“The body has to be utilized for service to others. More bliss can be got from serving others than from merely serving oneself” ~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Last weekend, I received a call from Pak Busu, the Father of my Little Women of Penang, thanking me profusely for having them over at our house when they came down to send Nadhirah for her last semester of Cambridge A Level.
Oh dear, being terrible at accepting compliments, I wonder what wonders had i done unto them? As far I could recalled, we just had them over for lunch - cooked in amazingly fast 1 hour as they are just too particular if i spent too much time playing Cinderella in the kitchen instead of chit-chatting with them - plus some kaw coffee tarik and some kuihs before leaving.
Must be the curry i cooked that had him go for a second serving.
Frankly, I was so tired as I had been clocking the longest working hours for the past month (yes, i am trained by Mak to take my tasks seriously) and when Chu called around 10 am that they are on the way to our house, my brain took control over my aching body and turned it into half-mutated Wonder Woman, half Nigella Lawson (err, i was referring to her easy peasy cooking skills coz I ain't as hot as her, ain't got a millionaire hubby like hers, and dang, i 'm still in Malaysia). My mind was racing through the menu and what's the fastest way to cook them up (yes, strategies play very important role in my 'experimenting lab). Voila! Lunch was served and everyone was utterly joyful and well-loved.
I wonder - how did i get all those energies (considering i was THE ONE and ONLY Queen in the kitchen - no way others in my kitchen while i'm cooking or i'm on my way out of my kitchen - shish so gila kuasa kan?)
Frankly, I must thank Mak for 'torturing' me when i was a little gal that we must do things with love and care (since i couldn't get to play as much as I wanted to with my friends as I would be busy doing chores at home). By then, all the things we do are not chores but celebrations.
Mak said all guests must be treated like Kings and Queens and it is not the ingredients that matter, it is the love that you have while cooking dishes that make them delicious.
Mak taught me that food must be treated with all respect because they will find their way into every single cells in our body and how fitting that we should say our prayers while handling them (like I would say my prayers while washing the rice, wishing that may this meal makes us a better person, protecting us all from hunger - physically, mentally and spiritually and may this meal connects everyone that eats them).
Perhaps, like Leo Rosten once said,"The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all".
Mak showed me that there is indeed a joy in serving others, no matter who you are because "We can do no great things, only small things with great love" (Mother Teresa).
Maybe this weekend I would spend some time watching do-good-feel-good "It's a Wonderful Life" movie and listen to "Beautiful Day" by Bono, the good-doer, to sum up my post on the Joy of Serving because your life is wonderful when you have touched someone's life.
Oh dear, being terrible at accepting compliments, I wonder what wonders had i done unto them? As far I could recalled, we just had them over for lunch - cooked in amazingly fast 1 hour as they are just too particular if i spent too much time playing Cinderella in the kitchen instead of chit-chatting with them - plus some kaw coffee tarik and some kuihs before leaving.
Must be the curry i cooked that had him go for a second serving.
Frankly, I was so tired as I had been clocking the longest working hours for the past month (yes, i am trained by Mak to take my tasks seriously) and when Chu called around 10 am that they are on the way to our house, my brain took control over my aching body and turned it into half-mutated Wonder Woman, half Nigella Lawson (err, i was referring to her easy peasy cooking skills coz I ain't as hot as her, ain't got a millionaire hubby like hers, and dang, i 'm still in Malaysia). My mind was racing through the menu and what's the fastest way to cook them up (yes, strategies play very important role in my 'experimenting lab). Voila! Lunch was served and everyone was utterly joyful and well-loved.
I wonder - how did i get all those energies (considering i was THE ONE and ONLY Queen in the kitchen - no way others in my kitchen while i'm cooking or i'm on my way out of my kitchen - shish so gila kuasa kan?)
Frankly, I must thank Mak for 'torturing' me when i was a little gal that we must do things with love and care (since i couldn't get to play as much as I wanted to with my friends as I would be busy doing chores at home). By then, all the things we do are not chores but celebrations.
Mak said all guests must be treated like Kings and Queens and it is not the ingredients that matter, it is the love that you have while cooking dishes that make them delicious.
Mak taught me that food must be treated with all respect because they will find their way into every single cells in our body and how fitting that we should say our prayers while handling them (like I would say my prayers while washing the rice, wishing that may this meal makes us a better person, protecting us all from hunger - physically, mentally and spiritually and may this meal connects everyone that eats them).
Perhaps, like Leo Rosten once said,"The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all".
Maybe this weekend I would spend some time watching do-good-feel-good "It's a Wonderful Life" movie and listen to "Beautiful Day" by Bono, the good-doer, to sum up my post on the Joy of Serving because your life is wonderful when you have touched someone's life.
2 comments:
When we direct our attention to help others, we will find that our own problems diminish in weight. It is as if the underlying message is for us to care for others first before caring for ourselves, and in so doing, find that personal identity is secondary to universal kindness and compassion.
You have written a meaningful post, all the more so because it is so easy in today's hard race world to forget such simple and enduring truths.
I hope more people come here to partake of your superb intelligence and natural wisdom.
Thank you for...being.
Dear SoS
As written beautifully by my fave Paulo Coelho in his book, "The Devil and Miss Prymm", "this is not a personal story, but a universal one".
Thank you for your subtle encouragement for me to continue being and understanding the wonders of being a human being.
Cheerio
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