Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Honor and Grace

What irony! If there needs to be any witness to the gentleness, wisdom and humor of God it lies here.

"as much as it hurts and he still causes you pain, know that the 7 years you spent with him have impacted him, will always impact him. and he will probably always see you as his best friend (he did when i was with him). it sucks that he takes all this casually; he does that. he did that for me too. and he probably will always do that.

you probably know him better than anyone else in the world, and you alone have the honour of being called his best friend. and he doesn't deserve to have the honour that you've given him, to keep somehow loving him all this time.

just a quick question, but is he still the same? a friend of mine bumped into him recently and said that she feels he has changed. maybe the dennis you loved and the dennis right now are not the same person, but i wldnt know, havent spoken to him in a while.

i don't really know what i hope to... achieve? with this comment. but... i just hope that you'll get over the pain that he's caused you completely, maybe not now but.. some day. because i don't think you deserve it, and he does not have the right to keep causing you so much pain. you deserve so much more, and i don't even know you. but if you're doc's princess, that means you're special. and someone that special deserves so much more.

here's wishing you and belmont all the best =) hope this wasn't too weird for you to read.... take care and God bless."

Posted by: Sarah




"Just wanted to say that i agree with what Sarah says in her first 2 paras. He told you that he still has feelings for you, even after everything. I just have this feeling that in the end, he'll probably end up proposing to you.

And yes, he's still very casual about things, and he just doesn't seem to be able to grasp the entend of what we feel as females, nor know how to make us feel better. Mr. All facts and nothing else. But he doesn't make any promises anymore, unless to God.

I think you're a wonderful person, and it would have been great to be friends with you. A bit tough with these awkward circumstances. We should just start an alumni for all the girls he leaves behind.

Bad guys hurt us, but good guys hurt us too. Gee. If anything, i've learnt in a very painful way, that human love never lasts, only God's love is eternal, and we must place our anchor and security in His love. Nothing can harm/hurt us then.

I'll pray for you and Sarah, for direction in our individual futures, true happiness, peace, healing, love, that God will choose a good marriage partner and guide our relationships, that our emotions won't get the better of us. (belmont's amazing for standing by you all this while)

If you guys are open to talk (or you wanna scold me or something)or the alumni thing (joking), you know where to find me on friendster. Feel free to leave prayer requests. God bless you both, and keep you safe.

Ephesians 3:20"

Posted by: Jasmine

I hope I do not breech any sense of personal privacy by posting these comments right on my blog. But I had to. Reading them filled me with a peace and wonder at the depth of grace that exists. The irony of having the most confusing hurts soothed by Sarah and Jasmine made me laugh while tears threatened. Here is the hand and heart of God, working in the metanarrative of my insignificant squeak of a story. Jasmine and Sarah, both of whom I tried hard and failed to do justice toward, both of whom Dennis spent the last years of our relationship with.

They turned and loved. I have been significantly humbled.

I sometimes see myself as the crazy and embittered ex-girlfriend, deepfried in anger and rancour. I'd reek from a mile away. I have flung myself helplessly into heaves of prayer "give me release" is all ask for.

Belmont stands by me, Thi comforted me, Mel smokes for me, Gladys sighs, Shu listens, Sue counsels, Sarah reads, Dustin hinted at beating him up. But my pain still remained out of reach. Throbbing in some nebulous corner of my existance that I didn't know existed. God is slowly working to bring it down and to dissapate it into the general atmostphere of life and living.

That's life you know. It makes no sense, it gives you no answers and has no qualms in taking the very definiton of life as you know it from right under your feet. But it leaves room for surprises and the very finite nature of our being gives rise to the need to reach out and, subsequently, to be reached.

Thank you Sarah. Thank you Jasmine. For reaching out to me in grace and for alleviating a bit of bitterness. Thank you for the honor of allowing me to see you beyond our relationships with Dennis. Thank you for reaffirming where I stood with him. It must be hard for you both to do this, and espeically Jasmine, I know your emotional stake still stands. The past seven years did not only build a love and attachment for Dennis, but it laid the very foundations of my identity, world view and paradigm.

This means a lot to me.

He might end up proposing to me one day? I would not be surprised if he did. No, I think I know him too well and it is almost foolish of me to rail against his casualness. I forget that the depth of emotion he has runs deeper then he knows how to handle. Soggy eyes. I have taken precautions against this possibility. I hope I never see him again.

