Dreams

Sleeping is the right time to see a dream
Or probably that's the first time that
We have all seen a dream in our lives.

Who introduced these dreams to us,
have you ever thought my friends,
rather who taught us to dream?

Was it our caring parents?
Indeed, they were the one who
Used to tell stories to us to make us sleep.

And so, even after we are in the sleep
We continue to go ahead with the story
And that happens in the dream.

But did they really teach us to dream.
No, its an instinct given to man
By his creator to convert words in ideas.

Not just ideas, instead words into seeds
The seeds of a better tomorrow
The desire for a better life.

So in another sense, dreams carry
Seeds which give birth to plants
That produce of fruits of a better life.

But, when we look at people around
Most of them are not satisfied with the life
And the reason is this unfulfilled dream.

A dream that's not fulfilled will really
Make a person to loose his sleep,
And a fulfilled dream gives a deeper sleep too.

The fact to be understood here is that
Dreams are desires given inside a man
For giving Him a purpose in Life.

And God wants Him to follow those dreams
Which is required for the world.
It is a hard journey to live a fulfilled life.

Let no person control another one
In living His own life, and then
Life will be much more easier.

Remember also to submit the dreams to
The creator who gave them to you
As only with him can one achieve them.

Smile

Can you smile dear kid
Even when it is darkness
And you are ignorant
With a heart full of worries?

It is hard my Lord
But I know that You
Want me to be happy
And keep a smile at all times.

Please help me to keep
Smiling to spread Thy Joy
To all around me and
I need your support Lord.

Come closer said the Lord
And He hugged me close to him
I was fully inside His Robes
And I felt my heart lightened.

He whispered to me in my ears
Listen kid, I am with you
At all times and You are with
Me in every moment of your life.

When you want to see me,
Close your eyes and call unto Me
I shall speak more to you
And take all your burdens.

Tears ran from the kids eyes
When He realized how much His
Heavenly Father cares for Him
And stood there inside His Robes.

And a small flower bloomed
In his cheeks, when at that moment
When Lord healed him,
The serene flower of Smile.

Worries and Wisdom

Have you ever found a man
Who is having no worries.
Asked a kid to his grandfather.

Grandfather told him that there
Is no such a man who has no
Worries but at least something to worry about.

But then the kid asked
the grandfather Why is
It that God allows people to worry.

God always wants us to be happy
But at the same time he expects us
To know Him more in our lives.

It is when we worry that we
Ask and seek God more than
When we are at peace.

But that doesn't mean that
God wants us to be sad and
Be always worried about our tasks.

Instead He wants us to give our
Worries to His hands and wait
For Lord to act in our lives.

Look at the lilly flowers in the field
And the birds who fly in the sky
They are all being cared for.

How much more for us will
Our divine Father consider
And prepare for in our lives.

Again let us remember those
Who are poor in money are the
Ones who are having the hardest lesson.

It is only that God is preparing them
For greater things in life and hence
Let us care for the poor and learn wisdom.

The Knowledge of the end.

Have you ever thought
What is the best way to
Be happy in the present
And to be thankful of yesterday?

If not, its because you have
Not yet seriously thought
About when and where
The end of your life comes.

The Wise King and man of God
David prayed to God to let
Him know how many days
He had to live on earth.

When living in this world
We ought to know that
This is just a temporary dwelling
And we need to prepare for the next home.

Time is relative says the learned
But it is also the most precious thing
Gifted equally to each person
Without any differences.

And it is those who really
Care about the limitation of
Time he has at a place will
Do the things assigned to him to the best.

Where is straightforwardness?
Where is frankness and Truth?
Where is equality and honestness?
Who cares for the neighbor?

The world is having a mad race
A race to do everything to win
But, there is no life in all that you do
Unless you do it with Christ's Love.

As the Lord told as, there is no man
Who is perfect other than Himself.
But at the same time He wants
Us to be like Him in all that we do.

