LOOK FOR MAGIC

My computer at home is situated by the front window. On this particular morning while thinking what to write, I unthinkingly looked up in the direction of the skies. Amazing blue skies! Clear... soft blue.... with distant patches of cotton-like clouds. And a warm bright sun shining with such gusto making everybody it shines on sweat buckets. That's the downside of a glorious sunny day.

Anyway, easily I could have paid no attention or it would probably just have simply passed me by just like that. Oh yes, we do let it go by unnoticed. Our fault, not nature's.

Who in his human mind and attitude would go through his or her day looking for amazing blue skies such what I had this morning? Normally we would not because there is so much down here below that engages our attention. Rushing to work, taking the kids to school, doing the laundry, running after deadlines, cursing the traffic, hating the government, wrestling with our problems, and a thousand-and-one other things we'd rather do in the name of living. Added to all that we have this queer attitude of expecting the bad or worst in our lives thus pushing ourselves even harder to raise a buffer or shield against it.

Funny, it all started in the home, with our parents. When everytime our mothers would say..... 'eat this.. sleep early... do your homework... behave... don't cry... clean your room... or the monster will come and get you!' So the child in his young mind would certainly think that if he doesn't do as told, something bad will happen. That's a thought carried forward unto to adulthood. Translated as ... 'if I don't do something good, I will be seen as a failure..' So the crazy chase for wealth, success, achievement, positions and titles... and others more.

It can be both good and bad, depending on how you look at it. But it certainly is sad. Because in that crazy chase we tend to push aside that which is essential... a process which dries up the soul. Life is not just the chase, getting, or acquiring. It's part of it yes ... but not the whole of it.

The following lines which I'm quoting here may or may not have anything to do with what I've just written..... but it struck me as lovely. It's from an old movie "My Life In Ruins", a light romantic comedy. Enjoyable. But I liked best this line said by one of the main characters Irv (played by Richard Dreyfuss, my favorite) ------ 'Don't look for obstacles..... Look for magic!'

Look for magic. In blue skies, in rainbows, in the rain, in a rosebud, in the distant mountains, in a baby's smile, in your doggie's loving eyes, in lovely sunsets, in all of nature, and in people.

May your day be filled with magic ... and blessings by the dozens.

PERFECTION IS A JOURNEY

TODAY'S FOOD FOR THOUGHT ...

"It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others."
- Joseph Addison

Perfection is a journey. We become better with each and every step we take. We learn, unlearn, relearn. We shed unwanted layers and put on new ones. We are renewed by that process each time. So don't fret if you or somebody else you know is flawed and imperfect because you, somebody, everybody will be ... in God's allotted time. Have the faith that God will finish what He started in us. By God's design.

Blessings to you all!

I TELL GOD EVERYTHING

"Some people think God does not like to be troubled
with our constant coming and asking.

The way to trouble God is not to come at all."
--- D L Moody

Saw this while browsing a quotation site today and I liked it very much that I decided to share it with everybody here. I remember way back of a friend who once told me that she does not bother God with too much asking. That she only comes to him when things go out of hand or are quite impossible and to which she has no ready answers to. Then she asked me pointedly .... 'what bout you?'

I smiled and said .... 'I tell God everything'.

Yeah I do. Am like a little child who runs to his father when a bully steals his marbles. I tell God bout all my sorrows and joys, my fears and disappointments, my hopes and dreams, my bitterness and anger, and even more so in my struggles. In short, everything that transpires in my life good or bad. I tell Him about the jerks (male and female) I've met in the course of living and how I very much would like to beat them down to a pulp because they have hurt me hugely. I also tell Him about that nice cute guy who made my heart flutter next door (oh the thrill of being twenty-something but that was long ago...). I also ask Him to heal my favorite aunt of her heart ailment. And that time I simply adored that lovely dress I saw in the mall. Oh a thousand and one things which comprise the life of an ordinary human being called me. And if you know how humans pray... in the telling is the Asking.

No, I don't come to Him as a spotless saint but as one who acknowledges His supremacy in all of creation. That even if He is the KING... I know that He has time to stoop down to this tiny helpless insignificant creature who looks up to Him as a Father -- a loving Father. Because I know that He loves me more than anyone can or could... and that He knows me so much better than even I could know myself.

