Abiding Grace: The Joy of Getting Closer

In my younger days, I loved to read as much as I could.  I’d enjoyed being submerged in thoughts of wise people.  In my innate being, I wanted to know more about them, personally.

Let me confessed little bit, I’d follow few communist whose writing pattern had become an obsession to me.  I’d imitate their styles during my school days.  More than the content in their writing, it is their style of expressing, I had enjoyed.

A child getting closer and knowing more

We all enjoyed learning new things, I hope, for which writers or columnist became our channel for getting useful information and resources.

Few years had passed, when I got to know more about their ideologies and personal ethics, I stopped following some of them. I am no more a huge fan of them.  Why?  Because, only in my perception, I know them enough to the extent to even dislike them.

That being said, there are few reasons – I have become more critical of them.  And I remained there, to be among their faultfinders, before I’ve moved on.

Now, getting to know more and getting closed are quite similar yet dissimilar hugely.  And as you see, getting to know more of someone does not end in being getting close, somehow or never.

In the affairs of our so-called ‘love life or romance’, we can be attracted to someone before knowing them as much as we wanted to.  It can led to a spark between two different people meeting in the stages of life – infatuation.

There are some who are unable to tolerate and enjoyed their incompatibility, which gradually let them to split despite their past commitments to each other.  Failed partnership, failed marriage, failed relationship, or whatever name we called them.

In reality, our getting to know more must have led us to being getting closer.  However, it can hit rock bottom and blew wide open otherwise.  There’s nothing as such ‘an incompatibility-proof’ in all matters.

What is next?  Being unable to get closer because of the ‘I know you’ attitude, jealousy plays a spoiler.  When we felt not closed enough for few moments, our innate evil owner could creep in, destroying everything we had.

This critical view of fault finding can turn into compassion! One can take joy in dealing with incompatibility.  When compassion creeps in, criticisms can turn us into being closer.

One thing, I must tell you, in the love of God poured out and made available in the blood of Jesus Christ, all things are made possible in His might.

Remember all the divisive barriers and personal strongholds were crushed on the Cross of Calvary, in His abiding grace.

Apostle Paul urged the believers, of Philippians, to let their knowledge and insights must draw them closer to the resurrected Christ.  When he wrote to them, in Philippians 1:9,

“And this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.”

Our God, always, remained close in His abiding grace. The more we know the more we get closer or want to get closer instead.

Unlike other personalities and existing creatures of God, we could be as close as Christ Jesus, and as much as we wanted to.  His arm is always open to anyone. Let me end herewith;

To know more of Christ is to become closer to Him, day by day!

Seven Lessons to Learn from the Kite Runner

In the city where we now lived, kite-flying has been a common sight as the Independence Day of India is approaching.  Young men and children throng the few open spaces available in the city.

Kites soaring in the sky

The country’s artist and composers are hugely inspired by the man-made flying object – the Kite.  The Hindi word ‘Udaan’, which can be loosely translated in its Verb form as ‘to soar, to fly or flying’ has been mostly associated with positive inspirations.

In villages and country-side, there are lots of people who do not have the chance to get a glimpse of the modern airplanes.   Although most of fed ourselves, sleep and enjoyed the luxury of the flying object.  For many, it is still a distant dream.

One evening and as usual, we were strolling for our evening walk in the park nearby.  There are few boys flying a kite but two boys catch my attention as I’d sit down in the corner and watch them enjoying.

Kite Runner enjoying the moment

By their appearance, one seems to be younger who follow the command of the older boy.  Orientation of understanding the hierarchy doesn’t seem to be needed, or they already it, that I don’t know.  However, they are blending quite well.  They work together like a good team.

And as I watched them, their effort paid off after several attempts.  They are running the kite with excitement as the kite began to soar higher and higher.  In gaiety, they looked around their friends proudly.  It is hard to put in words, how happy they when they saw the kite soaring, from their very own hands.  It is a great achievement for them.

Now they wanted to do something by winding the reel, as they are confident their kite wouldn’t simply go down.  They tangled the reel with the nearby kite and successfully cut the reel of another kite.  The other kite runner eventually lost control of his kite, which started to dwindle in the sky following the current of the wind.  They are nor more connected.

As darkness gradually descended, the boys are hesitant to let go of their flying kite.  They simply don’t want to take down the flying kite.  I saw them tying the reel in one of the bench so that the kite will soar on its own.  Now they headed towards the gate of the park, as it was time for them to go home.

They had just reached the gate, when they came back running.  At this instance, I could see their dilemma and enquired their next step.  The boys are shivering as they felt too connected. And they told me, they are afraid it might get lost or either way it might not fly for long before it was grounded by the wind.  More so, someone might take it home, they said.