Are you ready to fail for Christ?
Are you ready to suffer for His Love?
Are you ready to forgive for His Grace?
It's all possible when you pray and know of your end.

God wants to use each one of us
Let us all be humble and submit
Ourselves to God to realize his plan for
Us and live a better life.

The Girl who stole the ring

A girl was caught stealing a ring from an aunt while traveling in a bus. She was taken to the police station. She was intrigued by the police for what reason did she steal, She said her father was in hospital and she did't have money to treat him. She couldn't stand the suffering of her father. Policemen and all who stood around were stunned hearing this reason. They realized how greedy they were in not helping her when she came begging to all of them the very previous day. Let us not close our hands to the needy ones. God bless.

The Creator’s Touch.

Once there lived a man

Who made guitars

To earn his bread; for the day

One day! One day!

He decided to make 

The best guitar.

He made it with good timber

Wound them with fine wires.

Tightened it all

And then the man was so glad

For having made this guitar.

But then came this folk

Who had his eyes on this master piece

He roamed around the person day by day

To get a chance to place his hands on this fine craft.

And the day came 

When the person was away

Then the folk got his chance.

The folk strummed it once

Wa! Wa! The best music.

Indeed the best 

He looked around 

Saw that nobody’s around 

Took no time to steal and run.

Person came back to play the music

From the master piece

He didn’t find it

Searched everywhere

All in vain.

He felt dejected! 

And days and months passed by 

A lot of water flowed through the Thames

The folk had misused the masterpiece.

He made it to sing odd tunes

Its glam and shine got down

The strings got broken

Last the folk threw it away 

Off to the bush nearby and moved on.

A boy who had no food for many days saw this

He took the guitar

Stood in the middle of the market

And called out for a bargain.

1$, 1$ , and nobody turned up.

Then came the person

The person of the story,

The same master who had crafted this master piece

Took the guitar from the boy

Cleaned it with a cloth

Replaced the broken string

Tightened them all

And then… he strummed it again.

Came from it the song of the angels

It was best as ever

The person gave it to the boy

And asked to call once more

1$...people shouted 10$, 20$... and 100$

And some body in the crowd asked

Hey what’s that change in the prize of that guitar

The person whispered, “Creator’s Touch!”

And now, all around, Hearken!

Let thy Creator heal you…

This poem was published in Agape the journal of Madras Diocese, Malankara Orthodox Church. Originally written in 15/04/12 for the farewell to MGOCSM students of 2012 Batch at St. Luke’s Orthodox Syrian Church, Vellore, India.

Size of the Church and individuals

A priest took a photo while standing near a big church. As the church was so tall, the person who took the photo had to go back a long distance to incorporate the church and the priest in the same frame. Finally the photo was taken and later when the priest was looking into the picture he realized how small he was compared to the church. He also realised that each of the member in the church is too very small compared to the big church. Each member should humble himself in front of the creator.

Also, there are churches which took almost 400 years to be constructed. So generations have passed on without seeing the actual form of the church. But they did their part and the construction is still continuing. What we do for the Christ is actually like placing a block to build the wonderful mansion of Christ's body. May God bless us too in our gentle steps.

{ Based on excerpts from the speeches of  H.G. Alexios Mar Yousebios Thirumeni and the person who represented the Marthoma Church, Phoenix at the consecration of St. Thomas Orthodox Church, Phoenix}

Vivek - The Good Samaritan!

       Elizabeth is an English teacher in the St. Mary's School, Attappaadi. After her education in the best institutions in the country, Elizabeth kept her word that she gave to her brother Dr. Ken who died as a missionary doctor at Attappaadi. He had contracted malaria while serving at Attappaadi. And in his death bed, Elizabeth vowed to him, that she will go to Attappaadi and serve the innocent kids who were his patients. Ken and Elizabeth were the two loving kids which God gave to Chacko and Mary. The couple brought the kids up with a great love for God and all his creations. They had a beautiful garden and a lot of hens. They also had a cat named Pussy, a dog named Bruno and a cow named Mofy. They grew up among these animals and plants. Elizabeth grew up to become a teacher and as a righteous teacher, she always tried to pass the love for nature to her students too. 

