What is a life worth living?

Recently, a family member said she wonders if my mother's life is worth living. My mother is in her mid-80's, strickened with several ailments. She has limited mobility and a failing eyesight. There also appears to be an onset of dementia. Is her life worth living?

Photography by A. Monaco


I looked at that family member. She is at the prime of her life, active, with a mind like a steel trap. She is extremely motivated, traveling the world chasing after the almighty dollar. Is her wealthy life, I ask, worth living?

I was at the hairdresser a couple of days ago. I sat next to a woman who came in huffing and puffing. She said she was so busy. The hairdresser asked her what she was so busy about? She said she's busy shopping. Is such a busy life worth living?

The doctors I met at the hospital were brilliant with their diagnosis but lacking in compassion. Are their brilliant lives worth living?

A young professional at a table next to mine at a cafe talked about his weekend of hard partying, of getting wasted and having gratuitious sex. Is his ambitious life worth living?

The woman behind me on the plane boasted about her many accomplishments and derided just about everybody she knew. Is her accomplished life worth living?

What determines a life worth living? Who determines a life worth living?

No Accounting for Taste

Hope you enjoyed the photos of the black and white houses in Singapore in my previous post. The above are more typical of the bungalows found in Singapore. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder...but if there's beauty or grace to these houses, it is lost to this beholder!! There's no accounting for taste, obviously. These houses could probably sell in today's Singapore market for US$2-3 million! Evidently wealth and good taste do not always go hand in hand.

Black and White

Pictures by Munshi Ahmed

I am in general not a big fan of Singapore architecture. But the black-and-white houses of the colonial era are my all time favorites. This afternoon, on the way to purchase some Lunar New Year plants in the Upper Thompson area, my cousin and I drove through the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. I was captured by the view of one elegant black-and-white home after another. These black-and-whites thrived during the late 19th C to right before WWII in Singapore, built to house the British officials and their families. They are quite large and airy to accommodate the tropical climate, built on relatively large parcels of land, surrounded by lush greenery. They are such a pleasant contrast to the modern, cramp style of the majority of Singapore's contemporary homes.

Steamboat

Picture from bestmalaysianfood.com

I am now in Singapore to celebrate Chinese New Year with my mom. After a busy season of getting ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas and NewYear, I’m just not fired up for yet another celebration. Besides, it's been over thirty years since I’ve been back in Singapore for the Lunar New Year. Maybe if I focus on one aspect of the celebration at a time, I may be well prepared when the New Year rolls around on Feb. 3, and may even come to enjoy the process.

I thought I would start planning the reunion dinner which is celebrated on the eve. My mother traditionally serves “steamboat” which consists of a large pot of stock, into which everyone at the table adds in the various meats and vegetables. I looked at several recipes and came up with a version of my own that is not too elaborate and over the top.

RECIPE

Broth (store-bought such as Swanson’s Chicken is fine)

Meat
chicken, de-boned, sliced thinly, marinated with soy sauce and corn flour
fish fillet, sliced thinly
shrimps, shelled, marinated with salt n pepper
squid, scored in sliced, marinated with salt and pepper
scallops
fishballs
stuffed tofuballs
wontons (parboiled)

Vegetables
Chinese cabbage
lettuce
spinach
choysum (mustard greens)
tofu, in cubes
fresh shiitake i mushrooms

Noodles
mifun, ho fun etc, soaked and blanched

Dips
Chilli sauce
Oyster sauce
Soy sauce

Direction
1. Cook each item separately, starting with the meats.
2. Add the noodles towards the end.
3. Scoop into individual bowls. Enjoy

A Little Daydreaming

A little overwhelmed by the congestion and slick sterile high-rises in Singapore, these pictures provide some reprieve. Multi-million dollar condos in Singapore could never compete with any of these quaint cottages, ever, in my mind.

Thanksgiving 2010

There is much for me to be thankful for this year. The turkey meal for one turned out quite well, in spite of the fact that our girls were not home early enough to help with much of the baking and cooking! (They both flew home late Wednesday, Lauren from St. Louis and Kathryn from Chicago.) Turkey was moist--tried a smoked turkey this time--and the side dishes were a hit. We had dessert galore with an ameretto ricotta cheesecake from Lauren, tipsy angel food cake from Pauline (our young seminary friend), and the must-haves of apple and pumpkin pies!

I am thankful most of all for my God, who has kept and loved me and my family all through the year and the years before, and will continue to do so in the years to come. It is comforting to wake up each morning, assured that I am in the palm of a loving and powerful God, knowing that no matter what unfolds during the day, He is with me to sustain and to guide.

I am thankful for my husband who drives me batty in many ways but whose love and faithfulness I have been able to count on through the years. We embarked on our empty-nesting journey this September and are enjoying our time sans les filles.

I am thankful for our daughters: our college graduate whose love for the children she mentors inspires me, and our college freshman who has dived into collegiate life with her usual oomph and enthusiasm.

I am thankful for my mother whose love still warms me from across the miles. I am grateful that she is in relatively good health, having given us quite a scare late this summer.

I am thankful for my friends, young and old, near and far. This summer I was able to connect with college friends whom I've not seen in many years. And this weekend, a high school friend popped in for a visit! I look forward each week to the time of bible study, prayer and laughter with my Dallas friends. My seminary friends keep me young and connected.

I am thankful for my professors at the seminary, for their inspiring and dedicated teaching. What a privilege it is to be able to study Systematic Theology with Sinclair Ferguson or the Pentateuch with Douglas Gropp. I don't have to worry too much about getting Alzheimer's as they challenge my grey cells with the rigor and profundity of their courses!

I am thankful that from the pulpit this Thanksgiving Sunday, I heard the reading and preaching of one of my favorite passages in Scripture. I leave you now with Luke 2:21-35,

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

Gratitude

The Breakfast Table, 1883-1884, John Singer Sargent,Fogg Museum

All that we have are given to us by our loving heavenly Father, including the gift of life. May we not forget our very generous and gracious God when we are enjoying His bountiful gifts.