Friday, December 27, 2013

WHEN OLD MAKES GOOD ITS TIME TO LEARN WELL

 


With the sun shining warm and bright, puttering in my tiny pot garden on the patio was not a task at all particularly when a tiny cool breeze started blowing my way. I was in the middle of trimming dried-up branches in one pot when a neighbor living just across the street strode down casually to the side of the patio facing the street and happily extended an invitation to her birthday party on Sunday which she’d rather call her Thanksgiving Party. She further added that she’s so grateful to be 75 and healthy. Indeed Amen to that!

50, 60, 75 or beyond ... it is that time in life when everybody regards you derisively, condescendingly, patronizingly, sarcastically, mockingly, irreverently......‘old’. It just means one thing to them --- old.

Allow me to say something.....

Never mind the aching bones, the weak joints, the failing eyesight or hearing, the pills nestling permanently in one’s bag, and the memory lapses. All that and more is just the natural physical journey of the human body. We know and understand that. But there is something special in being old.

It’s special.......

...To have better learned to consider a fellow being as an equal and loved by the same God. To see him not only through human eyes but through the eyes of God and thus understand that he goes through the same struggles, burdens, misery or pain as everybody else. Then without further ado quickly shoot off a prayer to the heavens creating a grace-filled path leading back to that person. It’s special because you have understood well. For not many learn.

...To have better learned to act kindly and patiently towards the young whose brazen and foolhardy behaviour often get on your nerves. And instead seek to help, enlighten, uncover their potential, unobtrusively train them into the way that they should go, as designed by a good God. It’s special because you have learned to understand the young as they should be understood. For not many understand.

...To have better learned to accept life with both the good and the bad in it, to have understood that both are requisites for growth. It’s special because you have learned to move in step with the music of life’s universal dance and essentially to God’s design for your life. For not many try.

...To have better learned to be friends with the sun, moon, stars, trees, seas, rivers, oceans, and the animals of land-sea-air, all the seasons and its changes and that you have a part in its preservation and continuance. It is special because you have understood your role as a steward of God’s work. For not many will.

...To have better learned to separate the wheat from the chaff, to recognize those of true value amidst those which only serve no good thing but waste.  It is special because you have gained the ability to peel off unnecessary layers or masks which hide truth where truth could have been the better choice. For not many do.

...To have better learned that everything in life passes through heaven’s doors. Joy, sorrow, misery, success, failure, laughter, tears, and fear --- all can find its solution – hope – inspiration – comfort and consolation when it is passed through faithful prayer. It’s special because you have understood very well that nothing is or will be without GOD. For not many learn and learn well.

So there.....Old is special because old made good its time to learn and learn well. Although God isn’t finished yet but with the way it looks now the work is closer to done. And that’s a very good thing if heavenly perfection is the goal. 

So then here’s for a ‘Happy Birthday’ to anyone who may be celebrating a birthday today or in the days ahead before the year ends.  Don’t count the years in numbers but in how much and how well you have learned.



Friday, December 20, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS! - AND THANK YOU!




With the holiday season revving up to high gear and before you guys get so wrapped up in all the stuff for celebrations (if you haven't already), I'm going to put in my Christmas greeting and prayer for you all.

For you,

... the love of a Magnificent God to keep you safe, good health at any age, with great provision when most needed, with kind understanding and compassion for everyone, for peace in the midst of life's haste, for trust in the basic goodness of people, for courage to be you when others would try to make you someone else, and a greater hunger to be closer to our Heavenly Father who loves you no end and wants you to know it. God loves you this B-I-G!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!   GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
 

And of course not in the very least, my sincere thanks for the 'likes' - 'visits' - 'comments'  you have so honored my blog with through the year 2013.  Thank you very much! Blessings to you and your loved ones!



Tuesday, December 17, 2013

ANGEL OF GOD - BLESSED PRESENCE


Have you ever had this kind of moment when out of the blue you remember something and it does not leave your mind? It's just there sticking like glue. This is that moment. This was a tiny prayer taught me by my mother when I was just this high. A prayer I grew up with. It has served me well through the years  in all the times I needed comfort and assurance in the midst of fear or uncertainty. A blessed presence. Then and now.

I believe in angels. They are God's special messengers, soldiers, secretaries, production assistants in the heavenly ministry of caring for earthlings here on earth. Each one has an angel. Mom would tell me that each angel is tailor-fit for the job. And it's there for life -- for the rest of your life until you return to your heavenly home one sweet day.

This tiny prayer keeps me connected with my angel;  won't ever forget it. Thanks, Mom!


