Differences

Singapore, of course, is very different from the UK in many aspects. It is smaller, somewhat cleaner, hotter, and predominantly Asian. But I’ve noticed another difference. Singaporean stores sell many more motivational posters and inspirational cards.

Walk into any shopping complex (I really mean anywhere on the island) and you’ll see the stores competing with each other to see which one can sell its posters and postcards more cheaply ($2 for 4). The posters say things like, “Reach for the sky because, if you fall short, you’ll still be among the stars”, “It’s good to build castles in the air. But start working on the foundation now!”; and the cards say things like, “Don’t worry, I will pray for you”. The two main brands are Evercare, which is from Hong Kong, and Locust, which I think is a local brand.

I like them. I have two posters in my room. One says, “When the night seems to be the darkest, it means the sun will soon rise up. Press on… Don’t give up!” and the other says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not boast, it is not proud, it is not self-seeking. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.” The first one pulled me through my stressful days when I was relief teaching, marking endless loads of books, not eating properly and keeping odd hours of the night while dealing with unappreciative students. And the second one… well… reminds me of His perfect love. Because I know I’m incapable of loving like that unless He helps me to, I’d much rather appreciate how perfectly He loves me.

I think most British people would find all these posters and cards cheesy. But I love them and can spend ages looking through them.

I remember when I was doing my teaching attachment last year in a neighbourhood school. We had to do a project on what motivated students most and we came up with a survey. On it we asked them, “What motivates you most to do well?” and there were options such as competition, religion, parents, self, teachers, etc. They were asked to tick the three things that motivated them the most. Just for the fun of it, we added another option: motivational posters. They were all over the school and we just thought it would be funny to put it in as an option. We then collected our data and correlated it with the students’ results. The funny thing was that in the end we discovered that the students who performed the best found their primary motivation from posters. Of course, we just laughed about it, putting it down to probable mishandling of data. But it did make me wonder whether motivational posters are more effective than we give them credit for.

I can understand why motivational posters sell so quick. When you look at the truth all day long, you start to believe and understand it and as a result you’re able to live life according to the truth. It is helpful to continue to feed your mind with the truth. So that when circumstances are stormy, when you think you’re losing hope, you can always look up and think, “Wait a minute, that’s not the way it is. I’m not going to believe a lie!”

One of the ways in which we’re constantly being attacked is negativity. We think that everything is hopeless or that praying will not help, or we think that things are uncertain, or we have fear. But these things are lies because God says that He has a plan for us, a plan to give us hope and a future, and that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And we know that if He hears us, it will be done for us. It’s that simple! We need to get from knowing these truths to believing these truths. Please, move these simple truths from my head right into my heart.

So… pin it up and believe it. Because the truth sets you free. : )