THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING
“Those blessings are sweetest that are won with
prayer
and worn with thanks.”
―
When we ask our near and dear ones to bless our
children – when we say ‘Need your blessings’ – do we really believe, that the
blessings help our children?
Last evening, my friend Tabassum, who, like my wife and me, has only one
son, messaged me… “Sir, Mustafa will be leaving for New Zealand tomorrow for
higher studies… He needs your prayers and blessings.”
Of course, young Mustafa will have my prayers and blessings. I promised my
friend, Tabassum, that I would personally meet Mustafa and convey my love,
wishes, prayers and blessings.
So, this morning, I dropped by for a few minutes at Tabassum’s place.
The atmosphere at home was charged with emotions… I could relate to it… Only
one son… For over 21 years or so, he was the centre of your galaxy… and, now,
the time has come to leave him out of your nest… Yes, the world, today, is not
like the old world… You don’t miss your loved ones really because of the sophisticated
technology… Yes, “No one really ‘goes away’, in today’s world,” they say… But
then, but then…
“Do you have some space left in your bag, Mustafa?” I teased the young
man, this morning, “Pack mom and dad, too!”
Well, that was not a premeditated statement I had made. But, while bidding
young Mustafa good-bye, I did clarify on my casual statement. I said, “May
there be space in your heart for mom and dad, always… It started there… It
should end there. They need you in the years ahead.”
All parents want ‘the best’ for their children
when they see them off to foreign lands. Children do well in life and settle
abroad, which is, really, the parents’ desire for their children. But then,
that feeling of being on your own… with age, sickness, and, that quiet loneliness…
Let me tell you, there is no feeling like the feeling of having children and
grand children around you at your old age…
Maybe, it’s true, that
love truly grows fonder in distance… Maybe, Shakespeare was right when he made
Juliet say to Romeo, “Parting is such sweet sorrow…”.
And, maybe, Kahlil Gibran
wanted us to bear in mind, always, this:
“You are the bows
from which your children,
as living arrows, are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.”
as living arrows, are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.”
After
wishing good-bye to Mustafa, I, along with my wife, son and in-laws, headed for
the Christening ceremony and celebrations of our niece, Benita’s first baby,
Daniel. This bundle of joy had just arrived in to the world of Benita and her
hubby, Cyril, some two months ago. Today, we, their near and dear ones, had
joined them to shower our blessings… The baby Daniel, with his eyes closed, was
unaware of what was going on, today… He was baptized to be a Christian… He wasn’t
aware who his parents, grandparents and God parents were. But then, we all were
aware what we were doing… why we had gathered today… what we wanted for little
boy, Daniel. The Master of Ceremony, fittingly, opened the celebrations with
the popular hymn, ‘There shall be showers of blessing’…
“There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.”
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.”
It’s such a popular hymn… So regularly we sing it in our churches, prayer
meets and functions … It’s a happy song. Perhaps, it’s a very befitting song,
today. Because, as a strange co-incidence, some one hundred and thirty-five
years ago, it was written by another Daniel – Daniel W. Whittle… Yes, as though,
it was destined to be sung, with all its glory, today, here, for our little
Daniel...
“You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.”
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.”
I
always get goose-bumps, when, each time, I revisit this passage from Kahlil
Gibran’s classic, ‘The Prophet’…
May young Mustafa and may little
Daniel be showered with our blessings… and, their wonderful parents, too…
GERALD
D’CUNGA
Pic.: Rashmi Sondhi
Video:
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