GLITTER DUST OF MY MIND. SOLILOQUY.
We had a leaders meeting last Monday in church. It was a great meeting, I brought home a whole lot of learnings, ideas, encouragement and inspiration. Other than that, something very important was revealed to me. During the prayer time, I prayed deeply and I had a revelation on Love & Respect. It was the beauty of placing a loved ones hand to your forehead. You do it to your Father, your Mother, your grandparents, your elders or anyone who is older than you are. In Filipino, it is called, "MANO", in Cebu, it is called "AMIN". So say, "MANO PO!" or say "AMIN KO!" Which as far as I know, Malays do the same to their elders. I was born and raised into a family of very close family ties. Like most Filipinos, we were raised that we always get BLESSED by taking the hand of your parents, putting it to your forehead and they give you their blessing. After that, I kiss them in the cheeks. We show love and respect elders by asking for their Blessing. May it be before you leave for work, school, when you come home from work and before you go to bed. In my family, we gather at night either to watch a movie or spend time just discussing have happened during the day. When it is late, Dad would loudly say "TIME TO SLEEP!" and everything just has to be shut down. Whether you are on the phone, on the computer, or playing, you need to stop for rest. We all gather in our parents bedroom, we pray together before we sleep then Dad & Mom leads the prayer, after that, we then go to our own rooms to sleep. Now that I am older, I am thankful I have such parents, cause I learned that not every family do this together.
That Sunday, I was feeling homesick. I missed the whole family. it made me a little disheartened. I asked myself, "Why had I not been able to do it here in Singapore? I know they have different culture, different tradition, but I wish I would have the chance to take the hand of someone whenever I wanted to show affection and respect. I wished someone has the same heart and wants to bless others by showing respect." My parents do not live with me. I have my siblings though. It made me sigh. But deep inside, I know God always gives me answers to my questions or to any confusion my heart has. The night was fruitful and productive. A night of Thanksgiving indeed. As we were spending time outside the meeting place, we were having fun talking and discussing stuff. To my surprise, a brother named Manny in church came to me, took my hand and placed my hand on his forehead. He said, "BLESS me." Can you imagine how my "a little bit chinky eyes" opened so wide? I could not believe what just happened. I was deeply emotional and touched. God listens to every whisper of my heart and God is all ears to the shouts of my soul. It was such a beautiful feeling. And I asked him why he did that, he said he had this feeling inside of him that he wanted to do it to me. I told back I am surprised because it is such a rare thing to happen here. And you know what his answer was? "I do this all the time here to show my respect" My smile - from ear to ear. My joy - from inside out. He was a living reminder to me that paying respect remains ALIVE! The best part of loving people is the different medium of communication to show your appreciation and your affection. Now going back to application, I will make sure my kids grow up the same way as I was raised. My kids are born in the new generation that they just kiss and hug me goodnight, hug everyone and kiss everyone before sleeping. But I want them more than that, I want them to be how I was raised. I would not allow Time and the new generation erase what is the best love language I was born with. I will teach others the importance of getting Blessed by your elders, Blessing the younger ones after you and asking for Blessings from people whom you care and Love. So now, whenever I would want to kiss the hand of an elder, I would not hesitate to ask them if I can, even if they are not close family to me. EmilyMignonette, March 31, 2013 |
AUTHOR
And now these three remain: FAITH HOPE LOVE. But the greatest of these is LOVE. I LOVE to write, about LIFE, LOVE, PEOPLE, EXPERIENCE, day to day life and INSIGHS. I love to Travel. I write about experience, culture, highlights and knowledge. May this site serve you well. I will be open for comments and suggestions, as well as topics I could write about. Thank you very much. Enjoy! |