Saturday, December 14, 2013

DONE EXTRAORDINARILY WELL





A quote I have always loved and I am sure that you will, too, to quote.......

 "My mother knew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that -- "Achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best in you.  
Success is being praised by others, and that's nice, too, but not as important or satisfying.  
Always aim for achievement and forget about success."   
---- Helen Hayes
Unquote.

And yet success is what we aim for. Success by what the world teaches us. That one which is accompanied by applause, trophies, title and recognition; that one which brings you to the center of the stage with the spotlight on you and you feeling so pleased with yourself. But that's nice too. I don't mind seeing myself up there on that stage..... being there in that fantastic moment savoring the sweet smell of success!

But wait......

I remember mom tell me before that success for the most part is a feeling within rather than it is without. It's what you experience or feel within in your core and does not necessarily depend on what transpires externally on a grand or grander scale. I think what she meant was it does not matter if the task be minute or colossal but if you gave it your best shot, did your best with it, you are just as successful as the person who invented the light bulb. That would be, by the best standards in point of value, a huge success. Quite an achievement!

Well, all that considered, we can call ourselves achievers everyday! Because everyday as we get on with our respective lives we give it everything we've got. Giving everything to life with what we are and with what we are allowed to have. We study hard, work hard, think hard, honest in our hearts, tumble and fall with bad breaks and yet rise up again even much stronger.

I have achieved much in my life, too. Just like everybody else. Maybe it won't hug the headlines but in my tiny world the spotlight's on me. And the applause I think I hear is the applause of a happy God who I believe is mighty pleased for what I have done or do. After all as I understand it, God does not require extraordinary things from extraordinary people but that we do ordinary things extraordinarily well. But don't we do that everyday!?? And that's fantastic!

Blessings, everyone. Give the day and life and God your best shot.



Thursday, December 12, 2013

BEST IS ALWAYS GOOD


 

A good friend said... 'Not writing? What are you doing?!!' So she sent me another dozen of quotes. Gosh, what can you get with a friend like that?!! I know what ---- no rest!!  So here's one quote..... (Psst, I liked it anyhow.)

"He that holds fast the golden mean,
 And lives contentedly between
 The little and the great,
 Feels not the want that pinch the poor,
 Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door."

--William Cowper

Contentment. That's not the music the young sing to. I know cos I was young once. Oh yes I was Lols! .... and it was a good time in my life. Young is when you think you are the king or queen of the world and that nothing is impossible...  until you fall flat on your face! But if your parents taught you well, you will stand up and try again. Like this old cliche -- ' Try and try again until you succeed.' But sadly nobody told you that you would fall flat on your face again. And again.... and again. And then finally you stand up weak and worn with all that old youthful bravado drained out of you finally realizing that you have never really left your place.

Oh well, it happens even to the best of us. 'Life can be a bitch', says my best friend.

Hey wait! this piece should be about contentment, right?

Oh but it is. Contentment is defined as a state of happiness and satisfaction. Now you will ask me... 'How can anyone be content with a situation defined as above?' Yeah, it does look miserable I will agree.

But when you have learned and learned well from your bad experiences, tribulations, struggles, strife, or whatever else one may call it ...  then you will rise up to that point where you can say to yourself --------- 'I did my best.' - 'Gave it my best shot.'

And you know what, BEST is always good. Best, to my mind, is that special kind of success which is not always achievable by lesser souls. Best is also where contentment resides. Your best is what God expects of you. Best with who you are and with what you have and then armed with that with what you do with your life. By God's design.

Have a good day, everyone. Give the day your best. Today won't come again. Blessings!


Saturday, December 7, 2013

JUST STOP AND BREATHE


 

 

 

 

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What a quote-filled morning to start the day with. My good friend, Mr. Quote Man, is quite obsessed with packing my inbox with ideas which he thinks would or could block the proverbial 'writer's block' as a convenient excuse. A writer himself he probably knows what he's talking about. Understood that pretty well, my friend. Intent and effort is truly appreciated and which shall be put to good use... that is, if sitting by the window and communing with mother nature does not take the better part of my morning. :-)

With about six good quotes he sent me I plucked this one out because it is something which I think would resonate well with most of us. To quote.......

"Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, 
just remember how far you have come. 
Remember everything you have faced, 
all the battles you have won, 
and all the fears you have overcome."   
---  Author Unknown
Unquote.

