The sun will shine and the wind will calm down

Greetings!

What is faith?  If we look online, we can find many wonderful quotes.  Here is a personal experience I would like to share with you.

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In February 2007, our younger son moved out of our apartment, and moved into his own house because he was getting married in the summer.

Ever since their engagement in the summer of 2006, our son and his fiancee had looked everywhere for a special place for their wedding.  They found a beautiful rose garden with a nice reception hall.  They decided to have their wedding there.  It was quite a distance from our son's house, his fiancee's family, and our apartment.   As a result, the bride, her family, and all the bridesmaids had to stay in a hotel near the garden days before the wedding.  An aunt of the bride lived about 35 minutes away from the garden.  She had kindly offered our son the use of her house for the photo session with his family and the groomsmen.  Our son came home the night before the wedding so that he could drive us over there the next day.

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In the morning of the wedding day, we woke up to a gray sky.  It was raining, and the wind was blowing hard.  I did not expect this at all.  I had prayed months ago with all my heart and soul for a beautiful, sunny day on this important occasion.  As I looked outside from the window of our apartment, I assured myself that everything was going to be all right.  I affirmed in my heart that -

       By the time of the wedding, the sun will shine and the wind will calm down.

The wedding ceremony was going to take place at 5 p.m. in the magnificent outdoor garden.

A loved one turned on the television.  According to the weather forecast, it would remain pretty much the same for the rest of the day - cloudy and rainy with gusty winds; there would be no sunshine because the clouds were thick.  Luckily, despite of the forecast, our whole family was peaceful.  Our son, the groom, was in high spirit.  He was excited, yet calm.

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In the afternoon, our son drove us to the house.  As soon as we stepped inside, the aunt talked about the weather.  She told our son that she had been calling party companies all morning hoping to rent some tents for the wedding.  She had as yet found a company that had any tent left.  I smiled and said, "Don't worry!  By the time of the wedding, the sun will shine and the wind will calm down."  She gave me a look as if I did not know what I was talking about, and continued to make her calls.

A while later, other people and the groomsmen, with umbrellas and raincoats, started rushing in.   Almost everybody raised their concern about the weather the minute they walked in.  Time after time, I would immediately say, "Don't worry!  By the time of the wedding, the sun will shine and the wind will calm down."  In their rush to get in, they had not noticed my husband and I were sitting in the family room.  When they heard what I said, each one of them looked back at me with surprise and disbelief.  A few including the two photographers had never met me.  However, they realized I must be the groom's mother since I was the only Chinese woman there.  Therefore, no one said anything to counter what I said.  My husband did not understand English, and I told him what I said in Chinese.

One time while I was repeating my words "Don't worry!  By the time of the wedding, the sun will shine and the wind will calm down", the gusty wind blew the backyard chairs off the ground, and threw them against the fence a distance away.  I knew some eyes were on me at that moment.  I smiled.  I was neither embarrassed nor worried.  Instead, I found the timing of the wind interesting.

Our daughter-in-law's aunt eventually stopped calling the party companies for tents.  She was very loving and kind.  She had prepared lots of food for the guests.  Around 3 p.m., the wind and rain had slowed down somewhat.  We put on our formal wears, and went outside to take some pictures.  Then we got into our cars and left for the wedding.

On our way there, we drove past a vast field of grass with some trees.  Suddenly, the powerful sun came out.  The leaves and grass with a layer of raindrops sparkled in the golden sunlight.  I was captivated by the sudden change of scenery.  I looked up at the sky.  Incredibly, it was beautifully blue with no trace of gray or cloud!  I closed my eyes and said, "Thank you, God!"  I looked over to my husband who was sitting at the back of the car with our older son.  There he was, looking at me with a big smile, and two thumbs up!

Amazingly, by the time of the wedding, the ground was dry as if it had never rained. The sky was blue.  The wind was calm.  The sun shone lovingly until almost 9:30 p.m.  During the wedding ceremony and the reception, many people commented on how beautiful the day was.     (In my post The amazing prophetic dream of moving , I wrote a little bit about the wedding ceremony too.)

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What is faith?

Do we have faith when everything is going our way?

Do we lose faith when what we pray for does not happen?

Oh, believe me; I have my share of disappointment.

To me, faith is the innate knowing that all is well.  Faith is to go about life with confidence and acceptance that no matter what happens, everything is going to be all right.


Many blessings,
Q of D

A little girl's words on the spirit within us

Greetings!

We were at our younger son's house a few weeks ago.  I had an interesting, unexpected conversation with our 5-year-old granddaughter.

She was eating some snacks by the table.

She said, "Ah Ma (i.e. grandma), I want to tell you a secret."

Untainted by experiences from adulthood, children were wonderful storytellers because they had amazing imagination and were very intuitive.

Excitedly, I asked, "What is it?"

