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Showing posts with label Daily. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily. Show all posts

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Buka Dulu Topengmu


Tapi buka dulu topengmu,
buka dulu topengmu
Biar kulihat warnamu,
kan kulihat warnamu

Itu katanya Peterpan. Mendengar lagu itu di radio, sambil nyengir aku jadi inget sama berita yang masuk ke BB-ku baru-baru ini. BTW...ini kisah nyata abad ini lho... brace yourself...here it is:


DUBES ARAB BATALKAN PERNIKAHAN GARA-GARA CALON ISTRI BERJENGGOT


Seorang duta besar (dubes) Arab membatalkan pernikahannya setelah mengetahui kalau calon istrinya ternyata punya jenggot dan bermata juling! Selama ini wajah wanita itu selalu tertutup cadar.

Demikian seperti diberitakan media Arab berbahasa Inggris, Gulf News dan dilansir kantor berita AFP, Kamis (11/2/2010).

Sebelumnya diplomat Arab tersebut cuma beberapa kali bertemu dengan calon istrinya itu. Dan tiap kali pertemuan, sang wanita selalu menutupi wajahnya dengan cadar.

Setelah pasangan itu menandatangani kontrak pernikahan, sang dubes mencoba mencium mempelai wanita. Saat itulah, pria yang dirahasiakan identitasnya itu mengetahui kalau wanita itu memiliki jenggot dan bermata juling.

Melihat kenyataan itu, sang dubes pun menuntut pembatalan kontrak pernikahan. Dia juga menuntut ganti rugi sebesat 500 ribu dirham (sekitar Rp 1,2 miliar) atas perhiasan, pakaian dan barang-barang lainnya yang telah diberikan untuk wanita tersebut.

Dalam persidangan di pengadilan syariah di Uni Emirat Arab, dubes tersebut mengaku telah ditipu dengan pernikahan tersebut. Sebab selama ini ibu wanita tersebut telah memperlihatkan foto saudara perempuan calon istrinya, bukannya foto wanita itu sendiri.

Pengadilan memang mengabulkan permohonan sang dubes untuk membatalkan pernikahan tersebut. Namun pengadilan menolak tuntutan kompensasi yang diajukannya.


Pria Bertopeng? Wanita Bercadar?

Saya kira dua-duanya sama aja. Don't we like to cover ourselves in fear of rejection, in the uncertainty of being valued and accepted for all we are, for being ourselves?

Di jaman dulu ada juga nih yang kena batunya...gara2 cadar. Pria malang itu adalah Yakub, saudara kembar dari Esau, cucu dari konglomerat Timur Tengah Abraham, yang nama besarnya dikenal dimana-mana.

Yakub jatuh cinta pada pandangan pertama dengan seorang gadis yang masih terhitung sanak keluarganya. Gadis itu, Rahel, elok sikapnya dan cantik parasnya. What a rare combination these days!! Berbeda dengan Lea, sang kakak, yang menurut catatan yang kubaca, memiliki mata yang tidak berseri.

Nah, sangking sudah mabuk kepayang cintanya pada Rahel, Yakub sama sekali tidak keberatan untuk bekerja selama 7 tahun -sebagai gembala ternak- bagi calon mertuanya. Aduh...kalo dipikir-pikir, cinta itu dahsyat juga ya. Masa sih 7 tahun serasa beberapa hari aja. Tanpa dibayar pake duit laginya. Wuihhh...Jacob was a fool for Rachel!

Setelah tiba waktu 7 tahun, hari yang dinanti-nantikan pun tiba....THE WEDDING DAY!

Menurut tradisi pada masa itu, seorang mempelai laki-laki tidak diijinkan untuk melihat wajah pasangannya, sampai setelah upacara perkawinan berlangsung, dan mereka masuk ke tenda privat mereka. And... when the celebration was over... Jacob, almost lost his mind with all the waiting he did... opened up the veil on his bride's head...only to find that he had married the WRONG one!


Topeng dan Cadar dalam Pernikahan

Orang bilang, emangnya nikah itu kayak beli kucing dalam karung? Musti kenal dulu dong sama 'kucing'-nya...hehehe. Well, idealnya sih begitu. Makanya banyak pasangan yang kemudian mengambil langkah "pe-de-ka-te', seperti halnya pasutri yang kukenal beberapa bulan belakangan ini. Pernikahan mereka sedang dilanda badai. Penyebabnya...klasik, ...orang ketiga. Sang suami tidak habis pikir mengapa istrinya begitu mudah kepincut dengan laki-laki lain yang notabene adalah kenalan mereka juga dan tinggalnya hanya 1 blok di belakang rumah mereka.

