My Tribute: birthday reflections - childhood years (Year 1 to Year 12)

A friend of mine did a year by year summary of her life on her birthday a few months back, and i determined after reading that to do the same on my birthday.

I just celebrated my birthday a few days ago. In recounting the events, this exercise took on a life of its own, becoming more detailed as i went along, remembering either actual memories, or accounts told to me by those close to me.

As i reflected on the events and milestones in my life, i gave thanks to the Lord for His Hand upon my life, and the foundations of faith laid upon my life by my parents.

Year 0 - Mum gave birth to me. Her water bag burst after her own birthday celebration with her extended family, and of course my dad., and i was born the next day. From this year on, i have the privilege of celebrating my birthday together with her. Being the first child, my parents did not know better, and i only slept after many minutes of being shaken in their arms.

Year 1 - Already, i had thick unruly hair which stuck out and up (i've had more than my fair share of bad hair days. thank God for hair-conditioner which helps tame my mane today. No more bad hair days! :D).

Year 2 - My parents say i was quite bold in singing in front of relatives and friends, complete with actions. I did not like the feel of sand or grass under my feet, and would cry when placed on those surfaces.

Year 3 - Halfway through this year, my brother was born. My parents recounted that i was somewhat jealous of him. They caught me once, climbing up on the stool, leaning over the cot, and pinching him. The only reason i was caught is he cried when i pinched him. What a cry baby!

Year 4 - I started music lessons at yamaha. Very fun, got actions, and little instruments like triangle, castinets, etc. I would place all the food i want to eat on my plate, and then not be able to finish it.

Year 5 - Continued music lessons and was involved in my first concert. Started at PAP kindergarten near my place in Toa Payoh. Remember my neighbour or one of her two sons walking me to school around mid-morning as my parents were teaching in school then. After school, the two boys and i would play hide and seek under blankets stretched across chairs and tables. My brother was placed under the care of another neighbour.

Year 6 - Started piano lessons. Graduated from PAP kindergarten. Somewhere there is a photo of my graduating class. I looked pretty pale. Fainted some time after the photo-taking.

Year 7 - Started primary school near my place. Parents forgot to register me for school on the designated day. But thank God the principal who was a close friend allowed me to be slotted in. I was no. 41 in my class, 1B. Remembered sitting on those patterned woven mats.

Year 8 - Took my grade 1 piano and theory exams.

Year 9 - Took grade 3 piano and theory exams. Quit brownies which i actually liked a lot - brown uniform complete with yellow-gold scarf with a bronze-gold pin, I was an elf - all because i could not skip rope. Switched to music ensemble. No uniform. Repetitive rehearsals. Started wearing glasses?

Year 10 - Took grade 4 piano exam. Moved to Sims Drive. Took part in my school group poetry reciting competition with the hymn: Happiness is the Lord. The teacher who trained us, also my form teacher, was Christian, hence the song. Around this time, my father started teaching at a school less than 1km away from our primary school, so my brother (he attended the same school the following year) and i would hang around in his school after ours was over. Switched to English Sunday School and English service at this time. Before this was Chinese Sunday School and Hokkien Service where my grandfather was pastoring.

Year 11 - Became school prefect. Very serious about my tasks and responsibilities. I was becoming less shy too. I remember being the emcee of a school event. Took Grade 5 piano and theory exams.

Year 12 - I started to realise the significance of being born again. I became assured of my salvation, no longer putting up my hand when the altar call was given at Sunday school. I still remember all the choruses we sang in one of the classrooms of that tiny 2-classroom building between the church and the school. I made friends in sunday school whom i still am in contact with today. Life-long friends. God was becoming more real and personal to me. I had always enjoyed going to church, but it was more like part of my family routine/part of life thing. Took Grade 6 piano exam.

Other things i remember were:

Family services a few times a week 'instituted' by my father when we moved to Sims Drive. We sang hymns like What A Friend, Saviour Like A Shepherd, etc. (he had them printed out) which later evolved to include choruses like This is the Day, and other songs of praise from Hosanna Integrity (thin brown booklet, followed by blue booklet). We took turns choosing what we liked to sing. Papa would read from the Bible or follow a family devotional. We would end with prayer. Papa was quite a pray-er, and he would pray around the world for at least half hour. I remember often nodding off as we knelt around the bed. Later my brother and I persuaded him to allow us to kneel on the bed, which were softer on the knees. And with our head on the soft pillow as we knelt on the bed, we would find ourselves drifiting in and out during prayer and be woken up to echo Papa's resounding AMEN! Our hour long family service (at least 20-30 minutes prayer) would sometimes be much shorter if one of us other than Papa prayed. But Papa was not satisfied with our 3 minute prayer. Often he would continue after we stopped, and our prayer 'ordeal' took place night after night. Later mum began to love praying more and more, and our hour long services increased by half an hour to 1.5 hours! We learnt from this about family prayer and praise life, how to have a relationship with God, how God should be an important part of family life. We also learnt how to lead in praise and worship through choosing songs that were meaningful.

Being at church choir practices my parents (usually my dad sang in the choir; mum joined in after my brother and i were older) were in, were really fun. That was my introduction to choral singing and choral life.

Mum taught us to love books. When we tore a page, whether intentionally or accidentally, she would show us how to tape it back with scotch-tape, making it almost as good as new. Her teaching method; show by example, was extremely successful. I grew to love books. I did not even want to have dog eared covers or pages. I don't think that was her purpose. But that was what was instilled in me. Dog-ears in books hurt me.

I would read till i forget to eat. I had favourite books which i re-read over and over again. I remember this irked Papa.

We also played monopoly and dominoes and blackjack (no gambling allowed; we had to constantly assure papa that we will not become gambling addicts). Mum instilled in us the love of counting. Her educational pedagogy: learning through playing games.

I grew up not liking dolls - their eyes were not real. I loved soft toys - more cuddly.

I remember having sleepovers at my cousin Eunice's place and Aunty Pat's place with cousin Eunice. That was before she moved to Australia with her family. I was fascinated by my cousin, who was an interesting and humorous story teller, and she always had different games to play.

I also remember the Child Evangelism Fellowship meetings where mum invited children of neighbours and sometimes her school kids. I helped to serve drinks and also held on to BIG song prompts or BIG story books. My favourite song was Did You Ever Talk TO God Above, and my favourite story was about a little mexican boy who learnt about Jesus and introduced Him to his family.

I hated to practise the piano. it was a lonely and tedious time when i had to practise drills, songs and scales over and over again. From 11 years old, i spent hours talking to parents about wanting to stop, but they were more stubborn than i was. And they were 2 of them against 1 of me. So i completed my Grade 8 piano and theory exams at 14. My brothers were more successful in persuading them, or perhaps by that time, my parents' determination had been worn thin. But looking back, i am glad my parents made me persevere.

singing to one another...

When we come together as a body of Christ, we are exhorted to 'sing to one another'.

Colossians 3:16 (AMP)

Let the word [spoken by] Christ (the Messiah) have its home [in your hearts and minds] and dwell in you in [all its] richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom [in spiritual things, and as you sing] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with [His] grace in your hearts.

I love how the Amplified Version puts it: "Let that the Word spoken by Christ the Messiah have its home".
As the saying goes, home is where the heart is.
Here, home is where the word is and the word is in our hearts.
And as the word of God dwells in our hearts, there is going to be an outflow... of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs... full of wisdom and intelligence and insight into spiritual things.

Some have asked me how to know the things of God, how to know spiritual things. We have to put the Word in our hearts, we have to spend time knowing His Word. Then the outflow mentioned above will naturally come.