Contraction of marriage

Just came home the my nephew's majlis akad nikah or contraction of marriage ceremony. A sacred function that unify a man and a woman as husband and wife. Both the bride and bridegroom looked radiant in white.

It reminds me of my own akad nikah ceremony 22 years ago. I was full of suspense, anxious and happy over the prospect of marriage. Happy because every girl is happy to marry. Suspense because I never dated him before. As good muslims we avoid relationship before marriage. It was a marriage arranged by our older friends. And at that time there was no sms, facebook, or email. Even telephone was a luxury. Every communication was through our middleman or rather middle couple. But all the suspense add up to the excitements of love after marriage. And we are very much in love until now.

Our eldest son is already 21 years old. We are preparing ourselves for the day when one by one our kids will marry and leave the nest. As parents I hope we have set good examples of how a husband should loves and care for his wife and vice versa. May Allah bless my family!

May Allah bless us all.

Self Satisfaction

At the end of the year, a lot of teachers are dissatisfied over the jobs given to them next year. As for me even though I'm given tough jobs (leading two committees), I don't have any complaint. As I said to one of my fellow teacher, we can choose to do our job happily or do it with a grumble. We still have to finish the job. As I always said in this blog, I always choose to lead a happy life.

A happy life is not about what we have or don't have but rather about how we appreciate what we have, while we still have it. For example some people choose to divorce their 'imperfect' partner only to find out that their life is worst off after that.

Nobody is perfect. We need to seek perfection in ourselves but we have to accept imperfections in other people. When we seek perfection in ourselves we will keep on improving. When we accept imperfection in other people we are practicing tolerance.

May we lead a happy life by choice.

May Allah bless us all.

Allah's Blessings

What a wonderful life we will have if we don't grumble too much. Appreciate what we have while we have it.

How splendid things will be if we can praise more the people around us. To praise my daughter when she cook our lunch for instance. Just close one eye when she does not wash the clothes since she cook lunch. Instead of grumbling our relationship will flower if I appreciate what she has done instead of focusing my attention on what she does not do.

What a wonderful relationship I will have with my husband if I wait for him at the door with a smile and a hug. His presence light up my life.

What a family I have when my kids miss me from far. Remembering me at their college hostels. And I will always pray to Allah for their success in every aspects. To share their dreams and problems.

Thank you Allah for every single thing.

May Allah bless us all.

A bad day

Everything that can go wrong, went wrong yesterday morning. The label on each class's exam paper had a lot of mistakes. I was exhausted when I did the labeling. And I completely forgotten to write the names of the teachers that started and ended the paper for each class. I was called to the examination room where I was greeted by a loud scold by a senior teacher. She made it clear how mad she was.

Deep inside my heart I knew I deserved that. I admitted I made the lousy mistakes which really spoilt my reputation. Allah give this test to me as a kifarah to reduce my sin; that is if I remain patient and accept the test calmly. To reduce my sin when I criticized other people that make mistakes. Now I'm on the hot spot and this remind me to be kinder to other people when they make mistakes. Thank you Allah for this lesson. All these are making me a more patience person.

May Allah bless us all.