by Sunil Bali, 05-10-14

The plastic statues on wedding cakes always have unblemished skin, perfect smiles and not a hair out of place. They also have no life, and after the wedding end up in the rubbish bin.

Plastic people, plastic flowers and plastic cutlery are never as good as the real thing.

When we’re born we know we’re good enough. We quickly master difficult skills like walking and talking. But then we’re continuously compared to others, which drains us of our innate sense of joy, self-confidence and self belief.

The years of trying to live up to the expectations of other people, and fitting into our prescribed role in society take their toll, leaving us in urgent need of a faith lift.

It’s when we forget about fitting in with other people and instead focus on fitting into our own skin, that synchronicity, serendipity and the people who matter knock on our door.

Life has a habit of uncovering phonies, rewarding authenticity and restoring our innate splendor.

When I wake up, look in the mirror at my 52 year old face and see a few wrinkles, grey hair and bags under my eyes, I remind myself of the words of the supermodel Cindy Crawford who said, "Even I don’t wake up looking like Cindy Crawford."

Ps. Hat tip to Alan Cohen for the inspiration

Humour

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables when a voice in the dark said, "Jesus knows you’re here."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, turned his flashlight off, and froze. When he heard nothing more, he shook his head and continued.

Just as he was putting a laptop into his bag, he heard "Jesus is watching you."

Startled, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

"Did you say that?" he hissed at the parrot.

"Yes", the parrot confessed, who then squawked, "I’m just trying to warn you that he’s watching you."

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who are you to warn me?"

"Moses," replied the bird.

"Moses?" the burglar laughed. "What kind of people would name a bird Moses?"

"The kind of people who would name a Rottweiler Jesus."

 

Sunil

www.sunilbali.com