imakelar

Just A Kite

Niagara Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the world which is a collection of three waterfalls located in Niagara Gorge which is located on the border between Ontario, Canada, and the state of New York, United States. Before a bridge was built across Niagara Gorge, several lives were lost as people attempted to cross the roaring, turbulent rapids.

You may be surprised to learn that the first steps in building a bridge over Niagara Falls were taken by a 16-year-old boy named Homan Walsh. In 1848, Homan flew a kite from one side of the canyon to the other, which earned him a $10 prize.

Someone on the other side caught a kite and tied a stronger string to the end of the kite, and a new, thicker string was pulled back across the canyon. This process is repeated with stronger ropes, then thinner ropes, then thicker ropes, and finally they have cables across a stretch strong enough to support workers, equipment, and materials.

Finally, the two countries are connected by a sturdy bridge that trucks and trains can cross. And it all started with one little kite string!

Sometimes the simple actions we take can have a tremendous impact on those around us. Maybe what we give is not much: time, energy, thought, attention, but God can make this simple way of extraordinary blessing for others. It is enough with small, simple, love-based actions that bring peace to others, if done consistently and continuously, they will undoubtedly be able to influence and change the situation around us for the better.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which people take and sow in their fields. Indeed, the seed is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows, mustard is bigger than any other vegetable, and even becomes a tree, so that the birds birds of the air come nesting in its branches.”

Be Diligent And Calm

“The schemes of the diligent will only bring abundance, but everyone who is hasty will experience only want.”

Diligent means doing the work at hand to completion. People who work but still need other people’s work to take care of their completeness means that they are still not fully diligent, they still need calm.

Calm is a state of not panicking, understanding the situation, and taking good and appropriate action for every thing that happens. All experienced a blackout and only the unsettled person screamed hysterically.

Calm when associated with craft means a person who works and is not primarily focused on how the job is done quickly without carefully considering everything related to the work he is doing. Work done in an uneasy state will cause the work to not be completed properly and people blame the things and people around them. Work is not a blessing, but is shunned by all; deficiency comes from there.

Working calmly and not in a hurry will make the job well done and felt by everyone so that it becomes a blessing and blessed people who do it. Such is the abundance of the diligent.

“And who will harm you if you are diligent in doing good”

Life Is An Opportunity

Read: Ecclesiastes 9:10-12 “For man does not know the time. Like a fish that is caught in a grisly net, and like a bird that is caught in a snare, so the children of men are ensnared in a bad time, when it comes to them suddenly. -arrive.”

In living this life we generally tend to walk on our own strengths and look at things from the point of view of physical eyes, as a result we often fall and reap failure, because our perspective will have an impact on our actions.

If we look at the days we live as something very hard and difficult, then we will feel how heavy the burden of life is, so that we too will walk unsteadily, without enthusiasm, and full of complaints. It says, “He who is zealous can endure his affliction, but he who heals a broken spirit” .

But if we look at life through the lens of faith, we will interpret life as an opportunity that God has given us. If we realize that this life is an opportunity, then we will live this life with enthusiasm. Therefore we will not let time pass by, on the contrary we will fill the time with positive things and do everything as well as possible. Opportunity does not come twice. Evidently there are many people who regret not playing when the opportunity given is not used.

In the end there is only useless regret. This is what is called kairos, namely a certain period, which when it is past it will not come back again; this is a golden opportunity, which doesn’t come twice. It is important for us to be sensitive to when God opens the door and closes the door (opportunity), because “…when He opens, nothing can close; when He closes, nothing can open.”

Today there are still many people who do not want to use the opportunity given to do what is best for God, instead they prefer to enjoy worldly pleasures and ignore His presence. Make the most of the opportunities that exist because there are times when we can no longer do anything.

Pick The most Beautiful Flowers

One day a student asked his wise teacher, “How can we get something perfect in this life” The wise teacher said, “Walk straight in the flower garden in front of you, pick the one flower that you think is the most beautiful. But you can’t go back back to pluck the flowers you’ve passed.”

The student carried out the orders of the teacher. After walking to the end of the garden, he returned empty-handed. The teacher asked, “Why didn’t you get any flowers?” The student replied, “Actually I have found it, but I didn’t pick it because I thought maybe there was something more beautiful ahead. And so on, and without realizing it I was already at the end of the garden without earn any interest.”

The teacher then explained. “That’s the way life is. In this life, people always want to get the most perfect, but what often happens, he gets nothing.” Only God is perfect. His works are perfect, His ways are perfect, His grace is perfect, His love is perfect.

Therefore, we need to learn to accept each other. It’s one of our ways to learn and strive to be perfect.

We don’t need to be disappointed if we find many imperfections in this life. We all have ideals, but we need to be realistic about them. In various imperfections, we learn to rely on a perfect God. Let His grace, love, and inclusion strengthen us.

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice, strive to be perfect. Take all my advice! Be of one heart, and live in peace; then God, the source of love and peace, will be with you!”

We Have Been Warned

Many people have unknowingly destroyed their own lives through their foolish actions or disobedience, even though they have been rebuked and warned by God with love.

This happened to Cain! When his heart was filled with anger, jealousy, and envy towards his brother, God had warned and rebuked him gently. The Lord said: “Will your faces not be radiant, if you do good But if you do not do good, sin is already peeking at the door;”.

God assured Cain that he could actually win the inner battle, but Adam’s elder son ignored God’s warning and followed his heart: “Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out into the field.’ While they were in the field, Cain suddenly struck his younger brother Abel and killed him.”

This is the first crime of murder committed by humans. Cain who doesn’t look the least bit sorry for what he’s done has to bear the punishment from God: “…cursed are you, thrown away from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hands. If you cultivate the land, the land will not be will give you full fruit again; you become a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

Until this moment there are millions of people on this earth who are walking the “way of Cain!” Only because they are aroused by emotions, hate, envy, jealousy, or because they want other people’s property, they have the heart to do heinous acts, without thinking about the risks or consequences.

