My Word is My Bond

Well, I’m not talking about the famous phrase from James Bond. You know the –My Name is Bond. James Bond’s thing- :)

But, while working as a stock dealer few years ago, I remembered that there’s a phrase that’s famous among us and widely used in our conversation.

Let say our client which is a Hongkong-based client couldn’t get the correct amount (the quantity) of the stock he bought that day, sometimes our company agreed to top up whatever the amount to fill the full quantity of their orders. It wasn’t done in the market yet or in other terms people usually said it’s an off-market transaction, but we agreed on it verbally. That’s when we made a promise. That’s when we called: ‘My word is my bond’. We gave our word that our promise would be kept.

Then I tried to search in the internet about the definition of this phrase and found it through a website:

The complete phrase is "my word is my bond" meaning that just by giving your word, one can be assured that the promise will be kept.

It's a maritime brokers' motto. Since 1801 the motto of the London Stock Exchange (in Latin "dictum meum pactum") where bargains are made with no exchange of documents and no written pledges being given.
"My word is my bond" as brokers say (or "my word, my bond!")

--- Source: Urban Dictionary online

Talking about keeping the promises, recently, I got this experience that I want to share with you all. Someone broke his promise to me. After waiting for about one month, here I am, experiencing the same old thing that I’ve been experiencing before. Maybe I was expecting too much. Or maybe I myself try to keep my promise so much, so if someone just suddenly broke his or her promise I’ll be disappointed because I’m expecting he/ she will do the same thing.

Disappointed? Yes. At that time it was accompanied with upset and a little bit of anger.

But then, I realized that maybe, even though I try to fulfill my promises, there are times I can’t keep them. Within my limitation as a human, I can’t always keep them. Maybe it’s because I’m sick, maybe it’s because I just being lazy to do something then I easily break my promises. Well, people then will say, “ What do you expect from me, I’m only human!”

I can only try my best to fulfill them, but yet I might not able to keep all of them.

Then, as usual, I begin to think about Someone Special. He’s really really special that He’s able to keep His Promises. Not only one, but all of them! He’s the One who can easily says: ‘ My Word is My Bond’ without breaking one of them. But of course, He’s got His own time frame which will be different with whatever we have planned. But, no worries, He has got His own time table. His schedule.

He’s God. He’s never too late and in some cases, He’s never too early. Just right in time. But, He’ll deliver whatever promises that He has for us.

Talking about keeping the promises in this life, well…people might make us disappointed. And we can make others upset as well for not being able to do so. That’s when we need to remember that we’re lucky to have Him. And being thankful for His unbreakable promises.

While trying to keep our word as our bond, He has already given His Words as His Bonds. Praise the Lord!

HCMC, 08 January, 2010

-fon-

Open Widely, Please!

Kubuka mulutku untuk kesekian kalinya. Menganga selama satu jam bukan pekerjaan mudah. Apalagi bila tujuannya adalah mengorek tambalan lama gigiku dan menambalnya dengan yang baru. Sakit, capek buka mulut terus, tersiksa, semua jadi satu. Apalagi seruan dokter gigi yang notabene adalah Orang Vietnam ini yang terus berucap lebih dari sepuluh kali, “ Open widely, please!“

Hiks! Dokterrr, andai saja kau tahu, aku sudah berusaha membuka selebar-lebarnya. Selebar yang aku bisa. Tapi memang menggali itu melelahkan. Menggali luka lama di gigiku memang menyulitkan. Namun, kalau tujuannya untuk sembuh? Mengapa tidak?

Di ruang dokter gigi itu, aku malah teringat kejadian-kejadian di retret yang kuikuti. Seberapa sering, retret itu, terutama retret berjenis luka batin, bertujuan untuk menggali kembali luka lama dan menyembuhkannya. Karena hanya dengan menggali kembali luka itu, menghadapinya, dan meyakini bahwa dalam detik itu pun Tuhan Yesus ada bersamaku, di situlah baru aku akan sembuh. Saat itulah akan ada keyakinan baru bahwa aku sembuh!

Proses menggali memang amat menyakitkan. Seperti yang kualami pagi ini, melelahkan. Di sore harinya pun, setelah tidur siang, sakit itu masih terasa. Tak jelas apakah masih dari ngilu dan nyerinya gigi atau malah dari capeknya membuka mulut tanpa henti selama satu jam. Mungkin juga gabungan keduanya? Masih belum terlalu jelas bagiku. Ke dokter gigi pun memiliki kemungkinan bahwa hasil pekerjaannya kali ini belum sesuai, belum baik, jadi aku harus kembali ke dokter gigi lagi. Apa boleh buat, untuk sembuh mungkin harus berhadapan dengan berkali-kali proses penggalian. Bukan melulu di dokter gigi, di dokter mana pun ketika mengalami sakit yang parah, mungkin kedatangan kita kepada Sang Dokter harus berkali-kali. Mungkin sampai puluhan kali, sampai kita betul-betul sembuh.

Di saat menuliskan hal ini, aku teringat bahwa Yesuslah Sang Penyembuh, Tabib Sejati yang mampu menyembuhkan semua luka kita. Syaratnya adalah kita pun mau sembuh. Sering kali Yesus sudah ingin menyembuhkan, tetapi kita terlalu terpaku pada masa lalu, tak ingin mengampuni, terlalu mendendam. Jadi, dengan kondisi hati yang seperti itu, akankah kita sembuh?

Mungkin, di saat Yesus dan tuntunan Roh Kudus turun tangan, yang harus kita lakukan adalah membuka hati selebar-lebarnya demi bebasnya gerakan roh Allah bekerja dan menyembuhkan. Memberikan keleluasaan akan tangan-tangan ajaib Allah untuk menggali semua masa lalu yang penuh luka dan membalutnya dengan kasih-Nya. Yang perlu kita lakukan hanyalah bekerja sama dengan-Nya.

