A Loving Family

A father was coming home exhaustedly and 7 years old son come up welcoming and opening the door cheerfully. While taking his suitcase, the son asked his father....

Son : Dad...may i ask you a simple question ?

Father : Hmmm....what's the question ?

Father : Daddy...how much is your one hour salary ?

Father : That's not your business....,why did you ask that stupid question ?

The father getting angry.

Son : I just wondering to know....please tell me how much you got in an hour at your office ?

The son trying to beg to his father hoping desperately for his father's answer

Father : 20 thousand rupiah(=+ 2dollars) for one single hour. Why do you want to know about it ?

His father asking again..

Son mumbling : Oh....20 thousand rupiah....

The son looking down,he was staring at the floor

Son : Daddy..may I borrow 10 thousand rupiah from you ?

The father getting little bit angrier immediately and then said, "Oh, so that's why you did ask me about my income per hour...

What will you do with that money ?Ask me 10 thousand ?To buy more toys ?I am working so hard to get that sum of money, and then you just playing and wasting that money ?It's enough....,

I want you to go to bed now... !!

Then the son stayed in silence and slowly walking towards his bedroom . The father sat in the sofa and wondering why his very little son asking him sum of 10 thousand rupiah.

After 2 hours passed, the father got calmed back, the thought passing his mind that maybe his son really need it for his school purposes because he never ask that sum of money before. He felt very guilty and then walking towards his son's bedroom. He found his son still not sleep yet.

Do you really need that 10 thousand my son... ?So take it.....

The father then took a sheet of red colour 10 thousand rupiah from his wallet and gave it to his son. He was waking cheerfully and smiling happily.

Thank you so much Daddy! "Then he lifted his pillow and took out another sheet of 10 thousand rupiah that now looked dingy because folded by the pillow. Seeing the money, the father got aggrieved and felt bitter.

"Why did you ask more money for you did already have that much of money?And where did you get it ? "

The son turned down his face....discourage to stare at his father face.Crushing the money in his hand and then he talked softly....

This money.....I was spending it day a day from my daily allowance from you that you gave for my purpose at school. I asked you another 10 thousand rupiah for I have no money anymore.....

Do not have anymore money for what.. ?

The father cut his son's word.

Dad....now I already have 20 thousand rupiah in my hand ....Please you take it. I want to buy from you one hour of your time at the office. I would like you to return home earlier tomorrow......

I want to get a dinner with you............

The son said it without noticing his father

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This story is not just for the father but for all of us who are members of our family.

The message is simple, Invest your time for your family.

Christ himself at the age of twelve, when he went to the temple and preach about the words of God. at that age He already knew what his mission here on earth and he fully knew what he was doing. The question is, in spite of truly at twelve years old, Jesus knew exactly what he wanted to do, and he knew that he can already do his mission, Why he would still for the next 18 years, hide himself within the family of Nazareth and be an ordinary member of a family?

Is the 18 years of Jesus wasted because he did not start his ministry when he was 12 years old?

Why wait for 18 years? and then begin it only at the age of 30.

Because Jesus wants to share with us the importance of the family.

What he wants to say is, Family life is much more important than professional life.

Yes, we need to work, but if your job gradually destroy and separates your family, that is not something that you should choose. The family, Jesus tells us is so important that for 18 years he was an ordinary family man.

There is a moment when a family experience some misunderstanding, even with the family of Jesus, Joseph and Mary. When Jesus was left in the temple not knowing by his parents, that is a moment of tension. But in the end Love for God and Love for each other will overcome all of these.

In our family, which today is called to be the institution that is most under fire. Some said, You want to destroy the society? Destroy the family. But in a family where there is true love, you can almost be sure that you will have real good and loving citizens of the land.

Jesus tells us, Give time to your family, invest quality time for your family to grow in loving.

Family is important,

Presence is important,

Time for each other is important.

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Few days from now, will say goodbye to the year 2010, and we will welcome the year 2011.

