Life is full of beauty when we make the time to see and our hearts open to appreciate it. There are so many precious little things all around us.
Each has its own beauty. Shall we not go out and look for it?
A big tree stands against a clear blue sky! It warmly embraces colorful fields! In just a sheer moment, it produces us a perfect capture of one cheerful morning when all walks of life begin their missions.
Here comes Loong Chai!
Loong is a Thai word used to address an older brother of one's father or mother.
It can also refer to an older man in general. In other words, Thai call any older man 'loong,'
as I would to Chai, as Loong Chai or Uncle Chai.
Loong Chai is a native northerner. He was a hired man and labored for other wealthy ones. He had enjoyed that as a youth, but the passion wore out as years went by. Loong Chai found a wife, became settled, and moved back to a small village to raise his family.
He has raised few head of cattle, and probably abided by this rule. "Buy the cattle low, fatten them cheaply, and sell them high."
Life for Loong Chai is simple in all seasons. In the morning, he would take his cattle out to green pasture, mostly alone and sometimes with his wife.
And, possibly this might be the place where Loong Chai share with his farmer friends, to spend the rest of his day tending to what seems fit!
However, a morning of another 'Loong' has another rhythm to it. As Loong Chai leaves home for a green pasture, this Loong stays put at home-base. This man lives with his daughter's family in another small village, where traditionally his daughter and her husband will care for his food and lodging.
The older man can simply enjoy his later years and watch the world go by. But, apparently he has not. As early as farmers are out to the field, he is right working away on his 'mission,' of shredding bamboo into thin strips which are used in place of strings. Neighbors, especially those who grow vegetables, buy them from him to tie some produces into bunches before selling them off at the market.
And all the while, there is another man trying hard to get some catch! Is he a fisherman? That I cannot tell. He just has his tools and transportation as a means to take him where he could get some catch of good fish.
It seems that he is free to roam around in and out of his friends' properties. There by the garden plot where there is a small waterway, he sees to the tasks.
Here on a rice paddy of his friend, he is out checking his trap. His mission is simple as this. He goes out to set up the tools that his own hands fashioned, leaves them behind and returns some other times to collect his catch.
Regardless of what he has found, he keeps at it. He seems to enjoy pursuing on with his 'mission.' Isn't it a wonderful thing when one loves what he is doing? Or, even better, when one has a choice to do what one loves?
Finishing his job at one location, he moves on the another and another. How long would his 'world' remain so friendly that his neighbors are lovingly welcome him to their lands? Would it one day become otherwise? The thought may never cross his mind. What a beautiful world he lives in!
It is exactly like this tiny living thing who is up in the morning and simply go flying out to find what is good for its body. With dews still rest on the leaf blade of grass, he ventures on and on. The mission is just to sustain life. No worries at all!!!
And, such as life certainly goes on ..... and on .... for all walks of life, from one generation to another.
As for me, I have found that life is beautiful in all seasons and aspects. It may not always be easy and sweet, but its beauty remains regardless. For this, I am grateful for this very life of mine ..... as I have trekked through it, ...... and love it too.
Great appreciation goes to all loved ones, especially the very One who says: 'Remember that I love you, and draw your strength from there."
And last but not least, here is a secret to it all:
"I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw."
Proverbs 24:32
So my friends, please always make the time to allow your hearts in bloom, so you could find the beauty of life.
