Musings on the Train

7.45am 

Its amazing how we slip into routine so easily. I remember how hard it was when I first had to travel on the train every early morning to school. Then I also had to take the bus and the tram. It seemed a new and strange routine to get used to, having been homeschooled the past few years back.

But now I hardly notice the 'novelty' of travelling on the train everyday. We so easily slip into something familiar that we no longer pay attention. I tell myself not to slip into ignorance and complacency!

Its so easy to see the same people day after day and take them all for granted. Its so easy to take all the daily luxuries I enjoy for granted when it comes too easily and accessibly.

We barely notice it when we no longer ask the people around us important questions about them, about their thoughts and struggles. We get by each day just saying a non-commital, 'How're you doing?' and we don't even wait for the answer. And even if there was an answer, it would be less than genuine or true to what the person is really feeling or thinking!

Its easy to just live through everyday taking care of ourselves. We talk to the people we like to talk to. We often talk about fleeting, casual, unmemorable things. We often talk to the people who would make us feel a little just as popular as they are. We often ignore the people who already have no one to talk to.

Its easy to slip into our own clique and comfort zone day after day. Will we ever change after that? Perhaps we'll just change to fit into yet another exclusive clique, another fixed mindset.

Its easy to live on and on, very selfishly. We are selfish creatures. But I notice that the moment pride and selfishness creeps in, I become a very miserable person. Disconnected. From what, from who?

I feel disconnected from my Life Source. The moment I slip into my own selfish bubble and forget that I've a higher purpose and a greater destiny to get out of my comfort zone and do something that matters for God and people, I become very miserable and lonely indeed. Disconnected.

What is life, even with all our skills and education, technology and achievement, family and friends? What about the people who lack all this? What do they have?

While our lives may be fueled by all the things & people I listed, the fuel will eventually burn out. In the times of utter hopelessness and loneliness, what will spur us on to continue living and seeking our purpose? I am convinced that it is GOD who will give us that enthusiasm and energy to do His will.

Connect yourself to the Life Source. Without Him, everything is meaningless. All our skills & achievements, our relationships on earth, are meaningless. They will come to an end. And if we have not God in our lives and His Spirit guiding us, how can we know how to use our skills and opportunities meaningfully, how can we know who to reach out to and build purposeful friendships?

Our life, as much as it is driven by all these external things, will ultimately be an aimless vessel floating in a windless vast ocean. 

Only God, only Jesus, the 'author and perfector of our faith' and of our lives from beginning to end, can give us this intrinsic drive and purpose and sense of destiny. Without Him, we cease to live.

Carpe diem,

Janielle =)