It's Friday! Time to Eat. (Soul Food)

It’s Friday!

Here in the gulf region, Friday’s our time to rest from work.

I was walking in the courtyard toward our church’s entrance. The early service have just ended and the people were slowly going out to empty the hall to make way for the second service.

There were many people from different countries. I could hear them speaking various languages at the same time- all of cheerful greetings. I saw smiles from faces of different skin colors -white and black, brown more.

For me, here, during Fridays, there’s no feeling more peaceful, more comforting and more refreshing than sitting along with our brothers and sisters in the church.

Hmmnn…  I just love the songs of worship to greet the Lord. As we sing I hear a blend of diverse voices praising God. I love to sing loudly. I never mind if my tune is high or low, knowing confidently that all our voices will rise up to heaven.

We listened to our pastor’s prayer….all our heads bowed in union with one another. We silently thanked God, asked forgiveness, seek His blessing and asked for protection for all the hard times. 

Here we are one with one another and our heart opens willingly. Our minds clear the week’s troubles and lighten up, at peace and ready to understand and take in the sermon, like bread fed to our starving souls.

For me, the church is the best place to be in the whole UAE during a Friday morning. No shopping mall in Abu Dhabi or Dubai can equally satisfy my soul’s hunger. Like being starved for 6days at work!

Au Revoir!

The Ghost in the 5th Floor

Her eyes are so dark. It reminds me of our old black cat back home. Darkly scary. 

Its Tuesday morning. Woke up, bathroom, clothes on, shoes on, keys-cellphone-notebook, get out of room, get in the lift, go down and wait for Baskar. Normal day. 

'Ting!' the lift stopped in the 5th floor.

My brain temporary woke up. The door opened and she stood there. A strange woman in black dress. She stared at me and I looked at her. The door closed and she came nearer. Then suddenly she reached out to touch my hair. 'Whoa!' I shout, I think I just shout. Then I noticed her eyes...it's so dark and very black. I  started to feel afraid. 

She said...''Hmmm, you're a good lady...'' .....to be continued.

True Wealth (short story)

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of showing his son how the poor people live so he could be thankful for his wealth.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. 

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?” “It was great, Dad.” “Did you see how poor people can be?” the father asked. “Oh yeah” said the son. “So what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.” “We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.” “Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.” “We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.” “We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.” “We buy our food, but they grow theirs.” “We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them.”

With this the boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are.”

(story and photo borrowed from sir internet)

Spices of Life

Oh life! How come you never give us some clues how to learn your lessons faster.

A wise author had said that life will hand us lessons. And these lessons will continue to be presented to us until we learn it by heart. 

Well, I got another repeated lesson today. I think it is about controlling my emotions, especially my anger. Today I wanted to punch a man's nose. Out of anger. 

By the end of the day, I realized that this is just one of the spices of life. Once in a while we need to experience a little bit out of the ordinary in order to enjoy living. It is the same like food, spices are added to make it taste good.

Alright then, I think when life will present me with this same 'anger' lesson next time, I shall pass the test, insha'allah!

Au Revoir.