Milestones and Mirrors

Read in Malayalam

Reflections from the Road

Philipose Vaidyar

Over the last three weeks- i.e., 21 days, our lives have been packed with travel and transition. From hospital consultations and large church gatherings to visiting relatives and attending camps, the journey covered long stretches. The highlight was reconnecting with old colleagues after 35 years since leaving UBS—listening to stories of ministry, struggle, and joy.

We are deeply thankful to God for His protection, for the hosts, and for the coordinators who made this reunion possible. As I reflected on these different landscapes and stories, I felt compelled to scribble down a few points of learning and relearning. I hope these reflections enrich you as much as they have grounded us.

35 Years Later: 21 Lessons on Life, Leadership, and Learning

After returning to our 1988 roots at UBS, we’ve realized that a gathering of old friends isn't just a reunion; it’s a mirror. It’s not about titles. It’s about the truth.

• The Network Tax: Connection isn’t automatic; it’s an investment. We must take the initiative to stay updated. Knowing one another again is always worth the effort.
• Our Calling is a Fingerprint: It is unique. We must be obedient to our own path. The moment we try to imitate someone else’s commitment, we lose our own.
• The Perception Gap: We can be 100% unbiased and still be 100% misunderstood. We cannot control someone else's narrative.
• The Competence Trap: As we grow in skill, we must remember: our efficiency never outruns the inherent value of the person standing next to us.
• The "Quiet" Impact: Our achievements don't need a PR team. We should let people witness the impact; it’s more powerful when they say it than when we do.
• Being vs. Doing: Actions speak louder, but character speaks longest. We should let our "being" carry more weight than our "saying."
• The Golden Hierarchy: Considering others better than ourselves is the ultimate pursuit. Considering ourselves better than others is the ultimate disaster.
• The Ridicule Rebound: Using every opportunity to tease others is a high-interest debt. We aren’t "winning" a conversation; we’re losing a relationship.
• The "Always Right" Fallacy: Making others wrong doesn't make us right; it just makes us lonely. Intelligence seeks truth; insecurity seeks to win.
• Dominance is Not Strength: Trying to dominate or impress others is a sign of a fragile ego. Our job is to make people feel taller, not smaller.
• The Impression Trap: The harder we try to show we are "much better," the less respect we earn. People are drawn to authenticity, not inflated resumes.
• The Ethics of Abundance: We must be considerate; just because something is free doesn't mean we should use it up. We think of the queue and never waste what others may be deprived of.
• The Mental and Physical Gym: We commit to regular exercise, learning a new skill daily, and engaging in reading and writing to keep our brains sharp.
• The Pharmacy of the Plate: We eat for the stomach, not the mouth. We must eat food like medicine, or we may end up eating medicine like food.
• The Rule of Simplicity: We shouldn't try too many varieties at once—in dressing, eating, or drinking. Simplicity is a discipline.
• The Relationship Portfolio: We invest in people. We make others comfortable by taking a genuine interest in their lives.

The Bottom Line:

The Lord opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. We must humble ourselves under His mighty hand; He is the only one who can lift us up in due time.   ".... All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.' Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." (1 Peter 5:5-6)

Read in Malayalam

 

Personal Profile and Pages: https://sites.google.com/view/philipose-create

See the New Release, Trekking the Tribal Trail Click Here 

My Focus on People Groups 

https://sites.google.com/view/focusonpeople 

My YouTube Channel 

The Fourth Egg and a New Click

Reversing the Lens of Matthew 6:26

Philipose Vaidyar

Read in Malayalam 

Prologue

The Lens Flipped

What happens when you travel the same road in reverse? The scenery is familiar, yet the perspective is entirely new. We often revisit the Sermon on the Mount for our own comfort, specifically the comforting logic of Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air... they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

For generations, we have used these birds as a mirror to soothe our own anxieties. But recently, in the quiet of my garden, the lens flipped. I began to wonder: instead of looking at the birds to see how God provides for us, what if we look at them to see how we might provide for them on behalf of the Creator?

If the Lord has provided for us through various ways, means, and people, why can’t we be the "incidentals" in the arms of a providing God? To be made in His image is to possess His nature, and His nature is inherently generous. We are not meant to be merely the destination of His grace, but the conduit. When we choose to protect a nest or delay a harvest, we are no longer just reading the Word; we are participating in it. We move from being the birds who are fed to being the hands that ensure the feeding happens.