Ternyata masalah mereka yang kemudian menjadi pelik ini dimulai dari berbagai ketidakcocokan dan mis-komunikasi yang berkembang menjadi ketawaran dalam perkawinan mereka.

Apakah mereka sempat belajar saling mengenal waktu berpacaran dulu? Apakah ada tahap 'pe-de-ka-te' yang membuat mereka masing-masing nyaman untuk saling membuka topeng dan cadar mereka?

Menurut sang suami semasa pacaran dulu mereka sering dinner bersama, jalan-jalan ke mall dan nonton bioskop. Very common... Then I asked him, "kalian ngobrol apa aja kalo lagi jalan bareng."

"Ngobrol sih...tentang... tentang...ummm...apa ya? Lupa."

"Gubraaakss!!"

"Gak inget lagi. Ya..kami gak banyak ngobrol deh kayaknya waktu itu. Aku juga udah kepepet harus segera married, karena papaku sakit-sakitan."

No wonder. Istilah 'pe-de-ka-te' yang sering terdengar itu ternyata bermakna...jalan bareng, dinner di luar and nonton bioskop. Malah ada yang langsung ke grepe-grepe.

No wonder...topeng dan cadar itu masih saja nempel di wajah bahkan setelah mengatakan, "I do" di depan pendeta.

No wonder... pernikahan kemudian dipenuhi kejutan-kejutan warna-warni, seperti percikan mercon dan petasan di malam tahun baru, karena topeng dan cadar yang mulai terbuka perlahan-lahan.

Aku jadi kepingin nyanyi bareng Peterpan...

tapi buka dulu topengmu...

buka dulu topengmu...

biar kulihat warnamu...

kan kulihat warnamu....

When are You Gonna Settle Down?


"So, when are you gonna settle down?" I heard my friends ask me. Well, to be frank, this is not the first time somebody ask me this kind of question. I've grown accustom to sound of it. Heard it in family gathering, old friends reunion and small group family dinner. The exact words might vary but the ultimate curiosity of these well-meaning friends and family is...they wanna know when will I decide to 'settle down'.

What is this idea of settling down? To get married, have kids, start a family...?
It is as if by being single would mean that you haven't got there yet. That you are still somewhere there up in the ozone.

Seems like life is not complete yet, like you have not live your life... NOT COMPLETE ...yet.

Uhhh...I could not shake this thought. So bothering me!

Does it mean, as long as you are not married - you only live half way of the portion of joy, enthusiasm, exuberant life you suppose to have?

To be honest - I feel quite satisfied with my singleness. I'm not lacking anything. God supply me with all the joy I need. If I do get married one day, it won't be for the reason of fulfilling the emptiness in the heart, NOPE!

Because being single with the Lord, with friends and family that love me - I'm quite full. My cup runs over with passion and joy. I'm excited of being me - being the single woman I am, the person I am, created in the image of God, to do the good works according to His great pleasures.

(behind the steering wheel on a hot, dusty Saturday)

Confession of a Bookoholic


On a rainy Friday,
"We really shopped today huh?" I said to her , looking at the shoe boxes and the other plastic bags. There were great sales today at Fladeo and Yongki. She smiled at me and said, "So, what did you call all those visit you made to the bookstores last week, the week before and the week before that? I saw you came out with plastic bags, with books in it!"
Whoaaa...busted!!

Well, to be honest, I won't call "that" shopping! :) Walking out with books from the bookstores I visit seems natural for me. I call that researching...

I shop for books everywhere. Bookstores in the airport, hospitals, hotels, malls... secondhand bookstores, even in a thrift stores in the suburb of America. Every time I go overseas, I would always hunt for the bookstores in that city. So, me and books... we are buddies for life...

And I don't consider that shopping.

Until it downed on me today!!

How can i not consider buying books as shopping... and getting a pair of FLADEO shoes as big time shopping?

Saturday, January 16, 2010

The Love Garden

Love will bring the best out of people. I've been pondering this thought these past couple of months. It is in love, people will be daring enough to express their real selves - the ugly, the selfish, the unmasked selves. It is in love too, those flaws will be confronted and nurtured and changed. Love is the safe garden for change and transformation to take place.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

My 'Trimming' Season

It was said, 'You can not be the Jack of all trades' - the master of none. I decided in the few weeks approaching the end of December to evaluate and examine the way I've walked my journey so far. I came to find out that I've wasted most of my energy doing things that is not in alignment with my gifts and talents, things only based on assignments, things I didn't find enjoyment doing, burdensome and boring. Things that brought me to my knees and drove me to the wall. Things that pinched my nerves.