There will be so much preparation for that event, food, parties, gifts, cultural beliefs to attract good luck and of course fireworks. All of these is for us to have a prosperous new year. I also believe that it is good to do it, but there is nothing greater than this, that on that day, your family gathers together to pray as one, and a loving family may truly be yours.

Again and again,

FAMILY is important,

TIME is how you make that family, loving.

PRESENCE is the greatest gift that you can give to each other.

Jesus decided to be a part of a family, and he teaches us two important things, that the family cannot be together as one without someone who has truly in love with the lord and the lord is not the king of your family. second, family can only be a true place where you can feel that this is the place where you always want to be, if in that family, love is truly experienced.

Love deeply and Love passionately, you might be hurt but it is the only way to live life completely.

May you have a blessed new year,

Ash

(inspired by Fr. Mar)

The Greatest Gift!

I saw this story in the internet and I want to share it with you.

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Long ago, there ruled in Persia a wise and good king. He loved his people. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know about their hardships. Often he dressed in the clothes of a working man or a beggar, and went to the homes of the poor. No one whom he visited thought that he was their ruler.

One time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he left.

Later he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying, "I am your king!" The king thought the man would surely ask for some gift or favor, but he didn't. Instead he said, "You left your palace and your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the coarse food I ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich gifts. To me you have given yourself!"

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This man teaches us a wonderful story of what Christmas is all about.

When Jesus decided to show how much He loved us, He did not decided to sent us too many gifts. This is just extra gifts. Instead He decided to give us the greatest of all gifts, the gift of His own self.

What is the difference between Christ and Santa Claus?

Santa Clause comes, gives us gifts and then he will leave.

Christ comes, not to give us extra gifts but offer us himself. And the most beautiful about that is He did not leave us. He decided to be the "Emmanuel" for all of us.

If you truly know how to love, you can understand that "PRESENCE" is the greatest gift that a person can yet give.

There is another story circulates on Qatar about what something happened on Dubai.

One day, their leader Sheikh Khalifa disguised as an ordinary man. He gets his Ferrari  and drive it on a narrow way, but what he did is he drove his car too fast and at the end of the road there is a policeman and commanded him to stop because of over-speeding. While the police walk near to the car, he was shocked when he discover that it was the sheikh. The police did not know what to do, will he let the sheikh go or he will issue a ticket?

But he decide and said. "Your highness, you are over-speeding and your highness, much as I would not like to my duty tells me, I will give you a ticket"

After he gave the ticket, he told to himself, "Surely, tomorrow I will get fired but I don't care I just did what must suppose to do".

The next day, He has been brought to the palace.

And immediately the sheikh said, "I was looking for an honest and efficient policeman I have found one in you. You are promoted to a higher position".

And then the police answered,"Sir, the promotion that I would like and I have already received is that I have served my king".

The joy of this man is not that he gave a ticket to the king but he have serve the king by doing what his duty tells him to do.


Today, as we move forward to Christmas we must repeatedly tell to ourselves that may we desire every gifts that He might give but we must also not forget that as we desire the gifts we would not forget the giver of the gifts. That as we want the graces and the blessings, we would not forget the giver and the source of all of these.

My dear friends, True joy is in knowing that in your life you are obeying the will of the Lord.
Let Joseph be an example, he teaches us where true joy is to be found, in his obedience he permitted himself to be use as an instrument of God, so that God can be Emmanuel, God with us.

The greatest gift of Jesus is not for you to win the lottery, to give you a life that is too comfortable, the greatest gift that we celebrate in Christmas is that this our king, great and savior of all will be living with us.

Christ is Emmanuel, God is with us.
Christ is Jesus, the God who saves.
That is greatest reason of our celebration.


Hopefully on the day of His birth,truly we may say to ourselves,

"Christmas is happening to me, because Christ is with me"




May you have a Merry and Blessed Christmas,

Ash








(inspired by fr. Mar)