Prince of Peace

An Imprint of Peace Photo by Mei

Thanks be unto God for His gifts.

2 CORINTHIANS 9:15

Mến chúc tất cả một mùa Giáng Sinh vui vẻ.

Merry Christmas & Joyeux Noël!

My Thìn

If I could ever see your face

The sun, the moon, the stars
I look upon the sky
You're smiling back at me
My Thìn, my dearest sister...

Now and forever more
Until we meet again
In our Father's house
With gladness we rejoice!

Azalea - Starlight on Path
Photo by Mei

Writer's Notes
Knowing that the elders were only teasing me at the time, not that they love me any less, I still fall for it whenever they tell me that my older sister, Thìn, was way cuter and more well-behaved than I do.

It was then I learned that I’m not alone since there was my Thìn, whom I started to long for without ever seeing her face.

For sometime, I kept on wondering: "Would I have been born if my Thìn is still alive?"

As I grew older, finding the definitive answer for what I had been wondering does not really matter anymore as I realized that my beloved sister is always by my side and that she is watching over me all along.

Through God’s grace and great love, I’m thankful for the opportunity to life - to live, love and share with a grateful heart filled with joy and gladness.

Updated: June 2013, added verses and photo.
The photo was edited using Instagram filter.

Life Can Begin Again

We sometimes find life in the most peculiar way.

One thought the stray chocolate mint wouldn’t survive through the four day holiday weekend. And yet, it’s only to see that new sprouts have sprung up into life on top of what appear to be dried stems and withered leaves.

Chocolate Mint Photo by Mei

Plainly potted in a small ceramic cup with little soil, the herb plant now shows new signs of life.

Perhaps the lesson learned is that life can begin again with a little bit of faith, a little bit of hope and a little bit of love and care.

And that those dying leaves and stems are not actually dead, they only give rise to younger shoots and greener leaves as life goes on.

Writer’s Note:
Using my very own (or rather old) 1.3 MB camera phone, I took the above picture of the chocolate mint herb plant brought in by my "front" cube neighbor.

Here, in the States, people get off work on Thanksgiving Day (Lể Tạ Ơn) and the following Black Friday. Together with the normally two days weekend, they make up "the four day holiday weekend."