Our faith is fully realized when our eyes see what God wants to see, and our hands touch what the Creator wants to protect. To friends or foes, people in need around us, and even in the small, limited circles of our own gardens, we participate with Him by being on the giving end—protecting the "lesser" things He loves.

While my hands were busy painting the silhouettes of birds and the words of Matthew 6:26 onto a bamboo platter, a pair of Jungle Babblers was busy manifesting that very verse in the leaves of a nearby Nenthran plantain. It shifted my focus from the art of representing the birds of the air to the quiet, sacrificial discipline of sustaining them. 

If you read my earlier post, please ignore the following:

  ><(((((">  <"))))))><    ><(((((">  <"))))))><    ><(((((">  <"))))))><    

Between Bananas and Babblers

A Lesson in Patience, Life, and Faith

Philipose Vaidyar

Read in Malayalam 

Sometimes, in the quiet corners of a garden, life asks us to pause and choose—not between right and wrong, but between what we see and what we value.

Thirteen months ago, I wrote in length about the noisy fellowship of jungle babblers in our garden. I had watched them closely then, learning their rhythm, their quarrels, and their companionship.

(The blog link is here: https://pvarticles.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-guava-tree-chattering-jungle.html ) It must be their hatching season again.

A few days ago, I noticed a nest tucked among the bananas between the broad leaves at the head of a nenthran plantain in our garden, very close to our home. The banana bunch hangs full and heavy, ready for harvest. These bananas are not accidental fruit—they are the result of a year’s labor: bringing in the bulbs and planting it rightly, manuring the soil, watering through dry days, patiently attending the plant through changing seasons. Every cluster carries the weight of care, patience, and expectation.

Yet my eyes were drawn not to the fruit, but to a small woven cradle hidden in green. I wondered—was it new, abandoned, or active?

Last evening, I noticed a pair of jungle babblers in a nearby tree, alert and watchful. This morning, I placed an aluminum A-ladder near the plantain. As I approached, one bird flew away, confirming what my heart already suspected—the nest was active. I could not see clearly from below, so I climbed. Inside lay three eggs. Quiet. Undemanding. Full of possibility.

The ladder has since been removed and kept away, though it still rests elsewhere in the garden—a silent witness to that close encounter.

Now I stand beneath the bending plantain head and ask myself:

Is the whole bunch of bananas more valuable than three unseen lives?
Are those three eggs—warmly guarded by their mother, tiny, fragile—less important than fruit that represents a year of labor, care, and patience? Dry leaves coloured babblers often go unnoticed while rustling among leaves on the ground.  

The jungle babblers themselves are ordinary in color, blending almost perfectly with the earth and dry leaves, yet extraordinary in purpose. Life stirs in hidden ways, asking for attention we often give only to what is visible, tangible, or productive.

Over the past few days, I have also been painting on a handcrafted bamboo basin—picked up by a friend during his travels. His family felt I could do a better job and turn it into a meaningful wall hanging with a message. So I worked carefully on bird silhouettes across its curved surface and almost finished the piece with the verse:

“Look at the birds of the air… Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26).

How gently ironic that while I was shaping painted birds into art, real birds were entrusting their future within reach of my ladder.

Can I carefully relocate the entire nest to the branches of a nearby tree? Will the mother return if I disturb her sacred work? Should I leave the bananas unharvested for a season, allowing life to complete its delicate circle, even though it is the result of a year of labor?

Creation now places before me a quiet test—not of productivity, but of compassion; not of ownership, but of stewardship.

Sometimes faith is not proved in grand declarations, but in whether we pause long enough to protect something smaller than our plans. Sometimes the question is not about what we can take, but about what we are willing to leave untouched. Sometimes the most ordinary things—fallen leaves, silent eggs, hidden nests—carry the future.

So I wait. The bananas hang. The nest rests. The mother returns and settles again. The ladder is gone, but everything remains a quiet witness to a choice between harvest and hatching, between visible reward and unseen life.

I warmly invite you to leave your reflections in the comments below. What would you do?
The harvest—or the hatching?
The fruit earned through a year of care—or the future hidden in three silent eggs? 

Read in Malayalam (< Click) 

Personal Profile and Pages: https://sites.google.com/view/philipose-create

See the New Release, Trekking the Tribal Trail Click Here 

My Focus on People Groups 

https://sites.google.com/view/focusonpeople 

My YouTube Channel