         It was a pleasant day, when Elizabeth was travelling back to home from market along with her mother in her car. The road was so perfectly  tarred that the vehicles were rushing so swiftly. Elizabeth, too was riding at a fair speed. The car took a turn when she saw a little boy standing in the middle of the road and he was waving his hands asking to stop the car. When Elizabeth's car came closer, she understood that he was having an injured dove in his hands. There was blood in his hands too. The boy asked for help to save the life of dove. The dove was run over by a car some time before. The boy saw it and he rushed to it. He was panting and told that nobody was caring to admit him in to take the dove to a hospital. Elizabeth opened the door for him and they drove swiftly to the hospital were her brother Ken was serving. It was the only hospital in the vicinity and rushed it to the casualty. The doctor and a nurse present there were Ken's friends and they identified Elizabeth and Mary. The dove was observed by the doctor and it was found to have crushed its left wing and it was bleeding. The vehicle had actually missed the dove by an inch. They cleaned the wound and placed some medicine. Doctor told to Elizabeth that the dove will be fine, but needed some rest. Doctor congratulated her for her good deed. She told to the doctor that it was not her who has to be congratulated but the little kid. They looked around and saw the boy. He was brought near and was asked why did he save the dove lying on the road. Boy answered that he thought about the dove and thought himself in the dove's position. What would he want passers by to do for him then? This was a shock to all who were standing there. Elizabeth hugged the boy. Tears rolled down from her eyes. They gave the dove to boy and asked what his name was. He replied - Vivek. 

An Offertory cover which gave birth to Brotherhoodness.

A cover was issued from a church to the Sunday school students for contributing some money as part of the annual collection of money which funds the working of the Sunday School. So this took place at a place where the people of two churches were fighting with each other over some issues related to faith. The kid was given the money by her mother to deposit in the offertory. The money was placed in the cover on which her name and address was written. Having placed the money in the cover, she was told by her mother to deposit the same. But, the girl accidentally forgot to deposit the same in the offertory of her church. Instead it was on her way to home that she realised that she forgot to deposit the money. By that time, she was just passing the next church, whose members were in fight with her church. As she was only told by her mother to deposit the money in the offertory, she went into that church and deposited the money there and she moved on. The next day when the church officials opened the vaults, they noticed this cover with the name of the rival church. This cover was handed over to the Vicar of the church. When he saw the cover, the priest realised the message delivered to him from the Lord. He took the cover to the Vicar of the next church. Both of them hugged each other and a new chapter of brotherhood started from then on.

The Outstanding feeling of being PICK POCKETED!!!

And finally, I too joined the long list of people who are being pick pocketed at least once in a life time. The severity of the trauma increases when you are away from your home town and all the money that you had are in the same wallet. A feeling of emptiness and what next comes to your mind. There are people all around you. Among all these people who will give me the money to proceed to my destination? For my food? Then the thought of security provided by the Law comes to the mind. With full confidence in the power of law and justice, one goes the police station to report the incident. Meanwhile explaining the details to the countless number of police men one by one about the way in which one lost his purse, eagerly waiting to submit the written complaint and search the video clippings to find what happened, the policeman speaks out his decision that, as the person had realised that he lost his wallet only after he left the railway station limits and reached the bus station, the case has to be registered in the POOPPADA police station, which was just two stops away. Even after continuous persuasion by the person that he was sure that He lost his wallet while at the railway station itself, the SI reiterates his stand. The boy in dismay tells that he don't even have a penny to go to the next station, then the police man tells to wait and goes out. The person finally feels satisfied as the SI had gone out for an expert opinion. After five minutes SI comes back and offers a currency of twenty and tells, ' here is the money to proceed to the next station'. The person now understands the dutifulness of his countries law. People are finding ways to get away from discharging duties than understanding that it is his divine responsibility to help a person in need. But, it is when all doors closes that, we realise the large gate opened by Lord so near to you. A person whom he had just met in the morning told him, pretty casually in the morning that he stays near to the railway station and gave his phone number. He ringed the person and he offered to help him with money. Guess what, the person gave him the same amount of money that was there in his lost wallet. The day went ahead as usual, leaving the Pick pocketed ill fated man with a lot of good lessons, memories, realisations and a new note to add his Blog. God is with us in all our ways.

