Well done, you are a star!!

Many of us have heard this compliment at least once in our lifetime. Have you ever thought, why Star, why not Sun or Moon?

I don’t know either.

But, one thing I know, starlit nights are beautiful to watch.

I haven’t seen stars in the sky for a long while, not that I stargaze every night. A few days ago, I had the same thought in my mind, why do I not see any stars anymore.

We could blame light pollution these days; it has made it impossible to see the Milky Way glowing above us.

This evening, I didn’t turn on the living room lights as I was eager to put on the fairy lights I hung on the curtain rod of the French doors leading to our back garden.

It started getting dark; I turned on and off the new lights I hung, enjoying what I was doing.

At one point, my focus was distracted to the night sky. I reckoned I saw a star; then, I thought it was my illusion. Just out of curiosity, I turned all the lights off in the house and went out in the back garden.

*

That was incredible, just beyond words. I saw a beautiful sky with twinkling stars scattered in an unknown impressive pattern.

It excited me; a teardrop slipped through the corner of my eye as I blinked; I don’t know why. Probably, it reminded me of a part of my childhood that believed stars were magical. Or, did it remind me of something else? Nevermind.

Much love ❤️

~ Chinchu Gibu

I have.

I felt their presence in various situations I came across in life in multiple forms: as a person, as an emotion, as a motivation, as a dream, as a promise and as a reassurance.

I learned about angels from my grandmother’s stories. The image of them I conceived in my imagination has changed from little fairies with wands that play around in heaven to big warriors of God who can protect us from evil.

Out of all the stories I heard, the one that influenced me, and stays with me even now is from a friend (Ann Pavithra) at school who told me about guardian angels who will wake children up early in the morning to study. She told me if I recite the prayer (written below) before I sleep, and tell the angel what time I want to wake up, the angel will wake me up.

The prayer is : Angel of the Lord, my guardian dear. To whom God’s love commits me here. Ever this day be at my side to light and guard and rule and guide. Amen.

If anyone would like to know, this may sound childish or the innocence of a child, but this prayer worked for me, and still it does.

I have no idea where that childhood friend is now, but this thought has always stayed with me as comfort and reassurance and still it does.

Even now, there are nights I recite this prayer before I sleep, for a bit of extra strength, because I believe and feel the presence of that guardian angel that God sent me, who holds me when I stumble and carries me when my feet give up.

The moment you think you have lost everything, there is no hope left, and you are ready to give up. They appear..

The guardian angel that God promised to sent us.

”For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.“ ~ Psalms 91:11

Much love and God bless

~ Chinchu Gibu

May this year be a wonderful one for all of you out there.

May God be with you all..

Much Love ❤️ God bless.

~ Chinchu Gibu

2021: Another year of a rollercoaster ride. Things happened with positive beginnings, but rough endings, and vice versa, yet life moved on. Yes, that’s what it is, in spite of everything that happened, good or bad, life never ended, it moved on.

Thank you God for another year in our life:

thank you that you reminded us of your presence every time we gave up,

thank you that you kept hold of us tight even when our trials were many,

thank you that you gave us a purpose to live and laugh once again,

thank you that you kept us positive and hopeful as always,

thank you that you never left us, so we made it all with you.

Though I don’t know what to expect in the coming year, am sitting rest assured, that I have you.

Thank you God once again.

Much Love ❤️

~Chinchu Gibu

Let’s sing a lullaby to baby Jesus this Christmas..

To those of you who like a bit of music, a bit of melody, a bit of Christmas, and lots of love and cheer, this will be a treat for you.

The thought behind the song 👇

The Bethlehem I saw..

It’s Christmas time. Take a cuppa tea, sit and relax and enjoy the song.

If you like the song, please like, share, comment and subscribe to the channel.

And please don’t forget to leave us feedback.

Merry Christmas.

Much Love and God bless ❤️

~ Chinchu Gibu

..the beautiful guiding star lit up the sky, and we stood not far from the manger in Bethlehem. I leaned my head on his shoulder and relaxed, enjoying what I saw. And he held me in his arms as we both embraced the joy of humanity before our eyes..

The cool breeze woke me from my day dream. Indeed, from all the stories I heard from childhood to now, that night in Bethlehem remains as one of the most beautiful scenes in the back of my mind. I keep brushing it new, every year with a bit of imagination of my own.

Let me take you to Bethlehem, to the very familiar place to most of us.

..the star lit up the sky and the earth.. The virgin mother and Joseph stood by the crib. My eyes never left the little face I saw. It was serene and graceful.

Take a closer look at the baby. Did you see God’s thoughtfulness to humankind? What are we for God to send his only son to be born as one among us, to live and die for our sins? How could we turn a blind eye to this abundant love?

