Posted in reflections, tagged mentors, political savvy, professional network on December 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Photo by dave forbes
By Debbie Gin (originally written for ATS Colloquy Online)
For most of us, mentoring is a mixed bag. While we may have had rewarding and life-giving mentoring experiences, we also lament those mentoring experiences where expectations were not met and there was nothing new to be learned. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged disappointment, health, hope, singleness on December 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Photo by Nishanth Jois
By Ann Chen
It says in Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
I’ve always thought about this particular proverb in one particular way: When we hope for something, and it doesn’t happen, our hearts are sad. When it does, we find joy and life. Who of us hasn’t had moments of disappointment as well as celebrations, and consequently, also our share of emotional peaks and valleys? (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged gender-based exclusion, patriarchy, wholeness on December 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Photo by Tim Green
By Young Lee Hertig
My daughter, Raia, is scheduled to undergo a gallbladder removal surgery at the young age of 24. My immediate reaction is to wonder whether her doctor has exhausted all other options available.
Seen from an Eastern lens, I tend to be skeptical of the more surgery-prone Western medical approach. The reductionist lens (epistemology) of the West tends to see one leaf without checking the whole tree or the forest. By contrast, the non-western epistemology is holistic which sees the forest before checking the leaf.
My grandfather practiced acupuncture and herbal medicine and therefore, I am much more rooted in the Eastern medical wisdom than the Western. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged calling, ordination, vocation on December 9, 2014| 2 Comments »
Photo by Dhilung Kirat
By Eun Joo Angela Ryo
Last October marked my one year anniversary of completing the work required by my denomination to seek my first call for ordination. After discernment meeting after another, after interview after interview, after four grueling ordination exams, and after three long years of full-time seminary, I was finally deemed worthy to be ordained in the PCUSA provided that I find a church or organization that would ordain me into ministry. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged finding one's voice, not being a burden, wholeness on December 2, 2014| 1 Comment »
Photo by liz west
By Joy Wong
Back in college, I remember participating in an icebreaker activity where everyone had to name a fruit that they wanted to be and say why. We went around the circle, and when it came to my turn, I said, “a seedless clementine.” The reason? “Because they’re easy to peel, easy to eat (because they’re seedless), and sweet.” (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged being in the present on November 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Photo by Nikos Koutoulas
By Chloe Sun
When and what is your “Golden Era”? Is this era in the past, present, or future? The phrase suggests someone in the present, looking back to a certain time period in the past, crowning that time period as “the Golden Era.” Perhaps compared with the present, that time period in the past seems the most beautiful, glittering, and unsurpassable. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged dreams, perseverance, vocation on November 18, 2014| 2 Comments »
Photo by Kanko*
By Wendy Choy-Chan
Last night, I watched a documentary about an 85-year-old Japanese sushi chef, Jiro. He has worked non-stop for 75 years, from being an apprentice to running his own sushi restaurant, doing the same routine day in and day out. What keeps him going?
At the beginning, it was work or nothing. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged comfort, motherhood on November 11, 2014| 1 Comment »
Photo by Kenny Loule
By Tina Teng-Henson
Psalm 131
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.
Posted in reflections, tagged ageism, youth on November 4, 2014| 2 Comments »
Photo by Steve wilson
By Liz Chang
Only recently have I become quick to notice the number (read, lack) of people who look like me at conferences and professional events. At the most recent professional conference I attended for work, I spotted no more than three or four Asian Americans out of over 300 people present. (more…)
Posted in reflections, tagged saving face, shame on October 28, 2014| 2 Comments »
Photo by Luigi Morante
By Dorcas Cheng-Tozun
When I started managing Chinese National employees while living in the industrial city of Shenzhen, China, the biggest challenge to my cross-cultural relationships was not language, as I expected it to be. Nor was it my ignorance of Chinese labor law or typical business practices. It was, to my great surprise, the concept of face. (more…)
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