I am Indonesian who live in USA and married with American. In Indonesia we don't celebrate Father's Day but talking about Father's Day is interesting to me, automatically our mind will focus to our Father. What does Father mean to you? I believe there would be many options about this question and through this writing I would like to share several good and impressed things about my Father.
Some friends asked me how I could be so focus, discipline enough, good in study, free but straight on the line, a hard worker, etc. The answer is because I had seen a lot of examples from my father. As a human being, of course he had several minuses but I always noticed the pluses he had and never counted his minuses, so they might not affect my life. Also he had trained me about discipline when I was still a little child. Although sometimes it made me feel not comfortable but finally I knew the good things always came from the things that we had to pay it before.
The most impressive thing that he ever taught me was how I had to use the time for the useful things, and the several impressive acts was how he worked so hard and was so smart in making money to reach his goal for his family needs especially for his children educations.
But if someone asked me about what the gifts/presents you had gotten from him, this would make me confused to answer because honestly he never gave me a gift/present to my Birthday, Christmas, my graduation or etc. I just remembered he gave me a pair of the roller skate shoes and two different size of shoes pairs (adult size) when I was in the elementary school as the gifts from Dutch, a county where he went for his study in the navy. With the pure wondering question, I asked him, "Why do you give me two different sizes of adult shoes that I can not use them right now?" And he answered, "Because I want you wearing these when you are big someday and I don't know your size for the future so I bought 2 different sizes." And I responded him, "Yeah, but they have high heel. I am not sure I will be able to wear them someday." Then he commented, "You will see. They will look good on you." He was right. Now I still have it and wear it. Brown shoes with high heels. It has been around 26 years already and there had been several persons told me that they liked them when I wore them. Yes, that was the gift from him that I still have it till now and becomes a special memory for me. The roller skater shoes he gave me, it made me a famous roller skater in my residence area at that time.
The second gifts were many things from Dutch again as he came back from his second duty/study there. They were candies, jewelries toys, drawing books, coloring pens for drawing, sweaters, magazines, etc. From drawing books and coloring pens for drawing I got, they made me more interesting in drawing. From there I started to practice and practice, and made my drawing was improved.
He also taught me how became a success person. I could catch from his explanations in my version that becoming a success person could not be made instantly. It needed discipline, focusing and working hard. It meaned we needed healthy mental and spiritual to reach them. Then he explained how took care ourselves through our habits, food, and the relationship with God. A bunch of advices he gave me, it was because he wanted me becoming a success person. A success person doesn't mean to be a rich person but it means how worth I am in the family, friends and everywhere I am, at work, organization, church, etc.
I think all of the things that he had advised me I have done but actually there are something I never do it consistently like he had done before; reading a whole Bible, old and new testaments. One day he gave me an advice as a Christian should be better if I could read the whole Bible before I married and had the children. He was not sure after I married and had the children I could do it because he knew as a mother would make me busy taking care my family. Then I asked him, "Have you read the whole Bible too already?" His answer was, "Yes, when I was on the sea. Every night when I got the night shift, I went to the deck, I saw the dark sky fully with the stars, I said the prayer there for you and your brother because I could not watch you all the time. Most of my time as a Navy I spent a lot of time on the sea for the National duty. I asked God to watch you both. Then when I had more time I came inside and read the Bible."
His confession made me really quite and stunning, how impressed I was about how he loved me and my brother although he never said, "I love you" to us directly and I was so proud of him because in the middle of the night of his duty, he still had the time to communicate with HIM and he did it consistently. I had tried several times to read the Bible starting from the old testament. It worked just for couple days or several weeks and I gave up already. It was really truly difficult! It needed something extra' and I could not make it but I believe God had seen my heart and its fruits.
One day he gave me the Bible he used to read on the ship and I was little confused because the Bible still looked clean and I just saw several signs on the several verses. I asked him, "It is clean enough for a Bible that you had read all already." He explained it to me, "Yeah, because I took care it very carefully when I read it. I don't want to be dirty because it is GOD's words." Once again he made me so amazed. It was so contradictive with many statements I heard already from many Christians I knew. I heard that the cleaner Bible showed the owner more seldom read it or used it. Was it true or false? Maybe the answer could be 'yes' or 'no'. I thought it depended with how the owner treated his Bible. The most important thing, this reminded me how Christ asked us not to do like Parisian did. They wanted other people knew that they were praying to God on the corner/side of the street. But Christ asked us if we prayed, we should go to the room and praye there.
Now, every year Father's Day comes, meanwhile I am busy to help preparing my children to celebrate this special day to their Father (my husband), my mind always goes to my father who is still alive in Indonesia. He is the only one person who had taught me many good values of life. I see my brown shoes, I see the Bible, they are the great treasure of him for my life. Thank you, Dad!(*)
Published at Helium, Pebruari 8, 2009
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