Like Mother would always say.... 'life is better lived with God than without God... cos without Him you won't last a day...'

May God bless you with His light and love.

DIG - DIG -DIG .. AND YOU'LL NEVER BE SORRY YOU DID

"Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good;

and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig."
-- Marcus Aurelius

'People are so mean' 'There's so much bad around' 'Nobody cares' 'It's a bad bad world' ----- Well, that observation is both a Yes and a No. Because yes people can be so mean and selfishly unkind, that selfish-interests usually dominate many things, that some people steal fight betray cheat bully kill, and with all these in the forefront of the news one indeed gets the impression that it is indeed a bad bad world.

But.....

truthfully, people weren't created that way. Basically, people are good. Good where it matters most.

Now the question is.... so where did all that go?

My answer to that is NOWHERE. That good is still in there inside the person. The only trouble is the person allowed trash or junk into his mind heart and soul, including the body i.e. smoking, drugs, etc. pushing the good down to the bottommost. And when that gets into a man's system.. everything else will follow negatively. Life simply becomes how man lives it.

So how do we get back our old self again -- the self which God created -- and get back on the track of good?

You and I and others, we DIG!! And I mean seriously dig hard and harder.

Where? How? We go back to where it all started --- the self. Do some house cleaning.. I mean self-cleaning. Dig and deeper. Throw out the garbage that's accumulated and is rotting the system. Poison which eats you up bit by bit but steadily and more often unconsciously until it succeeds to disfigure and transform you into a monster. An ugly monster. Imagine a world of disfigured humanity.

The digging is gonna wear us out Yes.. but nobody is going to do the work for us. See the irony there? It was easy getting the trash into our lives but quite so difficult to be rid of it. WE own the trash... WE get rid of it. And no amount of drama or excuses will take us off the hook. Small effort or big, great or grand --- it doesn't matter, just DIG! We won't be sorry we did.

But DIG! Because good is just waiting to be resurrected... to bubble up and shine out to a world sorely in need of it. That's who we really are. By God's wisdom and design. Until we decided to mess it up ourselves (woe to us!).

I've come across a nice line, in essence it goes this way.... '.... the world may seem to be bad but because good people do nothing about it....' And this.... 'you want a better world, then be the change you want to see...'

LET'S START THE DIGGING!
Blessings to everyone!

THE GREATEST FAN OF LIFE

".....

I'LL BE BETTER WHEN I'M OLDER..
I'LL BE THE GREATEST FAN OF YOUR LIFE
....."

Song: "I'LL BE"
Sang by Edwin McCain

The rest of the song is nice; an old love song of long ago. But I like best that part there quoted above. I'm going to twist it a wee bit like this.......

"I will be the greatest fan of Life".

The greatest thing you can do in your life time or with your life is to be better. Usually to us people it comes round when we have gathered quite a good number of years which comes much later in life. With age comes wisdom and maturity as the saying goes. Well, because that's how long or how slow we learn.... slow learners that we are.

When life sends us lessons, we don't get it the first time almost always. Often we need to go over the same lesson again and again and again. And this often exasperates us. But hold on, be patient with the lesson.. with self. Even if sometimes almost all of our lives go down until we realize that ... yeah, I get it now! Finally.. !!

To be or become better involves all that you are mind body and soul. You don't do it halfheartedly nor simply by cruising down through the journey. It can't be an involvement so trivial.. superficial.. skin-deep... flickering.. akin to a shooting star here one minute and gone the next. You can't dip a hesitant finger into the pot of life to taste or to test it. Do that and you'll run out of time. That's not what is being asked of you... of us. Nope, what you do is jump into life like fish jumps into the water knowing that it can and will swim. And indeed it can and will swim!

The aim is to become better; not to waste this life on the non-essentials that do not contribute to that end. The earlier you begin the learning, the better for you. And don't worry cos, like fish, we can and will swim! That's how God made us.

Be a better or rather the best human being you can ever be. Every step in that direction is a worthy song of praise to our Creator. That makes God smile.

Be blessed and stay blessed.