Manual Labour

In Wine-bottle Opening, I wrote about the story of the man straining against the rock. It was a test by God to help the man grow stronger.

Here in OC, we have to carry furniture-tables, chairs, armchairs, patio umbrellas etc every week, heavy trays, buckets of ice, racks of glasses etc every day and walk to and fro plenty every day. This job builds and tones our muscles. As Mel said earlier, she's "going to be buff" by the end of our time here and now, she said she's got "calves of steel". Haha. We are building calves of steel AND arms of steel here.

About 2 weeks after I came here, I'd to carry the entire tray of bud vases ie. an entire tray of glass flower vases with flowers and water in them, from the Grill to upstairs. Then, I had to get help from one of the kitchen staff to help me carry those bud vases. Wed-24/6, I had to do that again. I got a co-worker to help me. Yesterday, Thur-25/6, there was no one to help me so I tried lifting the tray myself. To my surprise, I was able to do it and bring the entire tray upstairs. I had been building my muscles for the past weeks and I did not realize I'd grown stronger. Had I known, I need not have gotten my co-worker to help me with the bud vases on Wed. I am reminded of the story of that man who pushed against the rock. Eventually he grew stronger without himself realizing it. God was preparing him for greater things.

Living, Leaving, Dying, Parting (生离死别) IX

Michael Jackson died on Thursday. We learnt of it yesterday, Fri-26/6. He died young at 50.

In my Feb post of Living, Leaving, Dying, Parting (生离死别) VII, I mentioned Ster said Grandpa's time was nearly up. I'd forgotten I wrote about this. Grandpa has been dead for a while now. It wasn't a surprise. You can learn a lot about people from a death. From the time one is in the hospital to his death to the funeral to the rites after the funeral is over, the time and kind of attention he gets from the people around him tell us a lot about those around him.

Death makes me morbid. Thinking about death makes me wonder if I'd have the chance to do things for the people I love before they die.

Recently, someone I once knew well told me a part of her died when she was forced to let go. This is death of the heart. This death CAN be revived. Ms Ng said when you take away something from the heart, you have to replace with something else. Otherwise, the human heart will feel the loss and emptiness because we have the capacity to love. We were created to love and to give love. Death of the heart is reversible. But a physical death is irreversible. Even if I were to give up all the years of my life in exchange for someone else's, after exhausting my lifespan, the other will still die. I think of death and I feel sad.