Xin Nian
Dear friends, 恭喜發財! Kung Hei Fat Choi! Kiong Hee Huat Tsay! Gong Xi Fa Cai! Congratulations of having surpassed the past year 2008 and into this prosperous year 2009. As we join our fellow Chinese community in celebrating their Spring Festival – the first day of the Chinese Lunar Year, let us look upon what we need to achieve good luck and prosperity. Let me share to you about the Chinese character 福 (pronounced as “fu” in Mandarin), literally translates as “good luck, happiness, prosperity”. It is the character frequently used in Chinese luck items. But is it necessary for anyone to just have these material items to achieve “fu”, to achieve wealth, to achieve desires? Scriptures say: There is another very evil thing which I saw under the sun: a man has riches, property, honor and lacks nothing, yet God does not permit him to benefit from them. (Ecclesiastes 6:1-2). If a man has all these great possessions, yet does not know God at all, God will not fill him with contentme