One of 'em weeks...

This week is one of THOSE weeks.
Term Three means school is a mad house.
Add on leaders' meetings, home visits, sports club, P&P, CG means every night is packed too.
Today, after yet another (u-i) meeting in school, and faced with many undone tasks, i was really reluctant to go for home visits.
Agh! Can i just backslide for one evening? Let me catch up with my work!
But of coz God said no. Duh.

As i shuffled resignedly to the loo and back, ready to pack up and go, my day turned for the better.
A friend who has been visiting Brighton said he's "glad that he has his friends at Brighton." As he spoke about the friends he has made there, and that he's happy there, my tiredness lifted.
Indeed, I am thankful too! Perhaps after having been in the church for so long, i forget to be appreciative of my brothers and sisters in church. Now that he's mentioned it, yeah! I'm thankful for the Brightonites!
Then he shared about his (tentative) walk with God. =) =) =) It's very happifying and encouraging! Go ask him abt it!!

Greatly cheered and feeling that life was worth living and all was not futile, i made my way to MacPherson.

And i'm glad i did. Saw the fear and pain in my children. Saw the harshness of their lives.

And D&d have both lost weight. =(

As munch n i spent the night with them, we learnt about the recent events in their lives, how school has been, their best friends, best moments, worst moments, their tears...

d hid and watched and cried when their parents fought.
she didn't have and poster colour for art lesson.
but someone shared with her and she made a new best-friend.
some days she doesn't take lunch.
some days she doesn't have dinner.

D spoke about fights in class.
And about gangsters and beers and smoking.
And he's 10.

i wish i could always ensure they have their meals.
I wish i could sit and listen to them every day.
I wish i could watch them everyday, to make sure they don't get into fights and the wrong company.

But i can't.
They're mine, but they're not mine.

sigh.

They ate, we prayed together, then we brought them home.

They're not mine, but they're God's.
And He can watch over them all the time.

Then i wondered...
an hour with them seem so much more fruitful than... errrmm... that 2 hours meeting i just had. In fact... it could even be more fruitful than the 12 hours i just spent in school! One day i am soooo gonna query the Singapore education system.

And i wondered...
There are self-help groups and charities and RCs and stuff... does organising stuff, setting up groups enable these people to be helped more effectively? Or does it just result in bureaucracy, inefficiencies, impersonal policies that purport to solve problems without recognizing that each problem is different?

And i wondered...
Does the "total household income" magically reveal the needs of a family? How many parents are unable to cope with parenthood? How many children are suffering for their parents' ignorance?

And i wondered...
Why do "they" spend so much effort decorating the estate for a visit by a minister? Shouldn't the minister be the one sitting on the broken sofas of the households, listening to the real stories?

***
How about we all spend a little less time on fanciful stuff?
How about we all spend a little less time glorifying ourselves?
How about we all take a look at the children, a really good look?
***
Kidz Team, we must do it ok?
Because they are precious.
They belong to God and we're taking care of the King's Kids.