In Waiting for Conviction of Someone Worth Waiting For

                                                                                                                                                            Pantai Lhoknga, Aceh

My mouth said, “Take your time to pray.” My hearts begged, “Please, not too long.” In the meantime, she started to ask counsels from her authorities regarding our situation. Apparently, Ibu Wanti told her to get to know me during this time of prayer since Yuyun barely knew me, and vice versa. And so we had a number of dinners and exchanged information about our backgrounds, love stories, hobbies, favorite foods, vision and dreams. Eventually in one of those dinners I heard the most beautiful sound in my life. She was blushing when she said that there was a growing affection in her heart towards me. But before I even had enough time to enjoy the good feeling inside, she immediately told me not to be too happy first because she still could not decide anything yet. Her concern about her father and the approval from her family were the two biggest things to be prayed for. I completely understood that what I was doing back then was not one of the most popular professions in the eyes of son-in-law seekers. She told me that she needed only one thing to settle this case: conviction. She told me she would not have any problem to marry me, live in Aceh or wherever and to face all odds if she already had it. I learned in life there is no easy and cheap way to gain something precious. And she was not ordinary. “Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” -- Henry Van Dyke