1. Umbrella
   “On a rainy day, I obstruct the rain. On a sunny day, I obstruct the sun. Whether rainy or sunny, I am useful. I can also be a walking stick. I can also be used for self defence. I have multiple uses.”

Let us also be like the inbrealla which has multiple uses. But to have multiple uses, we have to learn across a wide variety of topics. 活到老学到老. Only when we talented options

One night, mother mouse brought her children to search for food. They found a lot of leftovers in a rubbish bin of a family. The mice had a feast! Suddenly, there was a frightening sound. A meow. “A cat!” The mice scattered. But one mouse wasn’t able to get away in time and was caught. When the cat was about to devour the mouse, suddenly there was a series of barks. Frightened, the cat ran away. After that, the mother mouse emerged from behind the dustbins, “I’ve already said to you. Learning another language is beneficial. Because I learnt how to bark like a dog, I saved you.”

The umbrella also said, “I shelter the rain and the sun. Who will place me above their heads?”
We should ponder on these words and learn from the umbrella to shelter others from the rain and the sun. When we do this, others will place us above them.

When we feel someone else doesn’t respect us, have we considered whether we have sheltered them from rain or sun? If we haven’t sacrificed for others, how can we expect others to respect us?

Matt 7:12
Whatever you want men to do to you, do to others as well. We want others to treat us well, but do we treat others well? If we want others to respect us, shouldn’t we show respect in the first place? Without sacrifice, how do we expect something in return? But even if we do sacrifice, we should be careful. Sometimes we receive negative feedback to the sacrifices we make. For example, the husband holds the umbrella. Because of that, the wife was shaded. This is good. But in the Cantonese saying, the husband carrying the umbrella is not so good. 妻凉 (either the wife is cool or the wife is pitiful). If the wife hold the umbrella, the husband receives shade which is good. But in Cantonese, it isn’t. Yam gong (either husband is cool or husband is pitiful).

In general, whether the husband or wife takes the umbrella is a good thing. But there’re few exceptions that are not good. That’s when the wife or husband ate bad spouses to one another. They only want the other party to serve them. Then the other party is really pitiful.

1. Snail
   “To everyone’ eyes, I carry a big burden on my back all my life. But to me, it’s a comfort and security.”

A small snail asked its mother, “Why do we need to carry this shell all our lives?”
“Because we don’t have a skeleton to support our structure. We can only crawl, and slowly. So we need this shell.”
“The caterpillars don’t have a skeleton either and they can’t crawl that fast either. Why don’t they need to carry a shell then?”
“Because caterpillars will become butterflies one day. Being in the air will protect them.”
“Earthworms also don’t have a skeleton and can’t crawl fast! And doesn’t become a butterfly! Why doesn’t it carry a shell then?”
“Because the earthworms can crawl into the ground. The earth is its protection.”

The mother snail gave good explanations but the baby snail cried.
“The caterpillar has the sky for protection and the earthworm has the ground for protection, but the snails don’t have protection and have to carry a big load.”
“The shell may be a heavy burden but it’s what God has given us to protect us.”

How? The snail’s shell is a burden to bear for a lifetime. No one wants to carry it. Some families have no burdens. They’re rich and healthy, they live well. But some families have heavy burdens. Some are poorer and lead a hard life. Some family members are of ill health and suffering. Indeed, it is a heavy burden. The snail has to carry this heavy burden its entire life. How can you say its shell is it’s protection? Snails love places that are damp and moist. When the sun shines, the snails wont be able to enjoy the warmth of the sun. The sun will scorch and hurt the snail. So when the sun is up, the snail will retreat in its shell. The burden it carries becomes it’s protection.

As Christians, the burden we carry may not be good in the eyes of men but are necessary and good in the eyes of God. Which is why Jesus demands we carry our own cross as we follow Him. The cross represents suffering. We all have our own cross to carry. Why doesn’t God take away the cross? We only focus on the burden aspect of the cross, but it also saves us. That’s why Jesus doesn’t take away the cross, He requires us to take up the cross and follow Him.

What if it’s too heavy? In reality, it shouldn’t be. Because Jesus knows our strength. The cross He has given us will never be something we cannot bear. He isn’t here to torture us. Only evil men will add to us more weight than we can bear purposefully. But Jesus means to train us so we grow and become mature. Hence He won’t add weight to us unnecessarily. But sometimes our spirit is weak. At that point in time, the burden we’re supposed to carry becomes heavy. Our hearts become disheartened. When we compare with others, we murmur. At this point of time, we need God to help us. To set a right heart, to have strength in our hearts. So we can recall how Jesus has borne His cross for us so we can carry our cross for Him. If we compete our cross to others’ cross, we’d be full or murmuring and unhappiness. But if we compare our cross to Jesus’, we’d have nothing to say. Because we’d realise our cross is relatively lighter. We may think we have no reason to carry our cross. Then how about Jesus? He didn’t need to carry His cross but willingly did so for us. So when we’re discouraged and disheartened, compare what we have to what the Lord Jesus was carrying.

Lam 3:27
“It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.”
Those who rear cattle will agree with this. If you allow the cow to run freely when it’s young, it’ll be very difficult to tame it when it’s older. If you don’t put the yoke on the buffalo when it’s young, it become difficult when they’re older. So it’s good to bear the yoke in youth.

Same for us. When our children are young, we must chastise, discipline and teach them when they’re young. If you only do so when they’re older, it may be too late. It’s easy to mould a young tree. It’s hard to bend it when it’s old, you’ll break its branches!

Hakka saying: when you’re young, you smile and let them do whatever they want. When they kick they grandfather, you say, “Wah Bruce Lee!” We think it’s cute. But we think wrongly. The child will think it’s permissible. When they’re older and are unhappy, the grown up child kicks you.