It’s important that people have self-control. If not, then sin is already peeking at the door. “…everyone is tempted by his own desires, for he is drawn in and enticed by them. And when that desire is fertilized, it gives birth to sin; and when that sin is ripe, it gives birth to death.” For ignoring God’s warning, Cain’s life was ruined!

Good Actions Produce Good Results.

Once upon a time there was a house in the middle of the forest inhabited by a mother and her young child.

One day the boy was in the yard playing. At the same time a deer came. The deer tried to put its antlers into the child’s clothes so that the little boy seemed to be lifted on the antlers of the deer. Instantly the child was afraid of the deer and cried while shouting for his mother.

Reflexively the mother came out of the house and began to see what was happening. Unexpectedly, his son had been carried away into the forest by a deer. The mother tried her best to chase the deer into the forest.

But when the mother got to the forest, her child was already in the wide grass area and playing as usual. The mother was relief and started holding her child. They returned to their home.

But what happened, it turned out that their house had been crushed by a large tree. Of course, the condition of the house became shattered. The mother began to think that if she was still in the house without chasing her child, she would have become a victim of the fallen tree.

Instantly she remembered that several years earlier she had saved a fawn from a hunter. She covered the fawn with various kinds of cloth so as not to be caught by the hunters. When the hunters had left the place, she began to take the cloth covering the fawn and release the fawn into the forest.

Unexpectedly, the deer that brought her child was the deer she had saved first. It was as if the fawn was trying to thank the mother by taking her child to run into the forest and to save the family from a falling tree.

There is never a loss in doing good, no matter how small it is. Good actions will produce good results, and bad actions will produce bad results. No one can escape this reality. We really reap what we sow.

Sometimes the consequences are immediately apparent after our actions, such as when we get good grades for studying diligently, or fall and hurt our feet because we are not careful on the road.

At other times, we may not receive the consequences of our actions directly. For example, it is difficult to get a high-paying job because maybe we didn’t really study when we were in school or college, or we live healthy and fit in our old age because we have eaten healthy food and exercised diligently since we were young.

Continue to do good and other positive things because we must not be fooled by temporary and invisible things, thinking that our actions are not producing anything. Sow good things in our lives, so that our lives become a blessing and bring joy to others.

“Let us not become weary of doing good, for when the time comes, we will reap, if we do not become weak.”

Bitten Apple

A teacher is holding an apple. A few moments later he took a bite of some of the apple.

He then went to the mirror. He faced the apple in the part he had bitten into the mirror. Seen apples that are not whole anymore.

He then turned it over. Parts that are still intact are faced in front of the mirror. Now the apple looks like a whole apple.

The teacher then explained to his students: “That’s the face of social media life. Don’t swallow social media for granted. Moreover, rely on it.”

Social media is like a mass response. Both convey messages to us, but cannot be relied on to be fully trusted. Today, many people are drawn to their attention and energy by social media. It’s not that it’s wrong or just bad, but we must remain vigilant. Do not let all concentration drained and we are made blind to all its messages. Do not be lulled or sedated by his deceitful charm.

Make sure we always return to real life, to common sense, and the people closest to us.

Bring Good

Life consists of the paradoxes of life that complement each other, namely health-sickness, hardships, gains and losses, difficulties, cheapness and even free, and so on.

Life must be selective in certain things such as a healthy lifestyle about eating and drinking but that is not a guarantee that life will not fall ill.

Humans are looking for cheap, easy, and fun but it often happens that the problems that arise cause great difficulties in life.

“Everything” means that every thing that happens, every situation that exists, we should realize that God is working to bring good to those who love God. This means that man must be able to see God’s presence in all things and let God work in those things.

God brings good from all things to everyone who loves God and lets God continue to plan for his life. “But the plans of the LORD endure forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation.”

Build Grace

“Let no dirty words come out of your mouth, but use good words to build up, where necessary, so that those who hear it may find grace.”

Grace is not something that is built from a foundation into a building that is getting more and more formed so that it will eventually be completed. Grace is a gift from above, Lord; not the work of man.

Grace can be received if there is a good word in that place. So what is heard can also be a channel of blessing to receive that grace .

There are two kinds of words, namely good and dirty. Dirty words are definitely evil and lead to sin while good words can still contain evil by an insincere motivation.

Kind words build up and where previously unaccustomed to good words will become a program of personal development that enables humans to receive grace.

That grace is delivered by kind words to those whose personalities are awakened. Kind words build where they need to be… no, kind words build wherever they are spoken.

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up as you are doing.”

Obedience

One day God gave a task to a man. The Lord showed him a large boulder and told the man to push it with all his might.

For months the man kept pushing, not a single rock moved. Exhausted and desperate, the man protested, “Lord, I have used all my strength, but look, this stone has not moved. Why did I fail?” God replied, “My son, I only told you to push the rock and not move it. Now you thought you had failed. But now look at you. Your arms and muscles have become strong.You really cannot move the stone because I call you to obey to do My will, and to prove your faith. It is I who will move the stone. !”

The waiter at the wedding at Cana probably thought like the man above when he ran out of wine. Jesus commanded them to fill the jars, usually reserved for the washing of feet, with water! They may wonder because they cannot understand the strange commandment, but they remember Mary’s message, “What (Jesus) said to you, do it!” They also obeyed when Jesus asked to scoop up the water in the jar and bring it to the master of the feast. The rest is Jesus at work!

Yes, God only asks us to obey His word. The result is God at work. Whatever results He makes, always brings glory to Him. Remember, obedience to God’s commands is our part. About the results, it becomes God’s part.