the search for Shangri-La (part 1)

"Have you find the Shangri-La my love?"

This question echoes in my mind lately... It rose in the darkness when I laid down to meditate in the gym after a body-balance exercise...
And through the night when I slept that night, it seems that I have an odd dream ....
A long wait for a lover that goes around the world to find his Shangri-La... in the end he is back to find the Shangri-La is inside the soul of his true lover.

~~~~~

My love is the blue ocean, with his drops he fills my thirsty soul
My love is a soft wind that fills my lungs with the fresh air
My love is a divine presence that thrills me every time I saw sunrise and sunset 
My love is a warmth of a smile that can turn the worst day into a best moment in life.....

But he's gone, gone to search for his true Shangri-La, the passion to find it stronger than anything that could hold him in this earth...
and I left here with a constant dream, a dream unfulfilled, and loneliness that silence my soul

So, I walk....through mountains and valleys, dive to the deepest sea and soaring to the sky with colorful wings....just to find him, so that I can bring him back to me...

Years past....but still I can't find him....
I chanted thousands prayers, look for him in every holy places on earth... just to see a glimpse of his face, to feel the warmth of his presence...
But he's nowhere...

I count the stars and sing an old rhyme before I sleep in hope that the universe will keep him safe that night
I sleep every night in hope that he's here, embrace me in the gate as I open the front door and look to start the day....
But he's nowhere.......

Has he found the Shangri-La and forget me?
Should I continue life and forget him?
Life seems unbearable knowing that he left me here...

Time shifts, life continues...
Memories fades...people grow old...
I had forgot to count the days.... almost lose the hope...
But it clings to me like an eternal fire...
To make me wait for your soul, in case the mountains keep your body in their cold freezing peaks

And I'm waiting.... still waiting...

~~~~~

Love by Rumi

Recently, I began to notice beautiful poems by Rumi, a famous Iranian/Turkish poet.

I just love his poems about love... just as they spoke to my hearts...

Listen to the sound of the reed

Listen to its plaintive notes,

For, ever since it was cut off from the reed-bed

It has been telling the tale of separation.

I want a heart torn by separation

That I may unfold to such a one

The pain of love...

For everyone who is separated far

From his source

Wishes back the time when he were one with it.

-Rumi-

If you feel any desire for me, then say so.
If you live without love, alone, I want to know.
If your heart holds a place for me, then say so.
Say if it 's so, or say no, but tell me the truth.

#1582, from Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi

What Qualities to Look in a Woman?

As my previous post regarding how to choose a man that worth fighting for to my fellow female friends. Here's the post I dedicated for men who are longing to find the women they long for to spend the rest of their lives together... May you find her, brother....

And may a true man of God find me as I'm struggling each day to be more perfect and have these qualities, especially quality no. 6 as I'm get used to be a leader and initiator in my job and among my friends :)

Here they are the qualities:

1. Fears God and whose hope is in the Lord God. Her life is going to be a reflection of where her hope is. If a young lady's hope is in any place other than the Lord, the young who marries her is going to spend the rest of his life trying to help his wife catch a butterfly. It isn't going to happen.
2. Honors her parents. There is so much baggage today being brought into marriages based upon dysfunctional relationships with Mom and Dad. And even though this impacts both the husband and the wife, it's been my experience that women tend to be impacted more negatively by this than young men. Women tend to be more nurturing and they are impacted deeply by hurting relationships. If she has a hard time honoring her parents, she will have a hard time honoring you. Find someone who has or is working to have a healthy relationship with her parents.
3. Knows how to ask for forgiveness, admit she's wrong, grant forgiveness, and give grace when you fail her. This isn't just a one-way street. Both of you are going to need to do that.
4. Wants to be a wife and a mother. There are some young ladies who want to be married, but don't really want to be a wife and a mother. They want to be married, but they want their career to be their number-one pursuit. I believe the scriptures teach that a wife's number-one pursuit should be ministering to her husband and family. That means if you choose to have children, your priorities and values have already been determined.
5. Displays character in her modest dress. A young man's character is displayed in his choices around life—around the use of money and relationships. But a woman's character is displayed in how she handles the power of her femininity and sexuality. In other words—how modest is she? That's becoming a weird word in our culture, but I would challenge young men to keep their eyes out for young women whose character is displayed in not only on the inside, but the outside as well.
6. Knows how to follow a man. That doesn't mean perfection, but it does mean that she understands that she's the vice president, not the president. Women are joint heirs of the grace of God, but someone has to make the final decision when you both disagree. When one person votes one way, and the other person votes another, I believe it's the responsibility of the husband to listen carefully and wisely consider the counsel of his wife. It's upon him and to the Lordship of Jesus Christ as being led in the power of the Holy Spirit to make that decision, and then it's upon the wife to be able to follow under the same influence. That's not an easy thing in this culture.

