess.
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4
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