THE ULTIMATE LOVE - A POEM WRITTEN BY SOMEONE WHOM I KNOW

Grieved and sorrowful, left alone in Gethsamane

None to pray or none to strengthen

You fell to the ground and cried to the Father

“Lord, not Mine but yours be done”.

Soon came the betrayer whom also you had loved

But still no words of condemnation hurried our.

You hugged hem and called him “My friend”,

Overwhelming with sorrow for the one you also loved was doomed to hell.

Sorrows after worries a pained heart You carried,

Seeing Your sheep scattered with fear all over.

Chained and Harassed was Your gentle body taken,

Yet You took it all just to reconcile Man with God.

You were disowned by the ones you loved,

And betrayed by the ones you cared,

Forsaken by the ones of your own,

And beaten by the ones for whom you came to save.

All people stood around and threw insults and accusations,

You never even whispered a word oh Lord!

Because the sorrow was so deeply hurting,

That a word could not strain itself out of your throat.

Standing like a Sinner before the ones you came to save,

With sorrows none can understand grieved you more,

When people shouted “Let His blood be upon us and our children”,

You cried in your heart,”No!No1 Don’t say that!”

Given exchange for a cruel Murderer, still with compassion you saw the people,

Saying,”This blood is shed all for you, Be saved!”

And lead to the palace to be crowned with poisonous thorns,

Which bruised the delicate skin of the Rose of Sharon.

You were the Darling of Prince of Heaven,

Crowned with all crowns, glorious and always praised,

But now with those thorns finding its way in,

Did they hit you again and again on your Head.

Along the road reaching Golgotha you carried the cursed cross,

No strength in the body and Man full of sorrow and grief,

No pleasing looks you had for someone to love,

Such was the state of the Prince of Heaven.

After stumbling several times and falling with the cross,

On to the place of skull did you reach

The nails found its way into your gentle hands,

You had to take ti all just to redeem the cursed mankind.

You hung solitary on the wooden cross, My Lord!

When I asked “What made you bear this all?”

You looked into my eyes and said “My Dear, other than giving My life in this way,

There was nothing that would be done to redeem you,

I knew you could not bear the pain so I took all of it!

What kind of words can explain this love,

Still on that cross naked you hung.

But when you saw me crying in a road far away,

Telling “Its because of Me! All because of Me!”

You cried,”No My Child Don’t cry! Your life is worth it all, Don’t cry!”

Not your bruises and bleeding wounds did you bother about,

But you cared for the tears that flowed out of my eyes,

And worried more the blood that oozed out you never considered,

But the broken heart of mine you had cared!

Lovingly you said, “Don’t feel bad My Child!

I love you to the core, that’s why this pain,

Doesn’t matter much when I realize

I will get you back to be Mine again”.

GOD'S PERFECT GIFT - 7 (MRS. NIRMALA - MY MOTHER WHOM I TREASURE A LOT)

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? – Isaiah 49:15

World renowned evangelist Billy Graham once said, “Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.”

My mother was born as an eldest child in a poor family. Her father owned a tea shop throughout his life time. After my mom, my grandparents had nine children out of which five died. She was the one who used to help her mom during those toughest times and because of the family burden she could not continue her studies after tenth standard. The toughest times they had crossed as a family enabled my mom to be a strongest woman. 

My grandparents were non-Christians and so my mom also grown up as a non-Christian. But as my father was a converted Christian, my mom accepted Christ after she got married to my dad. God blessed my parents with three sons and I am the youngest child.

MY MOM’S LOVE:

On March 2010, one evening, around 6pm, my mom called me and informed me that she has breast cancer. Being at my work place, my heart was shattered when I heard that my mom got cancer.

In the following days, the doctors decided to do the surgery in order to remove the cancer infected breast. I along with my other family members stood around the bed of my mother before she went to surgery. My mom was lying down in the surgery gown, smiling at all of us, speaking to us normally as if nothing has happened.

The time came, around 10am; they took her into surgery theater. My father was so tensed throughout the whole time; he was pacing in front of the operation theater. Me and my brothers were sitting, crying and praying for the life of our mother. 

Four hours passed and the surgery hadn’t got over. After two hours or so they bring in my mom back to the ward. I looked at her frail face; she had gone in with a smile, now she looked all fragile and feeble. She was lying there with a tube inserted into her right chest connected to little white box, and blood was dripping continuously into the box. The nurse told us that she was given an anesthetic, and that she would gain her conscious only after few hours.

My Dad and my brothers decided to go out to get something to eat. I stayed back in the hospital room with my mother. I was sitting and looking at the blood dripping into the box, and praying that she would be just fine. After sometime my mom barely opened her eyes, and she could not lift her right hand. But her fingers indicated that she is calling me to her side. I was filled with fear because the doctors told that if my mother woke up in between she will have severe pain as they removed one of her breast. With a tensed heart I went near to her. She could not speak at all because of the pain. 

But yet she asked me a simple question which I can never forget in my life. She asked with a gentle voice, “My son, have you had your lunch.”

One of her breast was removed. She was in terrible pain and the blood was dripping. But she was so concerned about her children even at that time. Once she asked that question again she went to the unconscious state. 

That’s the love of my mother.

MY MOM’S PRAYER:

In the year 2002, I had completed diploma in ECE. In the city where we lived there was a government engineering college. My family was a middle class family and so they could not afford to pay fees of a private college. We applied for that government college entrance examination. 

