YOUR Gift is So Good

When your parents give you a name, I think they have some expectation on you that is put in your name’s mean. What does my parents expect when they give me name Adhi Winata Kurniahu ? I do not know. I’ve never asked them, neither have they told me. All that I know is only the meaning of my name. Adhi means good; Winata means good; Kurniahu means YOUR (GOD) Gift. In other words, God’s Gift is very, very good. So, let me interpret the meaning of my name, guessing what they expect on me.

The repetition of the word “good” express deep grateful feeling due to HIS everlasting kindness. It also reflects the fact that not only once do they received HIS kindness, but they accept it many times. In time of happiness, HE is good; In time of sadness, HE is good; In time of peace, HE is good; In time of distress, HE is good; HIS kindness is absolute, not relative, not depend on your feeling neither on your thoughts. So, I am expected to be a man who always be grateful because God is good all the time.

What does gift mean ? A gift is something that is given free of charge not because you are worthy to receive it, but only because of the loving kindness of some one who give it. I think they have received many of HIS gifts, including the most precious one, the salvation. My life also one of the gift from God. So, It means they expect me to be the witness of HIS loving kindness by living in integrity.

Hard to do ?  Absolutely.. I often fail to meet all of these purposes, but let me always learn to live my life align with the meaning of my name. Let me always pray asking HIM for giving me strength to do it, just like the paryer of St. Francis Assisi :

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;  

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.