As you see, it's not all about look and appearance, but more to qualities of her inner being. Know how to make-up and dress modestly are important, but after all those beauties fading... all you want is to have a person that accept you and together (yes, I mean TOGETHER) be with you through good times (either it hobbies/ministries/anything that you both can enjoy together); or  bad times (career changes, sickness, health failures, bankruptcy, etc).

I heard those from my male friends who almost got divorce or cheating on their wives by having affairs with other women who might not as pretty or gorgeous as their wives. Sometimes, their wives pretty faces and sexy bodies can't complete what they longing for, an union or togetherness that each individuals seek deeper in the souls...

But, if you're a man and woman of God, no matter happens in your life and how your current spouse react to you, you will stick to the marriage covenant and believe me, God's miracles work on the troubled marriages even only one person seek His face for help.

May God blesses every marriages out there....

Source : http://www.familylife.com/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=dnJHKLNnFoG&b=3593987&ct=4639461&notoc=1

What A Man Should Posses to be Worth Fighting For....

Recently, a friend spoke to me that she's already ready to get married with her boyfriend. A statement that I considered brave enough considering she's a lot younger than me, and nowadays there're lots of seem-compatible-enough couples who were madly in love in their weddings endedin divorces two or three years after...

Sadly but true, many women seek the wrong qualities in men and seem tolerate 'insignificant things' that turned out to be the most important in their future marriage life... According to a site that full of good advices from trustful women and men of God, here's the qualities that a woman should seek from a man :

1. Fears God. Some of the ways you can tell if a young man fears God is by his language and how he treats other people. Does he treat them with respect? If not, why not? We as human beings are made in the image of God, and respecting people ultimately shows a heart that reverences the One whom we reflect.
2. Is not afraid to love. That may sound like a no-brainer, but a lot of young men today are afraid of commitment, and the young lady ends up chasing the young man. What we need today are more young men who are not afraid of being real, authentic, and committed to a young lady in a relationship. We need men who are not afraid to love.
3. Can admit his faults, his mistakes, and when he's hurt you. Ruth Bell Graham made the statement, "A good marriage is the union of two forgivers." The reason is because you're going to hurt one another over and over again during your lifetime together. If you don't know how to ask for forgiveness and give forgiveness, you're never going to have a great marriage. The growth of your marriage will be stunted early on.
4. Can control his passions. We live in an age that has been invaded by pornography. The world sends a message that you can have it all and can satisfy yourself. I would want my daughters to date a young man who is fully in charge of his passion and can control his desire for the opposite sex.
5. Honors his parents. In the Ten Commandments, God tells us to honor our parents that our lives may be long and it may be well with us. Wouldn't you want to select a man whose life has a sense of well being in God's favor? I have heard it said that if you want to see how a young man will treat you, see how he treats his mother. I'd take that a step further—how does he honor both his mother and his father? Does he speak well of them or is he angry with them? Does he refuse to speak about them at all? What's going on between a young man and his parents is very important.
6. Is in the process of becoming a leader who knows how to serve. Being the head of a home and having so much authority and responsibility demands a servant spirit and self-denial. If a young man doesn't know how to deny himself on behalf of another person, giving up his personal rights, goals, and dreams, I would question whether he would know how to create a family over a lifetime. 

Do you find these qualities in a man? If yes, don't let him go girls! ;-) 

For the men, you might want to read what qualities to seek in a woman. Read my post after this...

source : http://www.familylife.com/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=dnJHKLNnFoG&b=3593987&ct=4639461&notoc=1