What is it with MARRIAGE?

Well, my whole great family is overjoyed because of the upcoming wedding of my cousin. We did the engagement ceremony several weeks ago and her wedding is to be held this coming October. In a sense, everyone is relieved now that one of us will actually tie the knot. :) I'm happy for her!!

Now, talking about all the detail preparations...my Mum just couldn't help herself but to brag about me, the one event organizer, the multi-task gal ...the wondergirl of the family...They bought her words and called me up for a meeting.

Voila...they appointed me to be the coordinator for the whole event. I was thrilled. I mean, I did this for others, why wouldn't I wanna do it for my own cousin, right?

So, anyway ...we began the many meetings to discuss details, site visit, making layout, tailored the whole rundown and things. I offered to make the short movie clip for their reception. They were thrilled, of course.

MARRIAGE

As I was sitting and having dinner with my cousin's family, I couldn't help but noticing how easy and light they took this whole thing. Well, to call it a preparation..as far as i observed, they were busy preparing for the event, the venue, the menu, decor, the pre-wedding photo session and all. I was wondering whether they have taken the time to prepare themselves on the essence. I mean, venue, menu and decor were all important, but there is something else that is more important, even the most important...well, at least, I believe it is for me though. 

Wedding, I believe is just an event, a ceremony. It's a one time thing. It's a one day happening. 

As for MARRIAGE, it's a legal union of a man and a woman. Yes, marriage is a legal institution between two parties. But not only it is a legal institution (which is protected under the law), but also a spiritual institution. 

Marriage was the first institution that was ordered and introduced by God to mankind. The idea of marriage didn't come from some soap story of Romeo and Juliet, or some Hollywood producers. It didn't come from any Ken and Barbie doll story. It was originated from the very heart of God Himself. 

I find it very romantic, when God purposely put Adam to sleep while He worked His wonder and formed Eve out of the bone of Adam. Then when He was done, He Himself brought and presented her to Adam - not by some kind of middleman effort or some TV show version of today's TAKE HIM OUT.

Turning on my sanctified imagination, I saw God holding Eve closed by His side, walking her by the isle and presented her, unblemished, pure and without spots, to Adam. I think, based on this ancient truth that today’s fathers would walk their daughters by the isle to be presented to the grooms.

Why marriage?

Some people I know have their marriage life easy. I mean, there were some occasional rough rides, but overall the family stay together, finances are in tact, their kids grew up ‘normally’ – as most people would say.

But then, what is normal?

One of the definition given by the Webster Dictionary of the word normal is:

a.       according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle

b.       conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern

So, who’s standard are we using to be able to label some marriage as ‘normal’? Into what kind of type do we conform ourselves in the area of marriage? Are we just calling it normal because of some regular pattern that we see in society?

What was His idea of Marriage?

There is this one ancient quote that I could not shake in reference to marriage. In the book of Malachi, it was revealed that God wanted a godly offspring from the union of man and wife.

A godly offspring.

Picture this. The idea of a godly offspring doesn’t only imply as merely ‘good’ boys and girls. I’d like to picture this as the prophet Joel described, a young generation that would be able to see and prophecy. A generation that would speak things into existence. A generation that would be sensitive to the timing and season of God. A generation that would walk in the authority of God the Almighty.

I believe even the best wedding organizer in town would not be able to construct this kind of result. Not even the best building and catering nor the best pre-wed photographer would be brilliant enough to prepare you for this. It takes God Himself to walk us through the isle up to the altar and all through life for us to have this kind of offspring. It takes humility from our part to acknowledge His blueprint as a standard of living, as a constitution in which we based our judgment as normal living.

As I help out in preparing my cousin’s wedding, I say a prayer in my heart for her and her future husband. May their union together be blessed by God. May they have godly offspring who will walk in the power and authority of God. 

Message In A Bottle

Message In A Bottle stars Robin Wright Penn as Theresa Osborne, a writer for the Chicago Tribune. While her son visits her cheating ex-husband, Theresa goes on a vacation by herself. One day, while running on the beach, she finds a bottle washed up on the shore. She opens it and inside finds a love letter unlike any she's ever read.
Captivated by the author's words of love, she returns to her job at the Tribune where she convinces her boss to run an article about the mystery writer, known only as "G." He approves, and Theresa begins her hunt. Scrutinizing every physical detail of the letter and the path the bottle may have taken, she eventually locates Garret Blake (Kevin Costner), a North Carolina boat-restorer who has not been the same since the tragic death of his beloved wife Catherine.
Since her death, Garret has written several letters to his dead wife, put them in a bottles, and let them loose in the sea. As Theresa spends time with Garret, she quickly falls in love with him, though she neglects to tell him she knows about the letters. Garret, prodded by his cantankerous, no-nonsense dad, Dodge (Paul Newman), emerges from his shell of grief and develops an interest in Theresa as well. Theresa returns to Chicago and Garret soon visits her; he meets her son, Jason (Jesse James), but also discovers her knowledge of the letters. Eventually the two, who have both lost love, must cast off their emotional baggage and decide if they will pursue love even if it can't always last.

