A Beautiful Mind

"Small people talk about other people,
Average people talk about things,
Great people talk about ideas."

I believe you've heard of this quote at least once. I'm not sure who mentioned it originally, but the words pierce right through your mind. No? The first thing that comes to my mind was, 'Wow! I'm such a small person.' Because I talk about other people A LOT. I talk about my parents when I'm with my sisters. I talk about my siblings when I'm with my parents. I talk about celebrities like.. countless times. Of course I also talk about other things, which means I can also be classified as average people, but I rarely talk about ideas. Hmmm…

Ironically, I'm going to talk about a person - ha ha ha - whom I've known about two or three years (apparently I am a 'small' person - but I'm not gossiping here! Maybe there are bad small person and good small person, I'm the good one *winkwink*). He's one of the guys that you're not going to pay much attention to until he starts to speak. He's very clever, creative, multi-talented (he can play any musical instrument), charming - to both girls and boys, I'm telling you, nobody dislikes him -, believes in God, has a great sense of humor, a hard worker, and he's only three years older than me! He's sooo great I'm beginning to think he's a genius. Unfortunately, ladies, he's already taken.

Anyways, we had a deep-almost-philosophical-kind-of conversation and as always, he stunned me with most of his statements. As a matter of fact, he's the one who reminds me of the quote above. He's the kind of guy who jokes around all the time. But he can also be serious and I think that's what makes him interesting. At one point I asked him, "Does God make you a better person?"

"He can't make me. I turned to Him to be a better person."

That was his answer. And I don't know if it's my hormone or I'm just teary, I almost broke into tears just by reading his words (Ok, you might think I was overreacting. I thought the same. I think my hormones played bigger role here). Maybe because I never thought that way before. I always want to be the best for God. I want to do the best for Him. Sometimes I think I try really hard to get His attention. But I was focusing way too much on 'I' and not Him.

I heard a similar thing at church last Sunday.

"Don't work hard to give a 'payback' to God. Give your offerings as the sign of your gratitude towards God."

The culture of my family teaches us to reciprocate to our parents. It is considered good to work hard and give back what your parents had given to you, to take care of them in their old days. But just as God, I don't think my parents want me to regard this as an obligation. Of course I am obliged to do that. But again, just as God, I think my parents want me to do all those things as my way of showing my love towards them.

It is very important to be able to see things from different perspective, so that in turn, one can gain or choose a better perspective in life. We should think less about ourselves and start to shift our focus on God. I was really surprised to read my friend's words the other day. It got me realize something. He always gave his all in participating in church activities. He never complain - well he did, but not much I guess. And not surprising, his ideas and creations are always great.

Everything he said and done kind of left me - and I believe others - feel inferior to him. I told him that. And surprisingly he was surprised to hear my confession. Another thing about him is that even though he talks a lot, he doesn't talk about his life, or his past, or his stuff. That makes him a mystery to me. I told him I am an open book, but his book is sealed.

"Maybe I'm not a book. Maybe I'm just an idea, waiting for someone to turn me into a book."

And he was right. And with his answer an imaginary lightbulb pop up on my mind. Not everyone has to be as creative as he is. It is written in the bible that everyone has their own role. Each role supports each other in creating the body of Christ. He can be an idea. Or a pen. Or an ink. But he doesn't have to be a book. I don't have to be a book. I don't have to be an idea if he is an idea. Maybe I'm a writer. And I think one of the reasons why I feel inferior to him at times is because I admire him. I want to have his abilities. He seems to have it all.

But then again, as it is written in the bible, no matter how small or insignificant your role might seem, your existence is very important for the success of the bigger role. If you have an idea and a book but you don't have a pen, then you can't put your ideas into writings. If you don't have a good writer, your idea might seem boring and uninteresting.

Most people stop trying because they're scared. Scared of the responsibilities, or the risks. Or sometimes they think they're just not good enough. You can call it lack of confidence. Whatever it might be, they shouldn't have thought that way. We shouldn't have thought that way. God has abundant of blessings that He'd love to give to us. It is our faith - faith to accept or decline - that determines our readiness in accepting His blessings. His abundance has always been there, whether we want to accept it or not.

"What's the opposite of love? It's not hate, it's indifference.
If you hate, you still have some sort of feeling towards that something.
But if you're indifferent, you feel nothing."

That's another thing that he told me. At that time I could only think, "Gee, this grinch is brilliant!" Now that I've spent a few days thinking about it, I must say, he's still brilliant. I really wish I can say something clever like that. But here I am, talking about 'other people' in my blog, quoting someone else's words. I'd love to have people quoting me, seriously.

Anyway back to the topic. What I want to say is, he's very unique. He's one of the few interesting people I've ever met in my 22 years being alive. I mean I know some people who are older than him and they don't have even half of what he's having. But the most interesting part about him is his heart. I think he has a heart of a giver. I don't know he got there, but he's surely on the right track. He always gives his 100% in everything. At least that's how I see him.

Imagine if everyone in church gives their all just like him. Don't think about the failure. Or the risk. Or the responsibilities. Just think about God. And what they can do to give thanks to Him. Imagine if this doesn't happen only in church but in every community. It's going to be much more legendary than anything in this world.

He's a person with a beautiful mind.

I think it's because he turns to God to be better. Why don't we all start doing the same?

:)




PS. He's not perfect. He always tortures with his words. Human.. Ha!