She put her right hand over her heart, and said in a low voice, "There is a spirit in here."

I was surprised.  I did not think my granddaughter heard this from her parents.  I did not talk to my grandchildren anything about spirituality.  I knew my son and daughter-in-law had their own plan of what to teach their children, and I respected their right.  

I said, "Oh, really?  Do I have a spirit in my heart too?"

She said, "Yes, of course.  Everyone has a spirit inside."

I asked, "How do you know that?"

She said, "I just know.  The spirit is very, very powerful."  After pausing for a second, she added, "And, it is very, very dangerous too."

I did not expect to hear the second part of her comment.  I asked, "Why is the spirit very dangerous?"

She answered with assuredness, "The spirit is very, very powerful and very, very dangerous."

Then our conversation was over.  My cute, beautiful granddaughter asked me to go to her toy kitchen.  She was going to be the chef, and I could order any food I liked.

I was surprised at her words that 'the spirit is very, very dangerous'.  When I had time to contemplate, I found what she said bore some truths.  As humans, we were born with the power to create.  The condition of the world we lived in was our creation.  With free will, selfish desires, and foolishness (or ignorance), some of us were our own worst enemies.  Millions had died in the hands of dictators, tyrannies, and terrorists.  Wars and violence became part of our lives.

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Are we powerless towards what happens around us?  I think we should never underestimate our own power within.  Most of us want to live in peace.  Let us choose to stay in peace no matter what happens or where we are.  Let us focus on love, beauty, goodwill, and harmony around us.  We are making a difference when we let ourselves be the peace that we are.

Many blessings,
Q of D

Racism and Discrimination - Story 3

Greetings! 

Here is another incident.

It happened a few years after the 2001 9/11 Terrorist Attacks.  My husband and I were no longer in the restaurant business.

We bought something from a store.  When we opened it at home, we found it was defective.  We went to the store to return the item.  I lined up at the customer service counter.  Quite some people were ahead of me.

Next to the customer service counter was a counter where people bought lottery tickets.   Two women in the Middle Eastern attire stood in front of the counter.  A store employee was there.  She had her back towards them, and seemed to be busy rearranging something in front of her.

Two store employees (women) worked at the customer service counter.  A customer brought with her many items to return,  and one of the employees had been helping that customer since I lined up.  Quite some time had gone by.  I was finally the fourth in line.  The female employee at the lottery counter still had her back towards the two Middle Eastern women, but was now talking to her two coworkers at the customer service counter.  She told them she would never serve those two Middle Eastern women.  She called them names.  Though she talked in a low voice, many of us heard what she said.  Her coworkers at the service counter never responded to what she said.  The two Middle Eastern women had carried on a conversation in a soft voice among themselves while they waited.  They did not seem to hear the store employee's racist talk about them.

I returned the item and got a refund.  The two women still waited at the lottery counter.  I decided it was time to buy a lottery ticket.  I walked over, and lined up behind them.  My husband said to me in Chinese, "What are you doing?  You've already spent too much time waiting in line.  Why do you want to buy a lottery ticket now?  Don't you see how long they've (i.e. the two Middle Eastern women) waited?"  I smiled.  I told him I just wanted to buy a ticket, and the wait would not be long.

As expected, one of the employees at the customer service counter soon came over.  She took care of the customers ahead of me.   When it was my turn, I looked at her with a joyful smile.  I said, "Thank you!"  She nodded at me with a big smile.  We knew exactly why we were there.

In my heart, I held no ill feelings towards the store employee at the lottery counter.  She was where she was.  I lined up at the counter because I had faith that someone who was open-minded would come to help us.

Some people in a similar situation might choose to have a talk with the employee, or reported what happened to the store manager.  They believed others would change if they pointed out he or she was wrong.  From my own experiences, it was not necessary the case.  Oftentimes,  people only changed when they were ready to.  It did not mean I would never speak up.  I followed my heart's guidance, and sometimes I did speak up.  (See my posts Part 2 - The Gathering and The Grand Prize and the Second Reading).

On that day, I chose to line up behind the two Middle Eastern women.  The employee from the customer service counter chose to come over to help us.  The lottery counter employee was in this experience as she watched what went on.  Each one of us was responsible for what we chose to do.

Many Awakened Ones have told us we create our own reality.  When we focus on (or dwell in) hatred, we may live lifetimes in hatred.  For me, my mother's love for me, the joy that my loved ones have brought into my life, the love and kindness that others have bestowed upon me, the beauty of nature, the love of the Divine, and the fun of life will always be with me wherever I am.

I appreciate our differences in appearance, culture, and race.  How boring it would be if we all look alike and behave the same way!  (Link to Racism and Discrimination - Story 1 and Racism and Discrimination - Story 2 )

Have a good weekend!  

 
Love,
Q of D