Nearly hundreds of students will write the entrance exam for lateral entry students and out of which they will select top 6 students. My mom started praying for me a lot. Finally the day of entrance exam came and I went to write that exam.

Thirty minutes before the entry time to the hall, my mom along with my dad knelt down in our home to pray for me. I wrote exam for nearly two hours and my mom prayed for me continuously for that two hours. 

After two days the result came and I got fifth rank in that exam and I was admitted to B.Tech ECE in that reputed Government College. 

I got that seat because of God’s abundant grace and my mom’s prayer. There were several occasions God has blessed me because of her prayers and pages will not be enough to write all those incidents.

 MY MOM’S LIFESTYLE:

Being a mother to three sons and raising them in God’s way is really a difficult job. She used to tell us that we should live according to God’s will but more than that she lived a life and showed us how to live for God through her life.

From the day I came to understand the things that happened around me, I can say that I never saw her sitting in front of television to watch any movies or serials. Even today she doesn’t know a single name of any actor or actresses. 

In a year she will read Bible entirely atleast once. She is continuing this for several years and daily she used to pray minimum of two hours. 

We understood the importance of prayer and Bible reading not through what she said but through her life. 

MY MOM’S SACRIFICE:

Till the day I completed my M.Tech my dad’s salary was not more than five thousand rupees. But yet when I completed my PG degree we had no debt to pay because my mom has sacrificed so many things for her.

If there is any shortage of money she will not take any new dress even for Christmas and New Year but she will take dresses for us during all happy occasions. 

Even today my father says to me that my mom never had any desire to go out or to purchase any luxury items because of our family condition. 

Today we were blessed by God and we are living a good life but even today she stays simple and had no special desires but to see her sons living for the glory of God.

I can say that she sacrificed so many things for us and earned many relatives anger as she failed to attend their family functions because of the shortage of money in our family on those years.

MY MOM’S DESIRE:

The only desire my mom had is that she wanted me and my brothers to live according to God’s will. 

So when she started looking girls for our marriage, my mom prayed a lot and she waited at God’s presence for hours together to know God’s will. 

Because of her today, I and my brothers got God fearing life partners. To know God’s will in my marriage, my mom waited for two years so patiently at God’s feet. Then God spoke to her clearly and then she started to proceed in my marriage.

Today I have a God fearing wife who is so loving and caring because of the Grace of God and because of my mom’s patience and prayers. 

Even today her desire is that we have to do things only for God’s glory and nothing else.

MY MOM’S KNOWLEDGE:

Though my mom never completed her higher secondary schooling she made us to study well in reputed schools and colleges. My eldest brother has finished B.Tech in EEE. My elder brother has finished B.Pharm. I had finished M.E. 

Even if I take this article and give it to my mom she won’t understand it clearly but yet with her knowledge she raised me to this level. 

DEDICATION AND THANKS:

I dedicate this article to the love and sacrifice of my mother and I thank Jesus Christ for giving me such a wonderful mother. 

“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” – Abraham Lincoln

RELATION & RELATIONSHIPS - 6 (FORGIVE ONE ANOTHER)

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:32

In the previous article of this section, I wrote about an incident in which my eldest brother’s daughter got angry on me for the way I laughed at her. I thought she had forgotten about that incident the very next day. But few weeks before my mother told me that as my eldest brother’s daughter was playing, suddenly she told my mother that she is going to catch me and handover to police for the way I made fun about her dad on that day. 

Even after one and half months my brother’s five year old daughter could not forget that incident and she could not forgive me for what I did. She might be too young to forgive but the way she remembered the entire incident surprised me a lot.

Many a times even in our lives, we carry the bitterness in our heart which was created by someone in our life at some point of time. We fail to forgive them and because of that our relationship ends in a sad note.

I have a God given friend who loves me so much from my college days. We studied diploma together and then he took a one year gap and joined as a junior to me while I was studying engineering degree. On those days I had some other friends whom I came to know in that engineering college. 

Whenever someone whom I know celebrated their birthday I used to make a small poster wishing them with good quotes and pasted it in our class notice board. It became so popular because many people liked it. 

Mostly I remembered everyone’s birthday and so I could able to do that to everyone whom I loved. Everything was going well but suddenly I had some misunderstanding with few of our class girls whom I liked. I was confused and I don’t know how to manage the situation at all. 

During that time my best friend’s birthday came. In midst of all the confusions I forgot his birthday. He came to me on that day afternoon and asked me to find what’s special on that day. I gave him several wrong answers and finally he told me that it was his birthday and he went away immediately. 

He was my best friend and how his heart would have felt that day? I gave gifts to everyone who celebrated their birthday on that year but finally failed to even wish my best friend on his birthday. He felt so bad. But what he did on the next day was so amazing.

He just came to me as usual and behaved as if nothing happened. He felt bad the previous day but he never showed that bitterness to me at any instant. In spite of his sadness, he forgave me for what I did and moved on. 

Because of that even today our relationship is going in a smooth way. By God’s grace we are together for nearly 15 years but not even one day we had any fight. There were times certain things happened like this but he was very quick to forgive my mistakes. 

My dear young friends, if someone whom you are close to hurts you by their words or deeds, forgive them. Do not carry the bitterness in your heart and mind. God has forgiven all your sins and He is forgiving you even today. As Christ forgives you, forgive those who sin against you. God bless you.

“Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” – Colossians 3:13