One of my biggest struggles is to accept change of plan or schedule. For example, if I already envision in my mind that next weekend I will have time to relax at home before noon time, when I suddenly have another duty on that day, I will be upset.
This is very bad!
Anyway, my post tonight is not about 'little' plan, but 'Master Plan'. Somehow, each person has his or her own 'Master Plan' of his life. When I was eight years old, my plan was to go to our favorite mall every weekend as soon as we moved to Tangerang. Nevertheless, the 1998 riot in Jakarta was sooo bad and...they burned my favorite mall. Well, this is a silly example. I was not throwing tantrum because I couldn't go to my favorite mall anymore (it's already a good thing that our family is safe!), but I remember I said things like, "I used to say I wanted to go to my favorite mall more often when we move to another town which is closer to the mall, but the mall was burned down :( :( " Anyway, the mall was renovated a few years after that. It's not my favorite mall anymore as I grow up because there were too many people going to that mall!! (guess which mall is it? =P)
Okay, let's go to a more serious example.
This past week, I've been receiving sad news here and there. Unexpected things happened to people around me. My housemate's grandpa recently passed away and her parents wanted her to go back to Indonesia for good to accompany her parents. Just a few weeks ago, we were still dreaming of finding new house together next year once our lease of this house ends. But yeah..change of plan. We thought we would at least still have one or two more years together in Singapore, but we do not. I do believe that this is the best for her family and I'll pray for her work in Indonesia! :)
I don't know why but these few days (?) I've been wondering about 'my future'. I sometimes look back and think about my "Master Plan" when I was high school and when I entered university. Being a research assistant has never been in this blue print of mine. However, if you ask me now, do I like this job? Yes!! I don't need to think twice to answer that. I always thought that I wanted to do clinical psychology. However, if you ask me now, do I still want to specialize in this area? To be honest, I don't know. Partly because I have not been working in clinical setting. Another reason was the more I conduct experiment in the kindergartens, the more I go to Ryan's house to read with him, this 5-year-old boy, the more I am interested in early childhood education. I'm a little bit not sure if my interest has shifted. However, when I think about it again, this interest seems a 'refresher' of my past dream to be a teacher. Anyway, I'm really not sure what will happen after my contract ends at the beginning of June next year.
Despite all these changes of this "Master Plan", these memories reminded me of the idea that the designer of this "Master Plan" is God himself, my Father.
I'm so grateful that..hmm, let me try to explain it..somehow God showed me His will through various changes of plan and He kinda shifted my interest. He is not God that forces me by saying, "Hey, don't choose this job!!" or "Hey, choose job C". However, His hand, His Divine Providence, worked very subtly to let me see what I really like, what I really enjoy doing, and these things are somehow contributing to the closeness to God's will.
For example, every one knows that we need to adjust lots of things once we start working. I feel grateful that in my current job, God has given me wonderful colleagues and bosses! Whatever happens in the future, God has shown me a good example of working environment. Another simple thing is the location of my office. It's been a struggle to go for spiritual formation when I moved to my first house in Serangoon, which is quite far from the centre where I go for spiritual formation. Nevertheless, my office is very near from the centre of the spiritual formation!! It's soooo near that I can squeeze spiritual direction session before going to work! Even if next time I'll work at a further location, God has prepared me to build the habit and the rhythm.
Oh yeah, and another change of 'Master Plan' was moving out of the rented big, cozy house in Serangoon to Clementi. However, the current house is nearer to my office and I meet people whom I can talk to about God. We can attend Sunday Masses together :)
So..when things do not go according to my plan, it's good to remember these pieces of memories because my Father has a better plan.
This is very bad!
Anyway, my post tonight is not about 'little' plan, but 'Master Plan'. Somehow, each person has his or her own 'Master Plan' of his life. When I was eight years old, my plan was to go to our favorite mall every weekend as soon as we moved to Tangerang. Nevertheless, the 1998 riot in Jakarta was sooo bad and...they burned my favorite mall. Well, this is a silly example. I was not throwing tantrum because I couldn't go to my favorite mall anymore (it's already a good thing that our family is safe!), but I remember I said things like, "I used to say I wanted to go to my favorite mall more often when we move to another town which is closer to the mall, but the mall was burned down :( :( " Anyway, the mall was renovated a few years after that. It's not my favorite mall anymore as I grow up because there were too many people going to that mall!! (guess which mall is it? =P)
Okay, let's go to a more serious example.
This past week, I've been receiving sad news here and there. Unexpected things happened to people around me. My housemate's grandpa recently passed away and her parents wanted her to go back to Indonesia for good to accompany her parents. Just a few weeks ago, we were still dreaming of finding new house together next year once our lease of this house ends. But yeah..change of plan. We thought we would at least still have one or two more years together in Singapore, but we do not. I do believe that this is the best for her family and I'll pray for her work in Indonesia! :)
I don't know why but these few days (?) I've been wondering about 'my future'. I sometimes look back and think about my "Master Plan" when I was high school and when I entered university. Being a research assistant has never been in this blue print of mine. However, if you ask me now, do I like this job? Yes!! I don't need to think twice to answer that. I always thought that I wanted to do clinical psychology. However, if you ask me now, do I still want to specialize in this area? To be honest, I don't know. Partly because I have not been working in clinical setting. Another reason was the more I conduct experiment in the kindergartens, the more I go to Ryan's house to read with him, this 5-year-old boy, the more I am interested in early childhood education. I'm a little bit not sure if my interest has shifted. However, when I think about it again, this interest seems a 'refresher' of my past dream to be a teacher. Anyway, I'm really not sure what will happen after my contract ends at the beginning of June next year.
Despite all these changes of this "Master Plan", these memories reminded me of the idea that the designer of this "Master Plan" is God himself, my Father.
I'm so grateful that..hmm, let me try to explain it..somehow God showed me His will through various changes of plan and He kinda shifted my interest. He is not God that forces me by saying, "Hey, don't choose this job!!" or "Hey, choose job C". However, His hand, His Divine Providence, worked very subtly to let me see what I really like, what I really enjoy doing, and these things are somehow contributing to the closeness to God's will.
For example, every one knows that we need to adjust lots of things once we start working. I feel grateful that in my current job, God has given me wonderful colleagues and bosses! Whatever happens in the future, God has shown me a good example of working environment. Another simple thing is the location of my office. It's been a struggle to go for spiritual formation when I moved to my first house in Serangoon, which is quite far from the centre where I go for spiritual formation. Nevertheless, my office is very near from the centre of the spiritual formation!! It's soooo near that I can squeeze spiritual direction session before going to work! Even if next time I'll work at a further location, God has prepared me to build the habit and the rhythm.
Oh yeah, and another change of 'Master Plan' was moving out of the rented big, cozy house in Serangoon to Clementi. However, the current house is nearer to my office and I meet people whom I can talk to about God. We can attend Sunday Masses together :)
So..when things do not go according to my plan, it's good to remember these pieces of memories because my Father has a better plan.
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