my footprints

Friday, November 09, 2007

stanley has been getting on my nerves lately. each time i called out to him, he would look at me and turn back to doing his own things. most of the times, he would be doing things that he should not be doing at that point of time. i was getting a little frustrated today when i decided to step up on my discipline. so i made him stand inside this square box, which was masking-taped at one corner in the class.

so he started crying and whinning.

audrey: why is stanley crying?
me: why don't you ask him why is he crying?
gordon: *to audrey* i know, because he make ms xuan angry.
charlene: *to audrey* because he didn't listen to ms xuan.
benedikt: NAUGHTY STANLEY!
chantelle: because he didn't bring his ears to school!
audrey: didn't bring ears to school? so funny!
me: haha

obviously when the children started laughing, stanley thought they were all laughing at him. he screamed and continue crying, trying to get out of the time-out corner while i held him in it.

stanley: NO! i don't like you. go away!
me: so stanley didn't bring his ears to school today and he can stay inside there.
audrey: stanley, you better stop crying. if not ms xuan will send you out of class.

so this went on for a little while before i manage to settle stanley properly. it happened in the morning though. but after their nap in the afternoon, stanley was misbehaving again and it was really on purpose. so i made him stand in the time-out corner again and he started his wailing and crying.

audrey: how come stanley is always so naughty?

gordon: *covers his ears* so noisy!

chantelle: stanley! you are really very noisy. you cannot hear that you are very noisy meh?

charlene: how come stanley don't know that he is very noisy?

audrey: i don't know!

chantelle: AIYA. because he never bring his ears to school LAH!

me: ?!

but really, i thought that this was something that i could draw parallel to in certain parts of my christian walk. sometimes i feel i'm like stanley. physically there but "didn't bring ears" to listen to God. which sometimes result in situations where i don't want to find myself in. it reminds me of simple things like going for regular church services. being there but yet not really there. perhaps it really takes more than reminders and people for the person to recognise that he/she "didn't bring ears" to listen.

just like the "you are special" play that i watched with ellen, mingchun, faith and gina yesterday. it reminded me that no matter what and no matter how, i need to always "talk to your maker". because He knows me inside out, even though it is never easy and uncomfortable to realise that God may surface certain parts of you which you don't want to see.

well, besides listening to God's voice, we too need to talk to Him. a relationship is never a one-way communication system. i come to realise that God does want to receive instead of always giving to us too. perhaps its really time to stop wallowing in my own uncontentment and selfishness.

we all need some time out on our own, to talk to our Maker in pockets of time and to still our hearts to listen to His gentle voice.

what portion of your heart does your Maker occupy that you can grant Him your time?

she pens down @ 11:16 PM --------------------------------------------------------------