GABALĖLIS MANO MYLIMOS LIETUVOS/A PIECE OF MY BELOVED LITHUANIA

Toks vakaras tykus ir laimingas...
toks vaiko juokas tyras...
palydimas tyla...
ir gervės krykštauja begėdės...
tai mano Lietuva...
*******************************
Just an evening in happy peace...
just a pure laughter of child...
Accompanied by silence it is...
and cranes crying without shame...
my Lithuania it is...

"I see you don't have love inside of you..."

I name the heading according to the day reading in Bernardinai church website (www.bernardinai.lt). Today reading is Jn 5, 31-47. A good piece, I highly recommend to read! For Lithuanian readers, if you want to use my advice, refer to www.biblija.lt For English or Dutch speaking people, sorry, I can't help :)
I've read the interpretation of the piece by sister Pranciška Neringa Bubelytė and was touched! So, for my non-Lithuanian friends, I wanted you to also hear it or read it ;)
tHE comment starts by saying how eager we all are to get approval or good feedback from people. And Jesus states:"If I would be the only one testifying about myself, my testimony wouldn't be true."
But the passage goes deeper. It distinguishes man's testimony and God's testimony/it makes a difference between the strength of God's and man's word.
So question yourself "who knows you best? and whom do you believe most? And be honest whose approval do you seek first: friend's, family's, important person's or God's?"
Sister provokes people to think by asking what miracles are we still awaiting for? Why can't we just trust God?
The miracles do happen every day, but we can only see it with our hearts and live it with our lifes...
In this passage Jesus contrasts studying the Bible, thus engaging with your head to having God's Love and having Life.
Jesus states: "You are studying the Bible because you expect to find eternal life. And the Bible does testify me, but you don't want to come to me, so that you would have life."
So, it's also about the will and personal, very intimate choice. Thus, love is more important than knowledge. But noone can truly love whom he doesn't know.In conclusion, we have to know God personally, to be able to love Him. And we have to grow in knowledge about Him, but the focus is elsewhere. Most important is to grow in His Love and to become one Body with each other...

HOW DO I / YOU / WE CONTRIBUTE TO REDUCING POVERTY???

You might wonder why I rise this question. Most of people know the situation surrounding us. Poverty is everywhere the same. I mean, it exists in every continent in every country. Just come to economically rich countries and you will see beggars or thieves, you will see homeless people... Most often you can meet them in the train or bus stations. You think, the Netherlands don't have it? Come, I'll show you :)
Of course, the extent and circumstances of poverty differ. Poor people in the Netherlands don't die from starvation as in Africa or cold as in Russia or Poland and several people this winter in Lithuania... The question of responsibility and the history might also differ: in coutries where social security is high, more responsibility lies in the person itself that his expenses exceed his income or that he doesn't want to work. In the USA, the so called land of infinite possibilities, everyone stands for his own and the boom of immigrants is outstanding, so the circumstances are not good for everyone. It might be that even if you want and seek, you can't find a job.
In Lithuania people who live in the self-made shelters near the rubbish places once were offered a pension to live in and simple jobs, but they themselves refused. One man said:"I love freedom. I can do what I want. I don't have to get up early and go to work." What does he do throughout days then? "Well, we play cards and make jokes." Then the journalist asked how come they are not cold? And he showed vodka and laughed.
This is a little bit of illustration to the question "Do I choose poverty or does it choose me?"
Still we can't look into the heads and hearts of poor people in different situations and understand who is responsible for their poverty.
And then again, what is poverty? Is it only material/physical or is there spiritual poverty as well? Do they go together? And which identifies more lack?
Having said that I believe, there is not much of new information for you :)
But the question is the following: do you know it with the head or do you know it with the heart?
Do you leave all the responsibility to charity funds or rich people or fate? And how can we - simple people like you and I make a difference?..

IT'S AN OPEN QUESTION FOR YOU, NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE OR WHERE YOU COME FROM...

Aš matau, kad jūs neturite meilės savyje...

Šį straipsnelį pavadinau pagal dienos skaitinį iš Bernardinų tinklapio (www.bernardinai.lt). Taip kalba Jėzus (Jn 5, 31-47) Šventajame Rašte. Šie žodžiai, pasakyti prieš apytiksliai 2000 metų (istorikai ir Biblijos tyrinėtojai nesutinka, kada tiksliai gimė Jėzus, bet ne tame esmė, ar ne?:). Tiesiog pamaniau, kad šie žodžiai lygiai taip pat tinka mums, šiandienos žmonėms, kaip tiko žydams Romos imperijos valdymo laikais... Juk kaip dažnai ir kaip tikrai mylime? Sąlygiškai, tiek save, tiek kitą, pasirinkdami mylėti gražų ir gerą, stiprų ir malonų, o ne nuskriaustą ir silpną, neišvaizdų ir neįdomų?.. Juk kaip lengva mums nekęsti, brandinti nuoskaudas viduj ir kolekcionuoti įžeidimus, bet daug sunkiau atleisti tiek sau, tiek kitam... Aš cituoju Bibliją, nes tai - knyga, pilna Išminties ir Tiesos. Tačiau vien Biblijos skaitymas neužtikrina augimo ne amžiumi, o išmintimi. Naujajame Testamente Jėzus sako:"Jūs tyrinėjate raštus, nes manote juose rasią gyvenimą. Tie Raštai tikrai liudija už mane, bet jūs nenorite ateiti pas mane, kad turėtumėte gyvenimą." Apie kokį gyvenimą kalba Jėzus? Argi mes dabar negyvename? Argi mes nekvėpuojame, argi mūsų kojos nevaikšto, neplaka širdis? Taip, yra žmonių, kurie gyvena su vos plakančiom širdim, kurių kojos nelaiko ir reikia aparatų palaikyti kvėpavimą... Bet jie gyvena!!! Jie taip pat kaip ir mes gyvena!!! Tad ką DAR GALI PASIŪLYTI JĖZUS? KOKĮ GYVENIMĄ?