***

What a love story!!  A Movie like this would sure entice many young women (and ummm… many 'love crazy' men, too) to drool over and search for the love of their live. An emotional awakening was purposely put together by Nicholas Sparks to portray a romantic search for the romance of life - though in most of his stories have bitter endings.

Now, don't get me wrong yet (put down the stones, please…hehehe). In my opinion, searching for true love is quite normal. Who am I to judge that if a person desire to have a lover, he or she is off track?

I believe we're all born with a longing for a true love, that as human, we not only have brains but also have hearts. We are capable of both THINKING and FEELING. That way, we are born with a capacity to love and be loved. We are created and born with the capacity to be romantic :) It's in our DNA.

In a matter of fact, the whole story of creation began with a LOVE STORY, a divine love story.

The whole first chapter of the story was dedicated in portraying how this unique Person was thinking, planning, creating and making into existing, a beautiful Garden for the lover of His heart. This was far more greater than the Hanging Gardens of Babylon that was built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife.

In all the mystery of universe, He created men that were capable of both thinking and feeling, to receive or to reject, to love or to hate - all in their own FREE act of will- toward Him. He was not creating robots that were pre-programmed to love Him back, nor a toy that He could carry around silently.

He was creating a companion, a mate, a partner for life…for Him.

Then…sin came into that beautiful garden and destroyed the relationship, the beautiful romance that had sprung.

Men died. He lost a lover and it grieved Him.

After so many messages and letters through the ages, in search for His lover, He finally sent His greatest love letter. The difference with Sparks’ letter, His didn’t come inside bottles. His didn’t come in a form of white paper, but in flesh and blood. The whole embodiment of the message was not wrapped in an envelope, but in human skin and bones. This love letter was not written with ink but with drops of blood that dripped and wetted the brown rocky soil. His greatest love letter was nailed on a rugged tree.

This is crazy love, you may say. Yes, I agree. This Supreme Person was and is and continues to love men passionately. He is madly in love with men.

As you read this, look around you…

And when you see the bright morning sun smile at you

When you feel the gentle breeze of the wind caressing your face

When shower of rain asking you to dance in the street

When the beautiful color of the wild flowers greet your way

And the little sparrow hops by your office window

You know Somebody is whispering a gentle message in your heart…

“I love you.”

Dear John

Kata orang, cinta tak selalu harus memiliki. Mungkin kalimat itu benar namun untuk bisa sampai pada kesimpulan itu bukanlah sebuah perjuangan yang ringan. John Tyree (Channing Tatum), misalnya, membuktikan cintanya pada Savannah Lynn Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) bukan dengan cara memiliki Savannah.

Saat sedang mengambil cuti dari tugasnya di militer, John secara tidak sengaja berkenalan dengan Savannah dan Tim (Henry Thomas). Dalam waktu singkat, cinta pun tumbuh di hati John dan Savannah. Sayang John masih harus menyelesaikan tugasnya di militer sebelum ia bisa meminang Savannah. Saat berpisah, John berjanji bahwa ia akan segera kembali untuk meminang Savannah yang sanggup menunggu sampai John kembali.

Tepat di saat masa tugas John sudah berakhir, terjadi peristiwa tragis 11 September yang membuat John berubah pikiran. John merasa bahwa tenaganya masih diperlukan dan memutuskan untuk ikut bertugas meskipun ia sangat ingin pulang untuk menemui Savannah. Setahun John dan Savannah terpisah dan di saat yang bersamaan kedekatan antara Savannah dan Tim pun mulai berubah menjadi cinta.

Saat masa dinas sudah berakhir, John pun pulang hanya untuk mendapati Savannah dan Tim telah menikah. Tim ternyata sakit keras dan hampir tak ada harapan untuk hidup namun di saat seperti ini, John ternyata tetap bisa membuktikan bahwa cinta memang tak selalu harus memiliki.

(Kutipan resensi film DEAR JOHN)

***

Nicholas Sparks telah menulis 15 novel dan 1 buku travelling yang ditulisnya bersama saudara laki-lakinya. 6 di antaranya telah diadaptasi menjadi film layar lebar dan 2 akan segera menyusul di tahun 2011 dan 2012. Seluruh novel-novel yang ditulisnya ini mengambil tema percintaan yang banyak dibumbui oleh penyakit, kematian atau kecelakaan. 