But for now, I stand in awe of the grace betowed upon me by these two girls. It will henceforth be a little easier to get on with my life.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

phew! I was bracing myself for your anger at my intrusion, or something along those lines. Well, you posting our comments does not make it anymore public than us writing the comments on your blog itself. It's your blog and your will to do what you want. Thank you for being gracious to us too. For understanding it's not easy for us.

Dennis left us all bitter and hurting quite badly. Big crater-maker huh. i don't know exactly where he places you in his life, he does not show emotion much. He did say feelings and you have impacted him, but depth for feelings remain in question. As for me, yes i love him deeply and am very saddened by his departure. Now, i'm asking God to purify my love for him and everyone else, to love like Corinthians 13. So my love for him would be true and pure, unconditional, and i can be truly happy for him in whatever path he takes, or who he eventually chooses to be with. Long way to my goal though. My heart is still very selfish.

As you know, dennis wants to keep everyone as friends, including his exes. I try to remain objective and positive about you and sarah, as you both are innocent and fantastic people in your own right, dennis is the one who hurt us. If he's to keep us all as friends, our paths might cross again and i rather it not be so awkward. we might as well try and make the most of it, and know and understand each other better. If you like, of course.

One thing dennis says is true, trust God. We need not worry about tomorrow, only be concerned about the things of His kingdom. Seek God first and all else will be given. His motto: Matthew 6:33

Jasmine

"Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you, all things are passing, God is unchanging. Patience gains all; nothing is lacking to those who have God: God alone is sufficient." (St. Teresa of Avila)

Hannah Lim said...

Pop me an email sometime. Dennis has my address.

No, I have no reason to be angry at you. And your comments have done much to ease my pain, in a way. I have to say it amuses me to no end that it was you and Sarah who were most effective in my healing process.

Dennis is a wonderful guy, else why would we have loved him? But I have learnt that some things aren;t enough to build a marriage on (well maybe they are and this is my way to convincing myself that it all turned out for the better). I know that had he changed his mind about me in the last minute (and say, proposed), it would not negate the fact that I have lost trust and respect for him. For the way he makes decisions, for the way he lives his life. I will alway be looking over my shoulder, watching in case he makes a stupid move. And as a woman, I want to be able to submit to my husband. I cannot submit to one I cannot trust or do not respect.

And that's where half my hurt comes from. Losing respect for him.

I know Dennis wants to remain friends, but I have kept away for good reasons.

He told me in 2004, that it was pointless for him to date anyone else other then me, he would just break her heart and come back to me. When i returned and found him dating other girls, I decided to honor his word and stay away for the sake of these relationships.

Finally, I discovered that what he expressed might well be true of me too. After all the shit he dragged me through, I was still willing to give anything a shot. I no longer trust myself to be simple friends with him. Our relationship had evolved into all-or-nothing. We were too enmeshed with each other to be anything else.

So, as far as it is possible, I do not want to be in contact with him again in case it jepordizes our seperate relationships. Unless of course God has other plans (of which I am currently loathe to think of).

You needn't doubt Dennis' capacity for feeling. It is intense, it is his expression of emotion that is terribly wanting. I think he feels more then I do. I just have a bigger mouth and a sharper tongue.

I have no problems engaging with you and I don't intend for anything to be awkward. I apologise for my agressive behaviour over dinner, I had too many speculations running through my mind. I would have no qualms were our paths to cross. The only person I am avoiding is Dennis.

Oh and one more thing, there's no need for an Alumni. :) Let's not choose to be defined by another person.

Anonymous said...

haha! I think i like you already. =) Go see your friendster.

Yes, the way he does things, and makes decisions can be scary. I've been a victim of that too many times. sometimes he's so predictable, and that hurts too.
Yes, it's his expression of emotion that's lacking. He simply sees no point when the facts are so, he just accepts it and that's it. He promised God to remain single for the 2 years in australia. I, on the other hand, don't know what path to take here.

You don't have to apologise about dinner. You did what you had to do to survive it, as we all did. I'm usually quite quiet in groups i'm new to, and i had my fears for the night too.

Here's to loving God and ourselves.

jas

Anonymous said...

Sometimes when I read your blog, I think that you are writing specifically so that your ex can read it and you can torment him. The problem is that your present boyfriend might read this and be tormented himself. Perhaps it would be best to finally submit to the one who actually loves you and leave the past behind. It is more simple than you think.

Hannah Lim said...

uh whoever you are, you're right. Thank to Bonhoeffer.