Don’t waste my pain
Thank you Straits Times and Joyce Lim for the article “One gang fight, 2 broken mums” in the Sunday Times, yesterday. (Reproduced here on Jarkarta Globe)
Thank you Mrs Ng for sharing the story from your perspective as a mother. When I first read the news about Darren Ng, the one thing that struck me was that he was a church-going Christian. As a Christian family who endeavors to bring up godly children, I was curious about who this boy was, and what he was like, and I was glad to finally find out.
The Ng family is similar to ours. We too are a close-knit, upper-middle class family, and the children have been going to church with us every week since they were a month old. We serve actively in church, we pray at meal times, and we talk about God all the time.
This is one of our family devotion times 🙂
Daddy is playing the guitar and Samuel is enjoying it 🙂
Our boys are cheeky like Darren and we enjoy the family.
We were celebrating Samuel’s birthday at cell group meeting.
We read bible verses and pray for people during mealtimes.
This week, I heard two statements made by friends. One quoted this bible verse “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (2 Corinthians 10:12). The second is this statement “There is no other way but to get down on your knees and pray”. None of the statements were made in reference to parenting nor children, but they are perfect for this lesson which I am learning.
The story about Darren humbles me. It reminds me not to be too proud or over-confident about my parenting skills nor the state of our family relationships. It reminds me again, the one thing I always tell parents – there is no guarantee. We always do our best for the best outcome in life. However, there is no guarantee of success. Our lives and our children’s lives are in the hands of God. We must pray, and ultimately our children’s future is determined by their own choices.
There is much a parent can, and should do, but we must also learn to let go. Mrs Ng understands that truth well, I believe. She said that “Life is about choices. My son made the wrong choice… I chose to live..”
My words will surely sound empty to the family, but I am thankful that Darren had a family who truly cared for him, that he had many years of lovely memories, that he had a dream, and his family supported him in it.
Samuel brought this back from church just yesterday.
It talks about love and acceptance.
The interview ended with the quote from Mrs Ng “Don’t let my pain go to waste”. Thank you, Mrs Ng, for allowing us all to reflect, learn and grow from your pain.
