Jesus Is In My Calendar

In January, a friend gave my family a calendar with interior design images.

During entire March, I saw Jesus was in the calendar, looking at me earnestly and trustfully. I examined closely, it was just an image of a living room. While I observed the calendar in a distance, Jesus gazed on me cordially.

I watched Jesus for one month. I feel He has endured extreme pain for people He loves. I think that He may have died like Braveheart before He reincarnated into Jesus and He has been suffering after he was crucified.

I wonder: Who is He?

I examined the image again – it is still a living room.

I study Bible and I am deeply touched by the words.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NIV)

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28 – 30)

With a Little Support, You Can Swim Freely

Sometimes, you can feel trapped and frustrated as a drowning man struggling in deep water, incapable to swim. You feel hopeless, helpless and at a loss what to do next, likewise, a little boat in a bumpy ocean without a safe place to put its anchor.


Nevertheless, there is always a way out and there is always a person you can turn to. If you communicate well, someone would listen and lend a hand to you to drag you up. If you move backward a step, you can find there is plenty of space for you. If you turn around, you can find that a helpful person is waiting for you at some corner.


If you are trapped, do the following:


-Be prepared; do not be despaired.


-Keep in high spirit; try to flow with life. If you really are drowned, it is over.

-Keep learning new knowledge and new skills. When the opportunity comes, you are ready.

-Make good judgment and turn to right people; otherwise, you can be kicked down.

-Communicate well with right people. Say right and do right with right people.

With a little support, you can swim well in the ocean of life. Likewise, with a Sterns Puddle Jumper Basic Life Jacket, even a three-year-old can swim freely in the water just like my little son.

The Joy of Living

Life is beautiful on its own. I realize this after I translated the short story Good Luck and Best Wishes from Chinese into English.

In the story, people live a primitive life with few modern belongings in a far-off mountainous area; however, they enjoy life enormously. A bowl of fermented spirits, a flowery bun, colorful strings, spices, scented pouches, and longing for love and marriage bring them great joy of living.

Mom teaches her teen daughter how to hold a needle and how to use a thimble to sew flowered cloth into the shape of a heart to make a scented pouch, and how to spread aromatic spices to make the scented pouch bulge. The girl savors the pleasure of using a thimble to push a needle, the pleasure of pulling a needle through a cloth, and the pleasure of joining two pieces of cloth together.

Dad teaches his young boy to pound the spices in a mortar with a stone pestle, but spices jump out mischievously. Through pounding and pounding, the boy finally can make the spices turn compliant and burst into flowers, which satisfies him. As he pounds the pestle up and down, the house becomes filled with the aroma.

The atmosphere is aromatic and mystic and the practice means more than itself. The teenagers feel that it is something beautiful and worth expecting. The implication of sex education is evasive, beautiful and healthy.

On Dragon Boat Festival (the 5th day of the 5th lunar month), the young boys and young girls climb onto mountaintop to collect Chinese spicy mugwort plants, they feel like harvesting good luck and best wishes for the entire year. They enjoy being young, being together, being pure and being in love.

The story doesn't provide a specific time setting nor a particular place. There is nothing to do with politics. It is simply an ode to life. Living is meaningful and beautiful by itself. It doesn't take much to be happy.

Good Luck and Best Wishes is included in the short story collection Street Wizards and Other New Folklore , one volume of 21st Century Chinese Literature, which presents a kaleidoscope of Chinese folk customs and provides a view of the multifaceted and living China.

What does your heart reflect?

Photo courtesy: http://gb.cri.cn/

Look at the wondrous picture: after a spring rainfall, a lot of raindrops left on the leaves and flowers. In each of several crystal raindrops reflected a whole beautiful daisy, magnifying the refreshing beauty of the delicate blossoms.

After a rain, the meadow is greener; the air is fresher; the sky is bluer; and perchance there is a rainbow highlighting the sky. Without a rainstorm, how can we appreciate a magnificent rainbow?

Wind and rain are natural phenomena, just as ups and downs are inevitable in life. After the rain, a raindrop reflected a beautiful daisy; after adversity, what left in our heart?

During the past several years, I read extensively from a lot of writers and bloggers. The writers teaching people how to overcome depression ever endured depression; the writers coaching people how to rise above poverty ever lived through poverty; the writers telling people to be strong and kind ever encountered financial problem and social difficulty. The bad situations make them stronger, kinder and gentler. Disruption can be turned into the light of a new day.

Each of us is a unique expression of life; our individual choice has greater effect than we know; the peace within us creates peace in the world; the beauty within us breeds beauty in the world.

Maintaining inner harmony takes patience, hope and love. Our inside world can have impact on the outside world. Remember to be kind, generous, loving and grateful.

Ask yourselves what your heart reflects? What ripple effect do you generate in the ocean of life?

Beautiful Moments

Life is composed of a sequence of moments, passing by as flowers come out and then wither, as fallen leaves float in the wind, as raindrops knock crisply on the roof.

Time flies, we can’t stop it and we can’t change it. Some moment is beautiful, some is imperfect, and some is unforgettable.

When I was little, I liked to chase dragonflies along a stream in the twilight. Set against the burning sun, the bodies of dragonflies were golden and shiny, the transparent wings silky and delicate. I caught one dragonfly, held in hands, and then set it free, watching it fly against the inflamed sky. It is a beautiful moment.

The second year in graduate school, we had a Spring Festival Evening Party. My lovely neighbor Andrea drove me to the Hall. When we sat down, a student board member came to me, said, “You look so elegant. The president of University came to the party today. I think she needs help to understand the performance. Can you go to her table as a translator?” I didn’t talk too much, but I remember that moment is beautiful.

After nine months’ pregnancy, and twelve hours’ induced labor pain, my little boy William was delivered. He was cute and wet, crouching on my chest. I kissed his little fingers and noticed his fingers were slim and long as mine. He stretched his hands to me, letting me kiss him more, what a beautiful moment!

Life is a process. If we can enjoy and cherish every beautiful moment, life will be a collection of poems. Even in the hard time, we still can find something small and subtle to fill our soul.
Photo Courtesy: fidelis - Istanbul