Garfield and Friends

I wonder how many people remember this cartoon? How good a friend is Garfield in your views? He is rude, lazy, greedy, mean but yet in spite of all these, i think there is still goodness in him, although he only displays it when it really matters like when he rescues Odie from the dog pound.

I guess some people are also like that. They dun make good conversations, they are hardly interested in your daily affairs and neither are they good companions either. However, when you really need help and when it comes to the crunch, these people often surprise you by bailing you out, rather than those who you feel are "better" friends.

Remember the local show "Growing Up"? I recall one episode when Lim Kay Tong, playing Charlie had to beg his employer not to fire his son, Gary. However, the harsh way he dealt with Gary, i am sure Gary had no idea how much his father actually cared for him. So, i guess some people are just like that. Solve the problem, dispence with the niceities.

I wonder how many of such friends do i have? Most of my 2nd tier friends whom i have chosen certainly have this quality and more. I just wonder how many of them in my 1st Tier are actually really great friends but they somehow dun show it and i dun see it. I pride myself as someone who can see people for who they are. I just need to spend a little time and i am sure i can tell if that person has Tier 2 qualities. haha! I just do. More often than not, its moving them from Tier 1 to Tier 2, rather than moving them from back Tier 2 to Tier 1 that is my problem. I never had to downgrade a friend from Tier 2 to 1. But i must admit that trying and hoping for some of my favourite friends to move from Tier 1 to get into Tier 2 has caused me quite a many disappointments.

Well, friends are hard to come by and good friends are even harder. Best friends are one in a million.

Sometimes, people just dun see eye to eye with each other. Its takes alot of humility and effort to make a great friendship.

Humility includes saying you are as much to blame for a situation, even if you feel its totally not your fault and you know you are hardly at fault. So why then admit it? People would say "arent you a fake, saying things you dun mean?". My answer is hardly at all.

Humility is not being fake. Its not saying you are at fault but you dun mean it. It means that i value a friendship so much that i am willing to put my pride down so we can make things work because you are worth it. Is your pride so high you feel indigant saying you are sorry? Is your pride so high that you will never admit you are as much to blame for something as long as you can prove it or justify it? Are u so proud that you can only say "Whatever" or "as long as i am right, i am going to stand on my principles and beliefs and if you cannot see it, then its just too bad?"

Sometimes it takes alot of hard work and if you are lucky enough, you did meet one that dun need much effort to make it work. But great friendship are built over time, being able to withstand all things the world throws at it.

Jesus only gave us 2 commandments that we must follow. One is of course loving God and no other Gods with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. The second is to love your neighbour as yourself. Look at the second commandment. We are told, we are ordered and we are commanded to love your neighbour as yourself.

In the old testament, God says that if your heart is angry with someone, put down your offering and go make peace with him or her before coming back to present your offering. So, while i think we all have our own preference of who we want to be friends with and who we do not, we must still love them all, like how you will love yourself. Will you continue to be angry with yourself? Will you not talk to yourself forever? Will you hate yourself forever? Will u ill-treat yourself forever? If your answer is no, then are you still doing this to a friend or to someone that you had an issue with?

God says we are not to nurse any anger or hatred for too long. In fact, before the sun goes down, you will have to make peace, at least in your heart, with someone who is hurting you or has let you down. Its okay if you do not to like someone as much as your good friends, but we must always treat everyone with love, compassion and respect.

People often tell me its impossible. But i always draw them to the fact that if Jesus could die for us, why are we so proud to continue hating that person or nursing grudges and avoid talking to them, ignoring them and making them invisible? Surely, that is not what the Lord has commanded us to do, does it?

If only we can sometimes take a step back and see the bigger picture of life, we will understand the foolishness of some of our thoughts and behaviour. Its as meaningless as chasing the wind.

All of us are heading in a common direction as all of us have to leave this world some day. So it does not matter if you are rich or poor, highly educated or a fool, we are all taking the same bus-the same journey-in life because we are all going to the same destination. We are all on our journey of life together.

If i may describe life's journey to that on a SBS bus. You are taking a bus to somewhere you want to go, that is the main objective, to reach your destination. The main thing is to reach it. If you have to reach your destination comfortably seated or if you have to stand up and squeeze sometimes, just remember that the most important reason why you are on this bus is to reach your desired destination.

Some people strive so hard to ensure they get a good seat, a good view or to watch TV Mobile that they push, shove and make these little things their top priotity and they miss the big picture and they forget to get down the bus and they miss their stop. While in this journey of life, of course it is good if you can get great seats and a great view but dun make them so important in your life that you miss the most important prize at the end. Focus on the prize ahead and dun lose that focus. Do not take the material things of this world to be your main focus. Jesus has told many people to store their treasures in heaven where it will not be stolen nor will it rust.

So, if you can understand what i am trying to say, do consider taking a step back and look at the bigger picture in life. It does not mean you give up chasing your dreams of being a CEO or striving to climb the coporate ladder. No, this is not what it means. But what it does mean is that you put God as your main focus. That is all.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

If you do that, i am most certain that you will gradually understand what is important to you and you will also realise that its not too difficult to follow the 2 most important commandments that Jesus has told us to follow.

Praise God!

Amen