God and I

Teik Peng sent me a story about children in an elementary Catholic school. Children were lining up for lunch. At one end of the table where the tray of apples was, a nun had left a note : Take only one, God is watching. At the other end of the table where a tray of chocolate chip cookies was, a child had left a note: Take all you want. God is watching the apples. I was reminded instantly of a couple who are teachers in a secondary school. The pair apparently had stepped on some toes. Someone was just not happy with the husband and wife team and had threatened to sue them for something they had purportedly done. That really filled them with fear as that could mean they would lose their job and even pensions. In desperation, the couple, being the pious Christians they were, resorted to praying. That night when they took out the Bible and opened the pages, lo! They landed right on Psalm 64 : Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer, preserve my life from fear of the enemy, Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity. Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words...The couple were amazed; God was talking about their problem! Strange, only now do I have this notion that when God is talking to someone about his or her problem, He couldn't possible be talking to you or me about your or my problem. Buddhists who do not hinge their life on God probably would not know what I am talking about...