Place: Tulamed Bali
Poison: not much (Balinese music)
Favourite things: afternoon naps
I’m not sure I will ever get used to squat loos…I’m so so bad at them. Even after a lesson in the etiquette of long dropping, I’m still a failure at their art.
Can’t wait for my regular throne once again.
Sorry for the visual of my readers, but I just had to share with someone.
Ahhh
A
Place: the liberty diving resort
Poison: coffee instant (I know, I know)
Favourite things: afternoon massages by the pool
The liberty diving resort sounds very flash, but in fact we are in a very small village in the north of Bali, diving on a shipwreck called the US Liberty.
What is so divine, is that I have been talking about the word liberty, non stop on my long service leave. Even to the point if I was to get a tattoo, that’s the word I think I would emblazon on my body.
I have been thinking about the difference between Liberty and Freedom. As one of my Favourite scripture talks about bringing freedom and liberty to the oppressed. Those who don’t have much. The poor, the children, the slaves, the widows, the orphans.
I have been mulling on Freedom, being the act of being set free and Liberty is living a life beyond the oppression. I’m not sure if that’s the actual dictionary delineation, but that’s my summation from lots of time of thought and rest.
For so long I have lived in a free country, I am free to worship wherever I want, as a woman I am free to walk down the street by myself, I am free to vote, I am free to write this blog. I am free.
However the longer my mind has space to switch off from the everyday, work, busyness, life stresses…I realise that I don’t really live with Liberty. My mind so often worries about people, worries that I have upset someone, I want to be in control so I feel safe, I need to know the ins and outs….I am realising Liberty for me, is being set free, day in day out from worry, control, people pleasing and stress.
What’s your place of Liberty?
Because as I scuba dived through a massive ship that was torpedoed by the Japanese in the second world war, I was deeply challenged to just seriously let go. Living in liberty.
Trying anyway….
A
Place: Tulamed
Poison: Old Town Coffee from KL
Favourite Things: My dive ticket and the potential exploration of the next few days.
I am so excited about the potential of the next few days. We have escaped the big city of Kuta and have driven around the island to go diving for a couple of days.
In the midst of all our travels, my companions have become severely addicted to a game that is so old school it makes me laugh.
Tetris.
We are obsessed.
There is something so satisfying about the sheer beauty of seeing pieces of puzzles fit together and the sheer frustration with just one bad move and the whole game is broken.
Panic, fear and terror arise as the pieces build up and the climax of the day crescendos as you loose terribly with a small amount of points and your patience gone as you so wanted to beat your friend in this torturous computer folly.
As I have been falling asleep at night I find myself trying to slot tetras pieces together and I smile at my obsession, glad that my late night thoughts, for once in my life are full of meaningless computer games, rather than stress filled work solutions.
As I have been falling asleep I have realised however there is something within all of us, that wants the pieces to come together in perfect harmony.
We want our lives to feel like a Tetris game, with colours matching, jigsaw puzzles completing and the score to rack up on the side, so that we can chide our companions about our prowess and skills.
How much does the local bar on a Friday night sound like a Human Tetris game?
‘Yeah I found this chick/guy every things gonna work out, game, set, match. Am I succeeding?’
‘Hey did you hear I won that big contract at work, I’ve found a new employee, we just brought the best house on the street, that holiday coming up is going to put everything back in order? Yep life- its beautiful!’
I find so much more, that its rare for life to fit together perfectly, and those pieces (people, jobs, sickness, frustrations…) come around quicker than the imatchable pieces in Tetris and as the game speeds up, there are times when it just all falls apart.
(Optimistic hey!)
The one thought I have of encouragement, though, the more I play Tetris, the more I learn, the better I get and the more I deal with the random flying objects.
I don’t believe life is about having a high score and an empty Tetris board where everything has come together. I think its more about the lessons learned along the way, and the people we have hung out with, not competed against.