Gentleness

Gentleness is all about being like an Ocean,
Which can accommodate a lot of disturbances.
Just like a mother soothes her kid
The gentleness too helps makes us stay fine.

It is also a sign of a reformed person
Who plans well ahead of time
And is prepared to face any threat
As he has already given space for them too.

Divine God showed us a splendid manner
To behave to others which to be gentle.
Though the world expects us to be wild,
Remember that being gentle is better.

Love, Forgiveness, Sharing, Caring
Are all different faces of gentleness
And those attributes makes us a better person
Who spreads light around her.

When big rain falls drown from skies,
And also at times of hot sunshine,
A gentle person will be like an old tree
With deep roots and big branches offering itself to all.

Kiddishness and Learning

What? Why? Why not this way? How? When? Haven't you been haunted by such questions by some kid whom you had to take care of for a while? Or if you are a father or mother you surely would have faced the rapid fire of such questions from your loved ones. And many a time we might have got perplexed why is that so? Or it might be then that you might have really started to think what on the world is the answer to this question. Though you might not fear to give any answer to this new entrant of our Mammoth World of ours, but time will teach him the correct answer and then the kid will come back to you embarrass you with his right answer of His. Better we say the right answers and if we don't know just search and let the right information pass down to the kid. Again, just think for a while. Are you feeling such questions in your heart when you move around. If yes, then the kid in you have not died yet. But then, are you daring to find the answers to those haunting questions? If not, please do try. For those who don't have such questions coming to mind should try to develop the habit of asking such why questions around you. I remember as a kid, I told to my father, that I had finished studying and I am going  to play. Then he gave a very philosophical answer, which I keep to my heart. You start dying the day you stop learning. I add this too to it. And we continue to grow till the time we continue learning. Only a kid can grow. Let us not forget to ask questions and learn so that the kid in us will never die. 

Music - the language of the heart

Music is all around us. The birds sing them to us in the morning and evening. The wind plays the flute near us. The special talent of converting mere words to wonderful songs starts by infusing the spirit of music to it. The best method adopted by mothers of all places across the nations is to sing a Lullaby to their dear ones to help them to sleep. It is because of the special effect the music has on our brain that makes us always wanting for the companionship of music for all the periods of our lives. Be it in the time of happiness or sorrow, we always have a music associated with it. One of the greatest discoveries made by man was that he could use things around him for making music. Then the stones, thin strings of wire, skin of animals, thin sheets of wood have all manifested itself  into various forms like flutes, tambourines, violins, guitars etc. The base of this all lies in the fact that Music is Divine. It is a gift given to man by his creator. In the heaven, majestic angels are singing songs of praises to the Lord. There is music in all that we do. Let us open our ears to the shower of blessings around us, before we hurry to judge this world is full of noise. The blood flows in our veins in a musical pattern. The heart makes beats in a specified manner. As you run, the beat changes. Look under the water, were the fishes appear to swim, though they are actually dancing to a tune in their minds. Let us think for a moment about the ways in which we too can contribute our tune too this wonderful world around us. Remember, you too are a musician. And you will be remembered for the tune you gave to the world. Fear not to tune, as your tune too is relevant. 