So, I began my trimming session. I trimmed branches that bore me little and almost no fruits, activities and connections that is not producing much, and decided to only concentrate on the little few that I can cultivate. These little few are the ones God placed in my hands. He entrusted me with those - like the master gave 5 or 2 or even 1 talents to the servants.

Cultivating and aiming to be excellent in what He called and designed you to be, will make you a unique individual. You will be irreplaceable - just the way He wanted it to be. There won't be anybody in the face of this earth that can be like you. ... hmm, just this thought is already comforting :)

I know that time will come when He will ask of my accountability.

I don't want to stand shy before Him, ashamed that I have not produce anything of those few talents He gave me.

So, 2010 is my trimming season...

Friday, December 25, 2009

Slip of the Tongue

I have this hilarious old friend who always cracks me up - even when she didn't mean too. She would say things casually and I would just burst out laughing..., how couldn't you...

Here are the few things she said...

- what was that thing to start your internet...the mozzarella what? (hohoho... she think cheeseyy...)
I said, "you mean Mozilla Firefox, right?"

- Hey... my friend just got the latest Blackberry, it's called the Juvenile...(gubrakkkss..!!!)
I said, " Ooo...you mean, the Javelin...cool!!"

Then, her face will turn red while I roll over the floor laughing...

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Walking on Your Own Shoes


Have you ever being handed down some second hand shoes or sandals? I have. And you know what, even though those shoes and sandals looks nice... somehow, they didn't feel quite right on your feet. It has a 'funny' feeling to it ... (you can use other words if you like - to describe the odd feeling of having somebody else's shoes on).

Today, I can recall those moments when I was given a pair of secondhand Channel shoes and relate to the fact that though they are expensive and look nice, still - I didn't enjoy putting them on because my feet didn't feel quite 'right' on them.

You know, it's the same thing with our lives. We are created uniquely with some sets of unique potentials, gifts and talents. The way our lives is shaped, the experiences we went through - good or bad, all the highs and lows - have made us the person we are today. And God said (He ensure us, actually) that ...

"God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. "
Romans 8:28



Problems occurred when we try so very hard to be somebody else, to fit ourselves in another mould. Though you may be able to wear it... it won't feel right! Like wearing those secondhand shoes, my nails felt cramped and... it was so tiring!

Yups! So it is, when you try to fit into another man's mould ... tiring! You feel empty and dissatisfied.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Leaky Vessels




Can you just imagine filling water into a clay vessel that has cracks?? Every morning you would fill that vessel and in the afternoon all the water slowly leaks out. When you comes back, the vessel was empty of water. The next day you try again...and in the afternoon, the water is gone. The next day it happens again, then the following day...and the following week. What happen? Have you been so careless and you spill the water before it reach the clay vessel? No..no...no..., The water is gone simply because there are cracks in that clay vessel. All this time, you've been putting water in a leaky vessel. Frustrating, huh?? Well...it happens :)

I've been meeting several leaky vessels lately...some with major cracks, and some with thin cracks - you barely can't see it. All this time I was wondering how come even the best act of kindness from my part was wiped out in just a short periode of time. You give them surprises in their birthdays - still they don't feel it's enough. You write them notes, check on them from time to time, still they don't feel they are cared for. These people constantly feel unwanted, not loved much, not appreciated, under-valued...ah, you name it. Never enough!

Until this thought come to mind... leaky vessel. That's it! All the things you've poured on them was leaking out , they can't contain it. The cracks and the leaks that constantly happen leave them in want all the time. And they want you to keep on filling some more ... giving them more that you can handle. They demand from you...



And the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter;
so he made it over, reworking it into another vessel
as it seemed good to the potter to make it.

Jer. 18:4 (AMP)


(Interestingly, God loves these leaky vessels that He wouldn't want to throw none of them. He would work them again and turn them into the best form God has in mind.)

to be continued...

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

"Come to ME..."


The word strucked me as I read it from Max Lucado book this morning. I've read it millions time, I thought. But this time it brought back a fresh insight to me.
It's sounded more like a personal invitation to come closer and be intimate with a person rather than various activities, we mistakenly thought all these times.
Getting more active and be involve with tons of events and works are not the solution to a weary soul.
I picture a ship, battered and tossed to and fro in the midst of a high sea...weary, tired...
So, I readily accept this invitation to come to the One harbour where I can rest my weary and battered ship, and in Him- in Him alone, I'll find my rest...

O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee I give thee back the life I owe That in Thine ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be. O light that foll'west all my way, I yield my flick'ring torch to thee; My heart restores its borrowed ray, That in thy sunshine's blaze its day May brighter, fairer be. O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee I trace the rainbow through the rain, And feel the promise is not vain, That morn shall tearless be. O Cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from thee; I lay in dust life's glory dead, And from the ground there blossoms red Life that shall endless be.