So they took down the flying kite slowly, handled with care, and took it home.  Safely in their arms, they held the kite when they make their way out of the park.  In the process, it can be seen they have great pleasure in taking home their favorite possession.

Several thoughts strike me as I make my way out of the park too:

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One, it is in our natural instinct to be wanting to soar one day, at least achieved something, like the other creatures of God.  Some of us succeeded while others did not.  It is in the hands of God.

Two, in everything there needs to a leader and it emerges out when needed.  A guide, who provided valuable insights and a shoulder to cry on, when needed.

Three, we tend to hurt someone nearby when achieving and enjoying our goals, whether knowingly or unknowingly.  Four, to our God we are His prized possession saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.  He takes pride in us being in Him.

Five, our God full of grace, wanted to stay connected with His creature, in this context, like the Kite Runner.  Six, our God would never leave us midway in our journey.  He let us enjoy the soaring  and He will take care of each one of us.

Last and more importantly, when our flying time was over, when our journey comes to an end, Our God will take us home safely in His loving arms.  Especially, to those who believed in the salvation through his own Son!

Abiding Grace: The Joy of having Visitors

Few weeks ago, our relatives visited us.  In the city where we now lived, we have few relatives.  When they can spare time to visit us we were really happy and excited.

The children are busy playing their games together.  It was a good feeling for them to get to know each other.  For the parents, it was a good time share life as we faced it, which could provide us valuable lessons to take care for the future.

We are happy because we have someone who loves spending time with us.  The conversations could be endless as we jumped from one topic to another.  Moreover, when we have the chance to meet old friends and old neighbors, we have so many things to let out.

Visitors in the Living Room

Time for Visitation:

Time for visitations cannot be bought. We cannot coerce someone to visit us either.  It is a priceless experience.  To the visitors during my hospital stay, I am more than grateful.  Yet due to my health conditions, I am unable to talk to them that time.

In our hard times, God had sent his people, in His abiding grace, to help us in prayers even inside the hospital.  When in grief, the presence of visitors and relatives make the suffering a bit easier.  Theeface of God, for comfort, can be seen in the face of our visitors and the warmth can be felt too.

Further, let me broadly classify visitors into two: the uninvited visitors and the invited visitors.

The Uninvited Visitors:

The other name for uninvited visitors could be ‘the crashers’ in weddings and personal events. First, let’s talk about the ‘Gate crashers’.  A  Gate Crasher is a person who attends some event or social affair without being invited or without having proper credentials to get in.  Some do it to gain popularity while some gate crashed to disrupt the atmosphere of an event or party.

Second, Wedding Crashers must be the one who are mostly unwelcome.  Wedding crashers can be chaotic and unpredictable.  If you have already watched the Hollywood movie ‘Wedding Crashers’ and its sequel, you already knew it.

Third, having visitors like the ‘Dupree’ of the Hollywood movie ‘You, me and Dupree’ can be annoying at times.  However, it can be useful in some way or the other.  Our toleration level might get boosted.

Above all, visitors unannounced can create nuisance although the intention and purpose might be good.   And unwanted situation could be saved by letting our visits known before hand.

The Invited Visitors:

“My Lord, if I have found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant,” Abraham pleaded the three men standing by the terebinth tree of Mamre.  They obliged and, in short, he fed them.  The three men promised to return in time.  They were on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah.

They told Abraham, that, “Sarah your wife shall have a son.”  After which, the three men rose from there, and looked towards Sodom.  (Genesis 18) Thus, the due promise of Abraham becoming a mighty nation came true.  Since he had invited the three visitors in his tent, he was blessed.  To be noted here; Abraham invited them.

Two, two men were walking on the Road to Emmaus.  They were lonely and sad; they believed that the Messiah would redeem Israel here on earth.  But Jesus Christ was crucified before their very eyes.  Then, a stranger joined them.

They invited Him saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, the day is far spent.”  And He went in to stay with them.  He sat with them at the table.  He blessed and broke the bread before their very eyes.  And behold, it was their master, Jesus Christ who had been resurrected from the death. (Luke 24:13-31)

Now, consider this: should we let ourselves to be left annoyed by the uninvited visitors or invited a visitor before it is late?

In this lonely world, should we invite Jesus Christ; He is ready to abide with us.  He would warmth our heart, filled our emptiness and makes us whole again.

Christ has unlimited time for visitations yet we have to take decision and invite Him.  Since our eyes are opened – knowing good and evil – after what had happened in the Garden of Eden.  In other words, since the time we have been deceived.

On our part, it is our duty to invite Him; to not pass on by and feed us from His own hand.  Thereafter, He would get us filled and work in us, according to our needs.