PoLiTiCiAn-a CuRsE oR a BlEsSiNg?

While reflecting on events happening in political world inside & outside my country, I have built up certain attitude or view how to "deal with" politicians. Before I share it with you, I am eager to know your opinion: how satisfied are you with the political situation in your country? And if you wish, worldwide? What good points do you see and what do you think is lacking???What do you see when you glance through the peephole behind the closed doors?

Good luck-Sėkmės!

For my Lithuanian friends - Jūs visi puikiai suprantate angliškai, mano šaunuolės ir šaunuoliai, tad nesikartosiu. Tai ne iš mandrumo ir nemeilės gimtajai kalbai, negalvokit, tiesiog čia neįmanoma kopijuoti, o aš per daug pavargusi rašyti, nes jau pirma valanda nakties Nyderlanduose, o Lietuvėlėje netgi visos dvi :)

Are you happy? No, I am Dutch...

My Dutch friend once told me that Dutch people are not happy. Is it true?If yes, I wonder why? From foreigner's eyes it might seem there is a lot to envy: rich economy, good social security, superior train infrastructure... In other words, quite simple life in comparison with African or Asian regions, where people live in not hygienic circumstances, die from polluted water or starving...
Thus, my question is are Dutch people really not happy? And if you see it, why do think it is so?

All reactions are welcome, from Dutch as well as non-Dutch people!!!!
I am already interested in the results!!

Return soon :)

Sveiki visi - hallo allemal,

Thanks for visiting my weblog, come back soon for I intend to post some more!!!
My intended topics are:

Oranžinė Karalystė mano akimis/The Orange Kingdom in my eyes
Lietuva, kurlink tu žengi?/Where are you headed, Lithuania?
Lietuva+Olandija=?/Litouwen+Nederlands=?

Your feedback & comments will be highly welcome!!!
Jūsų grįžtamasis ryšys ir komentarai visuomet laukiami!!!

Jūsų/Yours,
Lora

WAiTiNg FoR tHe LoRd

I woke up today... Empty... Coffee, jumping into the clothes, rushing out for there are so many matters... To accomplish I must... To accomplish I must... But somehow there is no will, there is no drive to start what I must. And really, must I? I open the curtains of my window, my mirror of the world... What do I see?

... I shout from delight! As if God knew what I needed most... What would my heart find joy in! Indescribably elegant, indescribably handsome snowflakes as thick as the cookies, as dense as the clouds fall down on the earth. "My gift for you!" - I hear in the air, I hear in my ears, all around, but mostly inside. Deep in the heart the voice touches. Lord comes and stays with me.

Together we sit in the room, together we look through the window. In his embrace I cry and I laugh.
-I brought the snow for you, - He says, - I know, you love when it snows so densely. I know, you love watching snowflakes dancing and playing in the snow. Like in childhood.
-Oh, you remember? - I ask in surprise.
-Surely I do. I was with you. Do you remember?
-A little bit. I suspected that. - I bow down my head and the tear appears from nowhere.
He touches my cheek and gently takes my tear into His blessful hand. There is no need for words because I know what He will say. And He knows what I will ask. And He answers from His big big heart into my little little one. Then He shows me the world and explains:
-The grey woman sitting under the tree has recently lost her son. The bearded man in that yellow car has just lost the meaning in life. Do you see?
-Yes, - I replied.
-Do you remember now what we talked about twelve years ago in the candle light?
-Yes, - I perfectly knew what He meant.
-Remember, you asked me two questions 'why' and 'how'?
I nodded in silence for now I know. Sometimes it's much simpler than I think. Than we do. Still humans have tendency to make things more complicated than they are, aren't we? And I just sat surrounded in His big strong arms and let the matters of the day pass by. And I understood. I was THE APPLE IN HIS EYE. Straight from the start, straight from the day in my mother's womb, I AM AND I WILL BE the apple in His eye in the womb of time...

P. S. It didn't stop snowing "clouds" for three days, but even when it stopped, God didn't abandon me.

NuoširduS/Hartstikke WelkoM

Hi, guyz and girlz, This is the start of my friendship with blog. Not the first acquaintance though, my Lithuanian friends are using blog for a long time now, but to me it seemed like one of those things, that the time didn't come for me yet :)

The thing that distracted me from weblog was also the meaning. Or the association with the meaning in my mother's tongue. In Lithuanian , "blogas" means "bad" and I felt like you could use 'blog" only for sharing your grief, sad or difficult moments of your life & this isn't the spot I'd like to share with the whole universe... Thus, don't expect to find your nose in my diary! ;-]

On the other hand, I've discussed once about creative wo/man power and it turned out that creativity stems from strong emotions and mainly the ones, that our society calls "bad emotions"...
I've discussed twice and the conclusion was that wisdom is generated through suffering. The words of the man still echo in my ears: "my youngest son's gift is wisdom. It's very beautiful path, I am happy for him and I am also full of sadness, for wisdom never goes without suffering..."

Lora