Kehidupan pribadi dari Nicholas sendiri tidak luput dari drama kehidupan. Ibunya meninggal karena kecelakaan saat menunggang kuda. Beberapa tahun berikutnya, ayahnya meninggal karena kecelakaan mobil. Salah satu novelnya yang berjudul A Walk to Remember adalah kisah yang ditulis karena terinspirasi oleh penyakit berkepanjangan yang diderita oleh adik perempuannya. 

Ketika saya mengamati beberapa karya Sparks yang bertabur romantisme, saya menangkap kesan seakan ia ingin dunia tahu bahwa TRUE LOVE masih ada. Namun di sisi lain ia pun menggambarkan betapa sulit, pahit dan getirnya untuk memperoleh cinta yang sejati itu. Mulai dari masalah penyakit kronis, kecelakaan yang tiba-tiba menjelang, pengkhianatan karena situasi dan aneka ragam petaka lainnya. 

Nah, apa yang terjadi bila penonton mulai menggandrungi tulisan-tulisan atau film-film yang ditulis oleh pengarang seperti Nicholas Sparks ini? Bila kisah romansa yang seperti inilah yang memenuhi pikiran kita, maka akan muncul suatu sistem kepercayaan di dalam diri kita bahwa cinta sejati adalah sesuatu yang hampir-hampir mustahil diraih. Tidak hanya itu, kisah sejati adalah suatu jalan berliku yang dipenuhi dengan duri dan semak belukar. Wah....!!

Tapi apakah memang kisah cinta macam itu yang tersedia bagi kita?? Apakah ada alternatif lain?

Well, sebetulnya ada buku romantis lain yang bisa saya rekomendasikan pada kalian. Ummm...tunggu posting-an berikutnya yah... MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

A lesson on Forgiveness

Forgiveness is an act of faith, meaning you do it first before seeing any result.
Forgiveness is an act of obedient to God.
You can not wait until the pain is healed to render forgiveness to the one that has hurt you.
man can not heal the wound in your heart, God can - and he is the only one able to do so.
All you need to do is release the forgiveness and then allow God to heal the pain in your heart.
Not releasing forgiveness will hinder God from healing the wound in our heart.

Forgiveness is not a matter of finding who is right or wrong
The fact that somebody is hurt
And as a child of God, I need to do all I can to resolve it
Not pointing finger and find old records of facts
and get the wounds even bigger than what it is

Forgiveness will allow the hands of the Master to work wonder
cleaning out all the germs, stitch the cut and
put around the bandage to the wound
all with the assurance of complete recovery

Do away with the explanation later...
May the love of the Great Physician heal the broken heart...

Keindahan yang Eksotis

Batu Cermin adalah salah satu kawasan gua yang paling terkenal di sekitar Labuan Bajo. Jalan masuknya memang terlihat kurang terawat, seakan-akan dinas pariwisata setempat kekurangan biaya untuk melakukan pemeliharaan. Melewati jalan berbatu yang kiri kanannya dipenuhi dengan pepohonan bambu - yang melengkung secara alamiah - hatiku takjub pada pemandangan yang liar ini.






Stalagmit-stalagmit dan stalagtit-stalagtit seakan beradu cepat untuk tumbuh, meraih dinding di depannya. Pada satu sisi gua, tebing kapur tampak seperti membentuk dinding yang halus dan rata. Sinar matahari yang jatuh padanya terpantulkan dengan sempurna pada jam-jam tertentu. Makanya penduduk sekitar menamai tempat ini Batu Cermin.

Kami menyusuri bagian dalam gua dan menemukan lorong panjang yang tinggi berwarna pualam. Rasanya bagaikan memasuki lorong waktu, kembali ke masa silam.


(Labuan Bajo, NTT)

No more reason

I'm taking off my running shoes
'Coz lately I'm feeling the blues
My brain is too tired with all the muse
My heart aches with all the bruise
I'm counting the queues,
I'm reading the clues
But can't find reason enough to pursue
This is nothing new
You've done this more than just a few
So...
I'm taking off my running shoes
Unless you give me reason enough to pursue

Rain

Don't tell me you hated rain
when your head is all wet again
Don't tell me you feel the pain
when you don't let me even explain

I don't complain for what i could not attain
I just can not remain with all the mundane

It's like a chain in my brain
letting me remain for what I could've gain

You drain me to the vein
but couldn't careless to take the blame