I wont remember the competition of our Tetris championships and Im sure I wont remember who’s winning…but my goodness can I remember the laughs, the long road trips and the screams as we have stuffed up once again.
Play on dear friend.
Who really cares who wins in the end anyway!!
Love
A
Place: Amed
Poison: Pear Green Tea
Favourite Things: Writing in my bathers fresh from a swim.
I was reading in scripture the other day the poetic interpretation by Eugene Peterson about Gods love and his ‘unforced rhythms of grace’. As I have thought about this I have realised that I am so far from this, I am so unnatural in my application of grace that life sometimes seems graceless rather than gracefull. (double LL intentional)
Grace I believe comes far from naturally, but its seems that from God its as easy as creating another star or universe.
As we walk through dusty streets and locals harass us to buy one more, one more, As we zip in and out of traffic that is incomprehensible for my western stomach, as we pray each time we eat hoping our food is fresh and not manky, Grace is not something that comes easily.
However when I take time to think and apply that which I know to be true, I am graced with the amazing opportunity to live in Australia, to own a house, to have a job which is stretching but most definitely inspires me to live a bigger life. I am graced. Gods unforced rhythms of grace are accessible to me, I just need to open my heart to their happenings.
It was my Dads 60th birthday this week and after his party I sat with my Uncle till 5.30am chatting about family, life, heartache and pain. I realised that I was graced with an opportunity of a lifetime, the ability to just talk and listen. The rhythms of grace are awaiting our exploration, often its just time that is needed to seek them out.
Our number one quote that came out of that long winding conversation in Kuta Bali was this…Life is just to short! Coming from a 60plus Uncle, listened by a 30plus niece, allowing grace and forgiveness to mark our lives, is a mature perspective that so many miss out on as they don’t reflect upon the unforced rhythms of grace.
May I never be to busy to seek Him that graced me with so much.
A
Place: melaka KL
Poison: water
Favourite things: the community karaoke happening outside our hotel, raising money for a local family who lost 5 members of their family in a car accident.
Often our lives are limited because of our expectations. When the unexpected comes along, if we grab hold of it’s potential it has the ability to change our very lives.
My long service leave has become full of the unexpected. We had a lot of plans, that were changed at the very last minute, but its in the realm of the unexpected, that surprise and opportunity hold hands and take your dancing with delight.
Randomly I was reading about this town in KL south, two hours drive from KLCC and two hours away from Singapore, called Melaka. So Pavel our friend here took the day off work and we drove to the town unsure what to expect, packing an overnight bag just in case.
The funny thing is, what we found completely blew all of our expectations away. A mix of so many cultures in one small town. A heritage listed town for UNECO, should be preserved as it is delightful.
From the churches built in the 1600’s, to the town square, fountain and all, that looks like it’s been ripped out of a page in Italy’s lonely planet guide. To little India, where grown men sit sewing suits on their front porches and chinatown that has completely transformed into the best night market I’ve ever seen.
We decided against booking our hotel and just winging it, walking from hotel, to bed and breakfast, from dormitory, to hostel. All we were asking for, was a triple room and a lot of vibe.
We found a boutique hotel, that is so delightful. It is right at the heart of Chinatown and I couldn’t be happier.
The street hawkers selling roast pork and steamed chicken. The satay sticks simmering, the wonton noodle soup frothing. My senses are in overdrive and my tummy is churning from the home made ice-cream we finished off the evening with.
The town has a Vienna-ish feel through the centre as there is a river running through the town, with small boats touring the visitors, showing off it’s Dutch and Portuguese heritage to boot.
As we lay here watching a movie, snuggled away in the air conditioned comfort, I’m so thankful for the unexpected. Today took my breath away, mostly because it was so uncalculated.
Most of my life is so planned and detailed, it’s list obeyed and appointment scheduled. To have a few months of the unexpected is such a gift.
Open yourself up to the unexpected, you won’t know what’s around the corner.
Melakered
Love
A