Gigi saya tak mungkin ditambal ketika saya tak membuka mulut saya. Dengan mulut yang terkunci rapat, apa mungkin Sang Dokter mengobati saya? Kerja sama dari pihak saya berupa percaya pada Sang Dokter dan membuka mulut saya. Itu bagian saya. Sisanya, saya biarkan Sang Dokter bekerja, karena saya yakin dia ahlinya.

Perbandingan ini, ketika saya bawa kepada masalah luka di hati kita dan Tuhan sebagai Penyembuh Sejati akan mirip-mirip juga. Ketika Tuhan mau mengobati kita, yang harus kita lakukan membuka diri kita seluas-luasnya. Dan percaya Tuhan akan sembuhkan. Saya percaya dan berusaha untuk sembuh dengan mencari wajah-Nya, ingin dekat dengan-Nya, ke ruang praktek Maha Kudus-Nya. Dan mulai membuka hati saja seluas-luasnya. So, apa yang perlu dilakukan?

“ Open widely, please! Open your heart as wide as possible. As wide as you can. And trust Him that He’ll heal us.”

Really, all we need to do is just believe!

So, have you done it? If you haven’t let’s do it now… Undang dia ke dalam hatimu, datangi ruang praktek Maha Kudus-Nya, percayakan hidupmu pada-Nya. Lalu, buka hatimu lebar-lebar dan biarkan Roh Kudus bekerja.

‘Open widely, please!’ :)

HCMC, 3 January 2010

-fon-

* pengalaman ke dokter gigi di pagi ini…Thank God for opening my eyes and my heart widely to this experience! :)

sumber gambar:

http://www.justjeremys.com/images/lg_jesus_hugging.jpg

Writing and Giving Hope

It’s been quite some time that I haven’t written any articles in English. Even though I’m still doing it through Thought of the Day (TOTD), my daily reflection that you can find in my blog : http://fonnythought.blogspot.com/, but I haven’t written the longer version of any articles in English. And suddenly, starting yesterday I find an urge inside of me to write down something. In English. The writing mood had called and here I am, fulfilling the need and writing it right now.

If I’m thinking of this writing-in-English thing, I remembered that I didn’t have the courage even to write down the TOTD in English. My first own version of it. Knowing that my English isn’t too bad when I speak and few experience in teaching English for Primary kids back in the years of my college when I taught the children on part-time basis, but still there’s a big doubt inside of me if I need to write down any articles in English and publish them. Writing is another thing. While speaking, people might understand you even you don’t use a proper grammar. But in terms of writing, it takes more than just courage to do it. Somehow in my opinion, it needs skill as well. And I didn’t have it or let me correct my words, I thought I didn’t have it. So, I didn’t write any of it. But as a lot of friends encouraged me, especially the ones who got those thoughts regularly and liked my additional version on top of the original version by Joyce Meyer, here I am now… Trying to brush up my writing skill by writing my thoughts in English.

Until know, I love to write something that’s kind of inspirational or you can call it motivational. In other words, you may say that mostly my version of writing is something that’s giving hope. Well, I have to admit that I’m not the motivated person all the time. It’s sometimes the other way around. I know myself too well. As a melancholy, it’s normal that I perceive something more negatively. I tend to see that a cup or a glass is half empty rather than half full. But, I find that through writings, I can become more motivated. And sometimes the content of the writing, the inspiration that I’ve got, rhymed loudly inside of me. That made me motivated. That made me positive. That made me want to see the beauty of not giving up. That made me stay in hope. And I just want to keep on writing for the goodness and kindness of the God Himself. Because I know, that whatever I’ve got at this moment, whatever I have, whatever I’m currently enjoying, whatever blessings that has been there in my life-the current ones-and the future might bring are all His gifts for me. So, here I am writing down all of the blessings for thanking Him. For being grateful for the good things or even bad things, which are all good. Good because if He wants them to happen to me, to happen to you, He meant well. He wants us to learn something through it and get closer to Him.

In times of trouble, depressed, or stressful, I still believe that there’s no other remedy that can work so well except by getting closer to God. Drawing ourselves nearer to God. Because only this thing will enable us to grow more mature. Mentally and spiritually. As we grow in Him, I do believe that we can see more things with a new perspective.

Writing something that’s giving myself as well as other people a new hope is something that I’m gonna do. I’m not gonna stop. I’m gonna get going. Even though my condition is at worst, even though I myself find it hard to cope with the problems or troubles that I’m currently facing, even though I know that uncertainties will fill my journey of life, but I’d like to keep writing anyway. Not to mention that if I’m on the other side of the story, if I’m happy, successful, grateful, blessed, only to find that it’s God who made me that way. It’s His strength that He’s pouring to me. It’s Him that enables me to stay this way. In faith, keep on writing for something better. In faith, keep on hoping for the Lord. And hopefully my writing can touch people’s heart and encouraged them to be a better self. And eventually, if God permits, for a better world that we’re living. Hoping and doing at the same time.

And finally, let the source of hope be with us always. Let us feel His presence now and the days ahead. Well, problems are unavoidable, but to stay in hope is a choice that we could make.

Let’s embrace His love in these first days of new year. Let’s put our faith and trust in Him by beginning to develop a new healthy relationship through prayers. And may the guidance of the Holy Spirit make us stay hopeful, even in the midst of hopeless situation. Stay faithful, stay hopeful. In Christ, we trust. Amen.

HCMC, January 2, 2010

-fon-

* Fyi, this article is also available at my other blog dedicated to Jesus : http://fon4jesus.blogspot.com/. Thanks and GBU.