Life Is Too Short...
- By Indu Shanmugam
- Published 12/14/2008
Indu Shanmugam
Indu Shanmugam is a 20-something, college student from Oregon, USA. She is majoring in English literature and language. She also studied Theology for a short period. She wants to be a teacher. As a literature enthusiast, she enjoys literature of all types and from writers of various backgrounds from the classics, French realists, Christian writings like C.S Lewis and South Asian literature. As for her own writings, "I am still trying to find and develop my own voice." She sees the art of the written word as a way to speak about Christ and explore truth. Before she met Jesus Christ, she has been searching for the meaning of life through experimentation of other religions, philosophies and ideas. At the age of 17, she accepted Christ after a powerful encounter with God through a miracle. God's presence and deep truths in the Bible fuel her creativity. She is involved in church activities and has a love for the church and would like to see every believer grow, become closer to God and live fruitfully. She loves traveling, sipping bubble teas, theatre, music, films and hanging out with friends and has a weakness for cheesecake.
To waste time, attempting to impress shallow people who otherwise don't care...
or live up to superficial expectations and standards, which were anyway made for the shallow people to impress other shallow people.
Yes, sometimes life requires you to play along or BS...
Other times silence or short-one word replies are the best answer.
I certainly don't owe everyone an explanation.
Some people need to mind their own damn business.
Ultimately, happiness and decisons are up to me.
God operates beyond a "box"
Calling isn't only limited to full-time church ministry
Over the years, I thought I was being molded to the person God wants me to be when in reality I was molding to cultural expectations of the American, mega-church culture, which don't always coincide to God.
And faith does NOT equal to naive idealism.
the journey of faith includes many twists, turns, patience, valleys . . . and sometimes living up to your calling may take years and even decades; it doesn't happen overnight...
Too bad, our youth pastors don't tell us that but rather speak empty sugar-coated sermons using the name of God.
No matter how much you wash the vessel and decorate the outside, the inside will always remain filthy if you don't pay attention to it
I grow and hunger and thirst for something much more substantial than sugar-coated superficialities.
Even the most "secular" or supposedly "lesser spiritual" things can be the most glorifying to God
I chose a path that is less traveled
There will be other believers who misunderstand your intentions...
those who judge, criticize and advise not out of genuine love or concern but rather to assert and affirm their own sense of spirital superiority.
and let's not forget modern-day Pharisees who try to put barriers between people and God
and those who not only value cultural or traditional values over the grace and deep truth, but preach human ideas as though equivalent to biblical truth
That is when I realize I need grace, patience and love the most.
The beauty of faith is that the spiritual often interacts with the earthly
Daily occurences of supernatural power are not like a Benny Hinn revival meeting
Daily life is the miracle
The greatest force in the world is love
Only grace introduced me to that.
The real question is living according to grace
And not falling into the trap of old patterns
