Parenting on Purpose

Moving house has been described as one of the most stressful experiences in life. We can attest to that. Personally. Over the past few months we have put our apartment on the market, sold the place within the span of two weeks, completed the sales transaction, moved all our belongings to our uncle's warehouse, moved to our temporary home hosted by our aunts', and finally moved in to our new place. And this is only a partial move; we have not yet installed all the lights, and all our belongings have yet to arrive (we have had a total of four separate moving trips so far)! Getting ready for renovations after weeks of waiting for the defects checks to be completed. Our intention was to move in before Christmas, so that we could celebrate and enjoy a fresh start in a new home. But that was not to be, due to extensive defects checking and rectification; and this was not even considering the renovation schedule. And so we chose to move in just before the New Year - but that w...

This is the second of a two-part paper that was submitted to the Singapore Bible College as part of the requirements for my Graduate Diploma. It was for the module "An Introduction to Christian Spirituality". Christian Spirituality & Parenting Just as Christian spirituality is an amalgamation of a person’s relationship with God, Christian parenting adopts a similar perspective. A key understanding of parenting stems from our relationship with God the Father. Ephesians 1:3-5 articulates this relationship clearly, indicating that God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world”, and that in love, He “predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will”. As God adopted us to be His children, it is God who is the perfect model of parenting for us to follow. Matthew 7: 9-11 elaborates, “Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you t...

This is the first of a two-part paper that was submitted to the Singapore Bible College as part of the requirements for my Graduate Diploma. It was for the module "An Introduction to Christian Spirituality". Reflecting on Christian Spirituality Christian Spirituality as based on the Bible has to do with “things that are of God”. It incorporates aspects of being, thought, speech, actions, passion and relations (Lang, 2016b). This definition of spirituality adopts an integrated approach and considers a person’s relationship with God in a holistic manner; not only focussing on traditional spiritual disciplines such as the reading of God’s Word, prayer and worship, but also a person’s purpose and calling, and how his or her actions serve as a Christian witness to the larger social group and global community. This paper will discuss the “Spirituality of Parenthood”. It will examine how as parents, our understanding and practice of Christian Spirituality has a direct impact on o...

What happens if your BFF suddenly declares that you are boring and not worth her attention? What if this was the same friend that you had always looked up?  I Theatre's 15th Anniversary Production, "The Rainbow Fish", takes you to a world of adventure and exploration; of friendship and of community. Under the Sea. The fishy community welcomes you to the show! Enter Rainbow. She's a dazzling display of beauty; especially given her lovely shiny scales. And she's no less than a celebrity to all the other fishes, which makes her proud and arrogant. But the final blow is when Rainbow decides to insult her long-time fan and supporter, Small Blue, leaving him... well let's say our little friend was  feeling  more than a little blue.... What if no one ever talked to her again? Is it too late for Rainbow? Will she live a forever friendless life? "Bubble Bubble...." says the Starfish. "I can't hear you...." I Theatre's Brian Sewa...

I have a five-year Mom's journal in which I try to record our boys' growth and experiences over time. I have not been very faithful in my daily recording,  but when I opened it up recently I realised I had written almost exactly a year from today (28 Jan 2014),  "This is our first official day of homeschooling!  We are starting with a unit on vegetables and did painting with chickpeas today. " Our older son was about 2 1/2 at the time and my inspiration for our first unit study (though I didn't know what they were called back then) was to stir up an interest in vegetables in my then fussy eater. Z rolling chickpeas for his painting work. Great for his psycho-motor skills. He was excited to choose the colours for his painting. Broccoli printing. Getting him interested in cutting the vegetables meticulously was a challenging process for our energetic son. Admiring his masterpiece. Seems like a rather unglamorous start to what has actua...

The little boy appeared tentative. There were so many of them, and all of them seemed somewhat scary. Yet he detected a certain friendliness about them; as if they didn't really care about how he looked or how he behaved - only that he was a child just like them - a special and unique individual - just like each one of them.  Slightly hesitant at first, but with a gradual aura of confidence, he took his first step towards them - he had decided to join the community of grace. Just a few months back, my family decided to join a new small group community in our church. As newcomers in a strange environment, we were unsure of what the group would be like. This was especially since we did not know anyone in the group. There were naturally fears that we would not be able to "click" with this new group; or worse - that we would ease into a group which discussed superficial matters more than deep personal concerns. All our fears melted away on the day of the first meeting, w...