SimonSimple

Hi People

Tis the season to be jolly. First there was the Isetan Sales - it was madness (I spent quite a while waiting for a car park lot outside Wheelock Place and when I finally joined my wife lining up to enter the store, the queue had snaked all the way back to the bus stop at The Thai Embassy!) and the Robinson Sales. Orchard Road was mayhem with human beings aplenty.

Senior Minister said in this economic crisis we are facing a dilemma - to spend or not to spend. If we spend, we can ill afford it as we are not certain if we even have a job tomorrow. If we don’t spend, we are not helping to revive the economy. My wife reasons that she is helping revive the economy, as would thousands of women in Singapore.

My wife is also a bag lady. She has more handbags than she has fingers. Yesterday, she proudly showed off her haul from another of her shopping sprees, but not before she related this funny episode. She chanced upon a bag, and asked the salesgirl for a look-see and a thorough “once over”. After a while, she shook her head and whispered to the girl, “I don’t like it”. Imagine the downcast look on the girl’s face as she almost pleaded, “Why??” Then my wife reiterated, “I don’t like it. I love it!” And with shocked relief, the girl caught the inane humor and let out a laugh.

I was the Toastmaster at a wedding dinner a week ago. (The radiant couple had attended my Marriage Preparation Class a few months back and I officiated at their marriage ceremony.) Before I made the toast to the health & happiness of the couple, I made a joke, a lesson, a reminder and a little sermon.

The joke: I was checking for my name in the guest list and found it under “Common Friends”. I protested to the couple that I should be listed under “Uncommon Friends”.

The lesson: I shared that my wife and I have been happily married for 31 years (the audience cheered and applauded). The secret for a long and happy marriage? The wife said they took turns talking. The husband sheepishly replied he was still waiting for his turn.

The reminder: I had given to the bride several years ago a bible verse to encourage her during one of her low moments, from Isaiah 1:19 “Only be willing and obedient, and you will eat the best in the land”. I then told her that because she was willing and obedient, standing before her was the best in the land - the groom, and all she had to do was to eat him.

The sermon: Happiness begins when you marry the person you love. The marriage blossoms when you love the person you married.

Bag lady or not, I don’t like the woman I married 31 years ago. I just love her!

Btw this is my 100th blog. I hope it has been a blessing to all my readers. A happy and healthy 2009 to all my friends and readers. God bless and protect you.

Hi People

Late last month just before our trip to Jordan & Israel, and without much fanfare my first book, The Family CEO, was launched. At about the same time I spoke at the Mediacorp/MCYS event on 29 Nov 08 “Maybe Baby” and more than 30 copies of the book were sold.

A friend read the book and sent me this sms while we were away in Israel:

“Dear Simon, I have been wonderfully blessed by your book. Am determined to adopt many of the things u shared. Moved to tears couple of times. God is using u to reshape my thinking. Will buy 50 copies from u. Lets catch up when back.”

This Saturday some lucky 400 attendees at a gathering for a school alumni to be held at SAFRA Telok Blangah will receive a copy of The Family CEO. How did they get there? Well a dear family dentist & friend read the first 3 sample chapters and decided to share the goodness that can be found in The Family CEO. The publisher had to do a first reprint in a hurry!

I will speak at another public seminar on 10 January 2009, this time organised by NTUC. It is about The Resilient Family and how to thrive in a time such as this. To find out how you can attend, visit

http://www.ufamily.org.sg/public/event/200812_resilient/0812_resilient.html

I will be sharing what is in my heart regarding the family. The thrust is basically about keeping your family life simple. My trust is about putting my simple faith in God.

In this festive season, let’s remember that Jesus is the reason for the season! God bless you & keep you.

Hi People

Today I witnessed an interesting phenomena. I was at the Jurong East MRT Interchange and got into a train. As I took my seat I noticed 3 seats away an open can of soft drink was taking a free ride. A small pool of coke had formed around the can. As the train moved on, more liquid spilled onto the seat and everyone seemed to move away from the scene of the crime but nobody was moved to do anything.

At first I thought it was none of my business and did nothing. After all, I was getting off at the next station. Then I decided to swallow my pride and took out a full packet of tissue and began to mop up the spill - my simple act of kindness.

I then felt a small tug at my pants and turned around to see a little boy with another packet of tissue. Looking a little further, I could see that his mother had prompted him to offer more tissue paper seeing that the spill was quite big. Mother was teaching her child to do a simple act of kindness.

Then as I moved to my seat, a lady spoke to me. She offered to take away the can of drink and the wet tissues to throw them away as she was getting off at the next stop. I politely said I too was getting off and I would throw the mess away. She smiled and quickly looked away.

What did I learn from this incident? If you think it is somebody’s job then it may end up as nobody’s job. More importantly, what I learned is that my simple act of kindness (you see, I thought I would be doing a good deed by cleaning up the spill otherwise 3 seats would go wasted till the last train ride!) moved 2 other passengers to volunteer their help.

And most importantly, I learned that I should not have turned down the lady’s offer to throw away the can and wet tissues. I might have caused her a little embarrassment. I had denied her her simple act of kindness.

We all need to do good. Sometimes we all need to let others do good too. After all, we all need to do our little simple acts of kindness. Have you done yours today?

Hi People

I wrote about sibling revelry in my last post. Well this morning we send our eldest daughter off at the airport. She is joining her sister and brother in Sydney for a week’s holiday. Her brother had flown off last week to be with his sister in Melbourne where she was playing in a frisbee tournament. All 3 siblings will unite in Sydney in a few hours time for a time of real sibling bonding, up close and personal without the intruding eyes of their parents.

We had been away for 12 days in Qatar, Jordan & Israel. The ultra modern buildings dotting the Doha City skyline is just awesome (where to find the business and people to fill up the office buildings, I wonder? Bet there won’t be a problem in a land where it is more costly to get potable water than portable petrol!). Jordan’s Petra caves was a contrast but more than awesome.

And Israel? Well, now whenever I read the Gospels, it will be in 3 dimensions rather than 2. If you can, make a trip to the holy land at least once in your lifetime. A lot of things make more sense to me now and I could do with less nonsense too!

Back to sibling reverly. Here is an extract from Page C2 of today’s The Straits Times headlined “Sibling revelry”

Being able to get along with each other helped Nick and Starr Spangler win The Amazing Race. They say that being siblings that get along gave them an edge over the other teams in the race as they did not have to deal with any emotional drama.

Starr says: “Unlike the other contestants, we didn’t fight with each other at all. Instead , we supported each other all the time.”

Nick adds: “We are a balanced team. Starr is good at taking control of situations while I am great at delegating challenges and giving instructions.”

Well, our wish for our adult children is that as they journey through life’s ups & downs, they will enjoy The Amazing Race of their lives and be a blessing to lives around them. Make your children winners, not whiners!