Familiar Path: Going with the Flow

We tooked off our clothes in a hurry.  The sun has come up and it’s already noon.  One after another, we jumped into the river.  This is our favorite recreational activities during our childhood days.  We are very much familiar with the river.

Sometimes we are in groups, the other times we are with few selected friends.  Especially on Sunday afternoon, when almost all the children in our area are free, we enjoyed a lot in the river bank.

The most enjoyable days are when the current of the river becomes stronger – some days after heavy rain.  During monsoon seasons, due to adequate rainfall, the river current has always been stronger.  For a regular swimmer, those days are a treat!

Parts of a Flowing River

We just keep ourself floating, the current would take us wherever we wanted to be.  We don’t need to swim at all.  We simply go with the flow.  Just give one stroke when necessary, either for changing direction, or to get out of water.

We knew the turns and depth of the river as we go with the flow.  However, there could be unexpected threat, new whirlpools, lying in our path.  It is because of the change in the river bed due to incessant rainfall the other day.

Not all whirlpools are a threat for somebody who knew how to escape.  Some whirlpools will take you down to the river bed, while some will simply throw you on the other side of the river bank.  For a regular, we know how to and where to react.  That was the level of our confidence.

However, there are mysterious things happening under water.  Our familiarity did not save us always.  During those monsoon seasons, the river would take few lives.  There are always chances for accident or disaster to happen, even in the most unexpected ways.

Our familiar, most familiar, path too can be where we fall, in our walk of life.  Our familiarity and area of expertise could be a threat in our walk of life.

Samson, one of the Biblical characters mentioned in Judges, was going with the flow in pursuing his desires.  His character was referred to as ‘a person who was going down’.  In the end, he was captured and died along with a pool of his enemies.

Many times in life, I’ve been confident.  I told myself, I will not fall into unwanted circumstances yet the reality is different.  When we become very familiar with the path, the surroundings and probable outcome, we are unable to find the trap.  There we fall in the familiar path.

By simply going with the flow, it will take us to its predestined destinations.  Much worse, we might get lost on the way, missing our kicks or stroke.  In the river, the more we enjoyed the more we get tired.

Eventually, we need to get out of the water less we get drowned.  If we stay late till we become exhausted, the possibility of losing our lives becomes greater.  Those missed stroke of arms, in the appropriate timings, can cost our lives.

When it was time for us to go, we counted our friends to make sure no one get missing or drowned.  Every life needs to be counted.  If someone seems to be drowning, either we pull them out or provided our help.  That is what friends are for.

When friends are with us, we can take pleasure even in flooding river.  When God is with us we can face any situation, as we are confident inside in trusting Him.  For a normal Christian, we must helped out our suffering friends, here believers, from getting drown in their misery

Now, the same applies in our lives too.  Going with the flow could be always easy but can be fatal.  As much as we enjoyed the flow of the river, we need to stay alerted.   We need to seek the way of the Lord and not depend on our expertise.  Our God valued everyone, not even one should perish. (John 3:16)

Especially for believers, we need to look out and not get absorb in our selfish ambitions.  Our fight is more to what cannot be seen.  Stay connected with God so that we don’t missed, those important stroke, in their appropriate time.

When we enjoyed life, sometimes too much contentment, in earthly creature and things, we tend to go far from God.  If we don’t have anything, then also, we are unable to see things the right way.  Too much poverty or riches, can blind us.

Let us not get carried away in our short journey of life.  (Col 3:17) In everything, give thanks and performed to bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ!

A Short Poem on Teacher (With Actions for Kids)

One day my son, during his Kindergarten days, came back from school with a note stating that kids will have Recitation Competition on 10-12 lines short poems.

The poem needs to be collected by us.  Also, we must help him learnt at home.  Furthermore, the poem must be recited with actions, it stated.

A young plant’s first leafs

We are searching for few short poems, when my wife suggested we wrote a poem on Teacher.  Then, I took my pen, flicked few times in the air, just before the words hit me.

Remember, the poem is written for a five-year-old to be performed with actions.  Simple words and easy to show in actions, that’s how I chose the words.  At the same time, it must not too hard for my son.  We practiced it and he learned it in few times.   The actions, for the poems, are composed by my son himself after I’d explained the meanings in details.

Dedication:

This is a poem dedicated to all kinds of teachers, especially to those who taught us when we were very young.  More importantly, to my parents who taught us the ways of life.

To our amazement, our son performed well in the school, which got him a ‘Certificate of Merit’ from his school teacher.

Here, this is the poem:

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TEACHER

‘T’ is for Teacher

The heart of every classroom

The soul of every school

Shaping our future bright

Sowing confidence in us

The mind behind the message

Helping us blossom into stars.

Your wink makes us glad

Your smile makes us happy

Piece of gold, you put in our mind

For, every learner begins with a Teacher.