Saying Thank you

As a kid we have always learnt to say thank you to others. But as we grew up, where have forgotten this precious talent of gifting others with an appreciation for the care others had given us. How many times have we said thank you to those who are worthy for it. Everyday in the evening when we sit down in front of our God and think of the great things that had happened in our lives the same day, we realise how many wonderful things had happened even in the so called worse day in our lives. Every body likes sweetness. And the best way to add sweetness in our lives is by acknowledging others of their care shown towards us. I remember the chief of Police saying, nobody will give anything free to anybody, unless it is our parents or immediate family. When somebody who is outside this circle extends any help to us, be it a very negligible  one, let us not hesitate to say Thank you. Again, the number of thank you that you get shows how much sweeter you have made this world to be in this day. And if this practiced well, how brighter will be this world at then end of you lifetime. 

What is Man with all the Beasts gone?

Nature was created by Lord with a great plan to spread His Love to the world. Every creature that was created had the splendid spirit infused in it. Man being the wisest of them all, has the divine responsibility of protecting it all. But, Man has this evilness that came to him as he disobeyed the Law. This made man greedy. Instead of earning Love, He started to work for money. The great fault here is that, he started to work hard to earn as much Money as he can. The merciless attack was unleashed on every wonderful creature that was around him. Big trees, Wild animals, Glorious rivers, Splendid birds have all had to surrender their lives to this aggressive outreach made by greedy man to make his life "better". Everything around Him became only utensils to tap money. Anything that came against him was destroyed in the process. And the worse part is that He is not in any mood to stop it all. How many of us dare to take a pro planet step? It takes a bold woman to go beyond the daily necessities and do something for the Mother nature. Let us remember the same old story that our grandparents used to tell us. Let us not cut the branch on which we are sitting. 

Gifting second hand things.

People always expect gifts from others. But, how many of them would accept the gifts if they are second hand ones. We have all learnt from our child hood days that we are something great and we always deserve the best. How many of us have dared to buy second hand things even when you had enough money to buy the first hand. There are people in this world who can't even afford a first hand thing. I would recommend you to take a risk this time to gift your dear ones with second hand things. If you had planned to buy a book as gift, try to get a used copy and gift the same. You know it has many advantages. One can save a lot of money is the first thing. Secondly, that money can be used for some other useful purpose. People also realise the necessity of reusing things. None of us might have ever gone inside the home of a poor classmate of ours. There were instances in their lives when their studies required every penny earned by their parents. In this tough time, the greatest blessing one can get is somebody offering atleast a used book for His studies. Another side to this is that, a lot of things that we have bought remains idle in our homes and finally one day we will dump them all the junkyard. Un shared knowledge is a great Sin. Let us take a moment to make a list of books which we are not going to use ever more and make it a point to share it with those in need.
If somebody is not able to find a person in need, just close your eyes and imagine the feeling you had when you had when you were given something which you really wanted for sometime in your life. Let us Gift each other second hand things.

The Caring Crow family

Friends, I happened to notice a nest on top of a tree, from the balcony of my work. The nest was so sweet to look at. The twigs are all neatly arranged to the place. The crows have perfectly made a nest to welcome their kids. How much care are these crows giving to their young ones. Mother crow sits and hatches the eggs. Meanwhile the father crow goes in search of food. After some days, I saw the eggs being broken and in their place, I saw three nice baby crows. Oh how loudly were they crying for food. And when the mother crow comes with the food, all three cry together and fight for the first bite. I stand with awe at the creator who had wonderfully arranged a family for the kids to be born, learn and grow. Let us take a moment to thank God for the wonderful parents and family that God has gifted us.

Innocent Animals Being Thrashed in Roads

When we ride along our roads everyday, we see a cat that has been thrashed or a dog being ridden over. It is a heart touching sight to see their bodies lying on the road with no one caring to at least move them over the road side. We are all so busy. Or we are all so concerned about ourselves. Why should we stop and care for these animals. Who considers them as fellow living things. No one.
We are just interested in achieving higher speeds. Or in just reaching our destinations in fastest manner. Birds, Insects, Frogs, Elephants.. So on and so forth. Hey Homosapiens!!! Where are you going? He says then, I too don't know. My fellow is rushing. Hence me too doing the same.