As we stood near the manger, we experienced the inner joy and peace deep within. The little one made my heart flutter, probably this is heaven I thought to myself. I was humbled and reminded of the boundless love our Father from heaven has bestowed upon us.

Let’s welcome baby Jesus to be born in our hearts and homes. Let the earth and heaven rejoice at the arrival of the newborn king. Let’s sing him a beautiful lullaby.

[Here’s with great joy, us, the team of Thiruhridaya Kripayil (തിരുഹൃദയ കൃപയിൽ), announcing the release of our new song, Bethleheminoru Tharattu (ബെത്‌ലെഹേമിനൊരു താരാട്ട്), a lullaby for baby Jesus, on the 17th of December @ 5:30 hrs UK 🇬🇧 (i.e. 11:00 hrs India 🇮🇳 ). Stay tuned to our YouTube channel: 🔗 https://youtu.be/UWLY9Mbm7SI

Credits: Jincy A Jose for portraying my vision in this beautiful handcraft and taking its picture.

Song Credits:
Lyrics: Chinchu Kuriakose
Music: Sobin Anto
Singer: Sreya Jayadeep
Producer: Gibu Babu Abraham
Orchestration and Mixing: Jackson P James
Violin: Mathews Kottayam
Flute: Subhash Cherthala
Tabala: Sumith Ettumanoor
Guitar: Madhu Alapuzha
Chorus: Anju Basil
Anila Mary Simon
Blessy Thomas
Camera: George Antony
Arrangements: Kalesh Chandrasekharan
Editor: Anoop Limelight
Poster Design: Jiby Mediatoonz, Kottayam

Much Love & God bless

~Chinchu Gibu

It’s not always about sunshine and a clear sky. Sometimes days can be bit chilly and miserable. All you do is take a deep breath and be grateful for the warmth of your home and, of course, your toasted home-baked bread with butter and cuppa tea on your table.

Much love and God bless

~ Chinchu Gibu

“Hey”, I called out. He seemed to be in a hurry, but stopped. He cautiously turned to me and gave me that look. A bit curious I suppose as if asking me back, “where have you been?”

“Well, it’s a long story, friend. We’ll talk about it later”, I said.

A moment of thought there. Yeah of course, he is looking around to make sure he is safe for a while or is he giving a message to someone out there that, “hang on a moment pal, I’ll be in a second, lemme find what she wants now.”.🙄

“Hi mate, am going to move home soon, I am gonna miss you”, I said. 😐 I would like a few pictures of yours so I can keep you in my memory box. He was like, “you are just so dramatic, girl”.

I made a sad face and looked down. And he said, “Oh dear, what am I going to do with you. Ok, Ok, take some snaps, quick, I got to go.”

“Ok now, girl, cheer up. We’ll see at some point before leaving..”, he said without looking back. And slowly walked away. I knew he didn’t like goodbyes too.

It’s that time of the year again. The fragrance and feel of the festive season are in the air. Fairy lights are up in the streets; the days are getting colder, and being home snuggling under the comforter sounds the cosiest thing to do.

Yes, it’s that time of the year when we tend to stay indoors more, connect with family, and explore some of our baking and winemaking skills.

Winemaking is not complicated as it sounds. It’s not about the skills but about the passion for doing, the patience to wait and the hope for better outcomes coming our way. It’s not just grapes, sugar, water and spices, but the effort we put in to let the grapes transform to the finest wine, of taste, of colour, of texture, of clarity.

I was amused to read a quote by R L Stevenson that “Wine is bottled poetry.” I didn’t quite understand what he meant. But, after a lot of careful thinking, I found myself in agreement with this statement.

During my last vacation to visit my parents, I found a treasure in our bedroom drawer; an old diary from my teenage years. It took me, once again, a little ride through my memory lane. I was amazed by the innocence in those words, and I thought to myself, “did I write this?” It was simple thoughts of a girl who talked to her diary almost every day.

The words that gave me a newer perception of myself from twenty years ago. Sometimes what we write now may not mean much until we pass the phase and come back to it at a later point in life. Because over time, we age and mature, and our outlook on life reaches newer levels of clarity and tastes, like fine wine.

Much love and God bless

~ Chinchu Gibu

Every thing at home started to fascinate me in the past two years,it’s not all about the time I get to be home, but the bricks on my wall, the shrubs in my garden, the cats/ the hedgehog/ the birds that visits me, and now the “produce” from what I call my “lil farm”.

Everything I see, that is in and around my home makes me feel great awe. Not that I haven’t seen them before, but just that it’s now with a different understanding and a better perspective.

When I think about it, I do miss many things in life, my family, my friends, travel, fun and many more. But, end of the day, life is not about what we can’t make at the moment, but it’s all about what we make out of what we have..

Sometimes it’s the little things that give the greatest joy.. Like my beets, it just made my heart skip a beat. 😉

Much Love and God bless..

~ChinchuGibu