Had a brief chat with a friend just recently. I was touched by her sadness over the way things were running in her life. I need not go over the details here, suffice it to say that she felt up against a huge wall..... and needed a 'sounding board' to air out her frustration. To help get the load off her chest. To cut a long story short, she seemed fine after that 'healing' moment. A beautiful precious bond good friends in wonderful friendships offer to one another in blessed kinship.

But it made me think. Life is tough. None is spared by its troubles. We get them all. Maybe differing in size, shape, intensity, reason, cause, or even purpose of which I want to think is for our better good, growth, maturity. But we don't always understand it that way. We don't seem to get it most times that it's how it works.... the hurt, pain, bruises, tears, disappointments, frustrations, angst, confusion, desperation, bewilderment.... we have to go through it all. Not nice, very inconvenient and not exactly user-friendly.

But I have learned in my own journey that I needed to stop the ranting, the heaving, the trying....   and just STOP. And breathe. Just breathe. And when the dust settles where everything (issues, obstacles, etc) goes back to its place and sits there grateful not to be unnecessarily roused to hyperactivity --------- something beautiful happens. Calmness flows through your whole being like the hand of God touching your soul and saying........

'Rest. Be still. Know that I am GOD.'

Wish you all a lovely day. Count your blessings. It's all there in your day. Because God loves you and blesses you with it every time.



Friday, December 6, 2013

SERENITY IS A RARE TREASURE






Sitting here by the window quietly by myself is a wonderful feel. It's that part of the day when everything has come to waking while some early-bird humans are already into the day with their hands filling up with to-do lists. Mine is just being still... just being... just being here. As mother nature carries on a conversation outside my window I watch and listen......... trees content swaying in the breeze, sun cheerily bouncing its warmth on the leaves of such great diversity of color shape and size... birds flitting here and there atop branches in the midst of a chirpy symphony praising the day... sky undecided if it should be clear or messed up with jolly clouds but finally deciding it doesn't matter at all.

Wonderful morning!

Such precious moment. Nothing to mess up your brain with nor something to crank up your heart with in weary toil. No tiny irritating odds and ends gnawing at your calm nor pressure villains telling you to do-this-or-else.

Peace. Content. Happy. Feeling closer to the Divine.



Tuesday, December 3, 2013

THE PERSON YOU DECIDE TO BE




Mr. Quote Man thought this a good quote and sent it to my inbox...........................  

 "Don't judge me by MY PAST. I don't live there ANYMORE" 
-- Unknown


Yes, it is a good one but I have learned this much too that people generally tend to judge a person by his or her past more than anything else. People have always been that way.. it's human nature.. it's also a human flaw.. it's also a myopic view of life. People do not think in terms of  'what if' ... but rather of 'what has been'. Sad but true. To ask people not to judge by one's past is like aiming for the moon. Only the magnanimous of heart are capable of sifting through the past and understanding what it sees there and then moving on to the present and appreciating it for what it's truly worth. But that, unfortunately, is a rare gift.

And is I think one lesson in life which we are meant to learn and relearn -- if but again and again until we finally get it. To understand best that people do change over time. And that whatsoever you so choose to be is all up to you. But certainly change will get you there.



Sunday, December 1, 2013

NATURE'S MORNING DANCE - A PRIVILEGE




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Outside my window in the living room is the lot of my good neighbor Celia (not her true name). It's filled with trees -- mango, duhat, langka, avocado -- which branches are lush with green leaves. A lovely sight for sore eyes. And such a wonderful sight to see first thing in the morning on waking.

But I too have a tree (the Mast Tree)...  a solitary one rising tall and strong, not the wide expansive kind, but one that grows up like a straight rod reaching for the sky. Except that it goes through a regular trimming at the top so that it won't rise to unmanageable heights. On this fine morning I noticed on the lower part of my tree there right on the fringes of its leaf-covered thread-like branches a tiny dance going on. The pointed-shaped leaves were swaying gently like a lovely couple sashaying on the dance floor in a gentle waltz. Amazingly as the rest of the tall tree remained straight rod-like and motionlessly tall and unbending.... as it is on the season of hot windless summer days.

You think that isn't possible? Well, it is...  and it's right there before my eyes. This went on for just a few seconds and then finally the rest of the tree joined in as the breeze finally decided to include it in the morning dance.

This is one of those rare precious moments Mother Nature allows you to see. But there is a prerequisite to the rare privilege granted.... that you be still and pay close attention.

Remember what God said.....  'Be still and know that I am God.' 
Say to yourself ---  'This is going to be a terrific day.'  .... because it is and will be! Thank God for such a lovely gift!

Good morning, folks! Be blessed and stay blessed.