one early morning in Australia
just about when the stars were fading,
and the pink light of the morning spread through the dark bank clouds,
with the waves roaring against the sand,
and the great rays of the glory of the sun rising,
a thought transfixed me:
For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers, and declared by God. The truth--that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I began to grasp the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. For the first time, I was able to understand the meaning of the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contempation of an infinite glory, love."
Friday, October 15, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
nobody likes a complainer
The last thing we want to hear is someone complaining, yet we do it all the time. I find myself feeling sorry for myself or feeling like I deserve more. "Med school's hard and taking up my free time" is one of my bigger complains, but honestly, this doesn't serve any purpose except for bringing my colleagues and myself down to a bottomless pit.
Lately in medical school we've been learning about heart murmurs right now and the patient's chief complaint. This led me to think of the time of Moses and their constant "murmuring". In the King James version of the Bible, the common term used for complaining was “murmuring.”
The Lord always considered their complaints as an act of unbelief directed toward Him. When they complained about their circumstances, their type of food, and even at Moses, God was displeased because they weren’t thankful for what He had provided them. He was disappointed that they refused to trust in Him to provide, protect, and direct the order of their lives. A verse here shows God's displeasure with the constant murmuring that often is in our lives. “Now when the people complained, it displeased the LORD; for the LORD heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp” (Numbers 11:1).
Many times, especially lately in medical school when it's been tough, I've found myself murmuring. However, looking at the big picture I feel as silly as the tribe of Israel when they constantly were murmuring to God even though God led them out of slavery, out of Egypt, and giving them the Promised Land. When I look at the big picture, God has given me such a great opportunity to be in the position that I am. He in so many ways has prepared a special path for me, just like how He prepared a special path for the Israelites to the Promised Land.
Being an admirer of John Wooden, the great coach of UCLA, one of his maxims in life (I think he had 5), was to never complain. This I truly something I need to strive for, so from here on out, whoever is reading this, whenever I complain, call me out on it and I'll give you a dollar! Nobody likes a complainer, not even God.
Lately in medical school we've been learning about heart murmurs right now and the patient's chief complaint. This led me to think of the time of Moses and their constant "murmuring". In the King James version of the Bible, the common term used for complaining was “murmuring.”
The Lord always considered their complaints as an act of unbelief directed toward Him. When they complained about their circumstances, their type of food, and even at Moses, God was displeased because they weren’t thankful for what He had provided them. He was disappointed that they refused to trust in Him to provide, protect, and direct the order of their lives. A verse here shows God's displeasure with the constant murmuring that often is in our lives. “Now when the people complained, it displeased the LORD; for the LORD heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp” (Numbers 11:1).
Many times, especially lately in medical school when it's been tough, I've found myself murmuring. However, looking at the big picture I feel as silly as the tribe of Israel when they constantly were murmuring to God even though God led them out of slavery, out of Egypt, and giving them the Promised Land. When I look at the big picture, God has given me such a great opportunity to be in the position that I am. He in so many ways has prepared a special path for me, just like how He prepared a special path for the Israelites to the Promised Land.
Being an admirer of John Wooden, the great coach of UCLA, one of his maxims in life (I think he had 5), was to never complain. This I truly something I need to strive for, so from here on out, whoever is reading this, whenever I complain, call me out on it and I'll give you a dollar! Nobody likes a complainer, not even God.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
meaning of life
The ultimate question "what is the meaning of life?" has never been really asked by me until recently. Many today work so hard for a means to live, but no meaning to live for.
I picked up a book by Dr. Viktor Frankl, an Auschitz survivor and famous psychiatrist, who wrote the best selling book "Man's Search for Meaning." In this book he says each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therefore he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.
Vikto Frankl at his time in Auschitz realized that everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
One of God's greatest gift to mankind was the freedom of choice. It is this attitude that I must carry on in life to not only succeed, but to be responsible for my life. We often ask questions about the meaning of life, and to this question we can only answer to life by answering for our own life. To this question, we can only respond by being responsible.
I picked up a book by Dr. Viktor Frankl, an Auschitz survivor and famous psychiatrist, who wrote the best selling book "Man's Search for Meaning." In this book he says each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therefore he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.
Vikto Frankl at his time in Auschitz realized that everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
One of God's greatest gift to mankind was the freedom of choice. It is this attitude that I must carry on in life to not only succeed, but to be responsible for my life. We often ask questions about the meaning of life, and to this question we can only answer to life by answering for our own life. To this question, we can only respond by being responsible.
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