Going through training is painful. Some mothers cry after disciplining the child and causing the child to cry.

If we only smile at the child when he’s young, we’ll cry when he’s old.

The snail also says, “Because I carry a heavy burden, I can’t crawl fast. But I can slowly but surely ready my destination.”

One time, a young snail was crawling on the wall. The butterfly flew by and asked, “Why are you climbing so high despite carrying such a heavy burden?”
“I want to see the other side of the wall!”
“Sounds good…but the wall is so high. How long will you take?”
“As long as I keep crawling, I will reach it!”

The spirit of the snail; the spirit of perseverance. It doesn’t care about the jeerings of others. It doesn’t care that the obstacle is big. It persevered and soldiers on. As long as it doesn’t stop or slideback, we long as it doesn’t give up, one day, it will arrive at its destination.

In our lives, do we meet with great problems? It’s okay if we meet with small problems. But what if we have many big problems?

Let’s remind ourselves of the spirit of the snail. Continue on our journey and don’t give up. We go faster than the snail. President Lincoln’s success was because he has the spirit of the snail. He said, “I walk slowly. But I won’t go backwards.”

As Christians, we should adopt the spirit of the snail too. We don’t need to walk fast. But we have to work hard to continue walking forward.

Phil 3:13-14
(Read)
Sounds easy. But Paul had a difficult journey before saying this. The problems and obstacles he faced were unimaginably difficult.

2 Cor 11:23ff
Read these verses. The more you read about what Paul went through, the more painful your heart will be. If you went through what Paul did, you’d understand what he means.
“One thing I do, forget the things behind and press forward to what’s ahead.”

The difficulties he faced are far more and severe than what we’ve gone through. And he didn’t receive special grace or treatment. We have the misconception that the more we give up for Jesus, the more grace we will have, making our road ahead easier.

Would you claim you have given up more than Paul? He given up so much and sacrificed so much. His journey was much more difficult than ours. He suffered more than us.

Yet he tells us, “One thing I do. Forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to what’s ahead.”

We don’t need to sprint in our journey of faith, but we need to continue walking. Our journey of faith isn’t dependent on speed but on whether we continue to the end.

In the future, we may see those in front of us behind and those behind ahead. If we’re ahead, we must be watchful and vigilant. If we’re lagging behind, don’t be discouraged. Ask God for help to press forward to continue this. Then we’ll be like what Jesus says: those behind will be ahead

Snail poem:
Aiya sounds so much nicer in Chinese 😭
(A backpacker goes on a journey. He has no home but the world is his home.
The snail lives a very happy life because it doesn’t care where it is. As long as it has shelter, it’s enough.)
Can we have such a carefree outlook in life like the snail?

We appear to be much better off than poorer people, but can we have the same perspective when compared to the richer people?

If we can be like the snail carrying a shell on its back that’s why it can go out, the world is its home, then we can live our lives with gratitude.

Jesus says, “The birds of the air have nests. The foxes have holes. But the son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

We have beds. We have food. Why else should we murmur?

Another analogy of the snail:
God asked me to take a snail for a walk. The snail moved with all its might. But it could only inch forward. I slowed down my steps so much. “God, why did you ask me for a snail for a walk? Why am I so unfortunate? Others bring horses for a walk!” But the “I” in this story doesn’t want to go against God’s word and still continues. Then he smelt the fragrance of the flowers and the sound of the insects he enjoys the gentle evening breeze. He looked above and saw the stars, all winking at him. At this point in time, he greatly treasured this experience. He never went through this before. He’s travelled on this road so many times before but had never experienced this before. Suddenly he realised: God asked me to take a snail for a walk. But actually it’s the snail that took me for a walk, allowing me to experience what I never experienced before.

What can we learn from this?
We live in a fast paced society. We just brush past each other. We act like strangers even if we know the other party. At crossroads or MRT stations, everyone’s facial expression is frustrated. The environment we live in influences us; what we think about and how we think about things.

We must learn to take a snail for a walk. This means to slow our pace down. Then we’ll discover the things we have passed by in the past. Try to let go of the frustration and the stress. Then we’ll discover the simple joys of life.

Not only should we take the snail out for a walk. Our children are the snails we have to take for a walk. Even when things are urgent, they show no sense of urgency. Even when you’re anxious, they show no anxiousness at all. You lose your patience and scold them. But actually our children manifest the most beautiful side of life. Their simple thoughts make us laugh. They may be naughty but if we pause, we’d wonder at their innocence. Even if they’re mischievous, their heart is kind. When a man was pushing a cart, a little child went over to help him.

Our thoughts are too much and too complex. Although children may seem naive, consider whether we have lost the kindheartedness and innocence they have. While young, both are naked but laugh and are innocent when they look at each other.

Sometimes when the speaker is sad, he’ll go to YouTube to listen to the laughter of babies and he’ll feel better.

We know how to laugh, but we laugh in a very artistic way. Especially when someone is taking a photo/video of us.

We don’t really know how to laugh. We look nice when we laugh but it’s not really genuine(?)

Children also have a very innocent heart. When they do wrong they cry but they still say sorry (softly).

That’s why Jesus says to us, “Unless you turn back and be like a little child, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

This doesn’t mean to be naughty and unreasonable like children. But to manifest the wholesomeness they have; kindness and humility; laughing out without holding back.

At first we thought God wants us to bring our children along. But later we realise it is our children bring us along. Our children help us to realise the original form of life. To do this, we must slow down. Relax. Don’t tense up. Turn back to be like little children.

Not only children, many people and things around us can be the snail we have to bring along. Some people just make our blood boil. But actually these people can bring us reminders or encouragement. This depends on whether we’re willing to take our along.