GIVING SO MUCH WITH SO LITTLE

This post is in remembrance of kind hearts and gentle souls who have touched my life through the years.  With their hearts spilling all over the place they gave me a glimpse of rainbows, moonbeams, lovely meadows, heaven, hope and faith where at times there seemed to be none.  They gave me so much with so little. With just being their simple, sincere, and humble selves they showed me and taught me about the beauty of the soul... of life... of the world... of a Magnificent God.

Thank you from my heart to yours.

God bless you.

RAINBOW SOULS

I've met 'rainbow souls'. Yeah, I like to call them that because just like a rainbow comes after the rain.. they bring back the joy, smile, and hope into lives where once thought would never show itself again. By their mere presence they help one cope with life's turbulent waters. By their steady strength and support they make one want to believe and hope again. By the beauty of their minds they make one see beyond those barriers or walls which keep away dreams. By the gentleness of their hearts they restore one's inner core or get you back connected to it much in better form.

Sadly my rainbow souls had to leave. Beautiful friendships. Alas, life took them into other directions -- but perhaps to minister to other hurting souls and that is so okay. Maybe I'll be seeing them again someday. Who knows?! One thing's sure they're irreplaceable. Will always keep their memory alive.

But three very special rainbow souls have gone and never will return again. That felt like losing a huge chunk of me. 'Thought I'd never make it alone. But I was wrong for they left their footprints behind -- in my heart and it's like they're always there -- accepting me for who-what I am, pushing me to reach my best, reminding me to stay on track, giving me the inspiration to follow my dreams, keeping that laughter and song in my head and heart alive. They're there for me.. always will be. My rainbow souls... Mom, Dad, kid brother Jesse. Love you!!! --- Know your rainbow souls? They're just there. If you can't see them with your eyes, see them with your heart.

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same." ~ Flavia Weedn

YOUR SMALL CAN MEAN THE WORLD TO ANOTHER

Our world is a hurting world - its people hurting suffering struggling with so many demons real or imagined. That's us. Oh yes, we try to be strong and brave -- most times succeeding. But at the end of the day in the middle of the night, we cringe under our sheets in our cold beds fearful of the coming dawn.. afraid for what it can do to hurt us again and again.

Scary but real. We all have to wrestle with a myriad of troubles, issues, and challenges, none exempted. We have our troubles and it comes as diverse as pebbles of sand. Some of us have it in manageable terms while others simply cruise down the bumps with undeniable ease. A good number battle it out with fangs and claws as would a female tiger when her brood is imperiled by an enemy. As some others more would simply sulk away lost and defeated. Problems are like huge great weights resting on our small frail shoulders and can easily crush us forlorn and defeated down to the ground.

At this broken point we desperately look out and up from our troubles for something or someone to take our hand and help us up on our feet again. Lucky if some permanent answers would come along with it thus ending our misery and we get to move on with smiles restored on our faces.

If you know someone like that.. right there where you are, give your hand and help him up. When a friend knocks at your door carrying his cross, let him in and give him rest from his burden. When a colleague comes to your desk with eyes close to tears, drop what you're doing and listen. When you see your mother quietly sitting in a corner forlornly, go to her and give her reason to smile. When your child comes to you with a broken toy in the middle of your reports, hug your child and fix that toy. When the maid asks for a leave to run to her ailing parent, grant it without any moment's hesitation or rebuke. When someone in your neighborhood comes to you for a small loan to buy medicines for her sick child, give even if that money was supposed to be for a nice dress you saw at the mall yesterday.

Small things - yes. But you'll never know how much it means to that person.

Someone kind and gentle said this....

"The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay."

PEOPLE ARE LIKE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

Still – quiet – serene – calm…..just the right place to be to escape the hustle-and-bustle of the city. I took a long sweeping look from the left to the right taking in the walls and the dome over my head. It literally took my breath away – stained-glass windows – its colors heightened by the glow of sunset. Built atop a mountain this cathedral stands proudly in its old world charm attracting visitors from as far as the outskirts of the city -- a handsome structure which has stood the passing of time and inside its walls nothing less in beauty. The main altar stretched out to the dome ceiling with a masterpiece of art etched on its stained-glass wall. My gaze followed the intricate lines from the floor to the top and down again. Here a little to the side stood a long-legged candle-holder - its flame glistening softly from a candle held by a glass holder (yes, in stained-glass too) - a small unobtrusive presence in the midst of such towering magnificence.

I was made speechless in the moment and in the presence of such exquisite beauty. Yet as all good things must come to an end, like coming to the end of a good show, a gentle curtain of extinguishing glow fell into the room. The sun was disappearing in the far horizon. Light was snuffed out in all of the glass walls in a falling curtain of darkness except for one solitary lighted candle holder. Surprised I gasped in awe amazed at the sight of the beautiful play of light and colors from a small stained-glass candle holder -- unremarkable just a few minutes ago but now a burst of brilliance unmatched by all the glass on the walls of the cathedral!

People – they come in different sizes, shapes, colors, temperaments, attitudes, in myriad colors of character and eccentricity, and personal histories. They touch our lives in many different ways when they cross paths with us. They sparkle and shine as life carries them through the many stations in their journey. Each come to interplay with various experiences which lead to a colorful display of emotions, wit, brilliance, expression, opinion, insight, belief, perception -- and on the opposite end bias, prejudice preconception, presumption, and more, These make up the whole person with whom we interconnect with day by day. Beautiful, isn’t it? But true beauty ---- where does it lie??

When fortunes turn sour, when failure looms high above you, when the small irritations of the day gnaw at your calm and composure, when relationships disappoint, when dreams shatter, when debts soar, when spouses betray trust, when your own stable world is unhinged at the seams without warning, and when you are there tittering on the edge of indecision – when all of these dark forces threaten to snuff out the light and brilliance of your day and of yourself, what do you do?

My mom summed it all up with how she lived her life. It was a life strewn with all conceivable trouble and distress. And looking back now I wonder just how God can sometimes be so unfair heaping up all the burdens on the shoulders of this small fragile gentle woman. Well, did she cry? Complain? Get mad? Get gloomy and depressed or bitter and resentful? Yes, all of that and yet everything too were left at His feet in prayer. Then she carried on with her life with what she had. She rose with every fall, trudged on doggedly with courage and strength and remarkable faith renewed each time, I wondered how. Through my child’s eyes I watched her drag her weary feet through the hills and valleys of a sparse life as she took on the role of raising a family. I saw her in my young child’s eye astoundingly as the most beautiful woman in the world. She still is even long after she has gone. But I see better now and understand the wisdom of God’s outstanding work.

This is true beauty – the beauty of the soul - beauty which shines even more brilliantly even when darkness sets in. True beauty as revealed only when its light is from within. Indeed.


“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in; their true beauty is revealed only if their light is from within.” ----- (Elizabeth Kubler Ross)

KINDNESS MAKES FOR A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

We often hear talk about somebody else’s bloopers, blunders, faults, bad fortune, inadequacies, failures, or bad luck. But why call attention to what others cannot do, failed to do, and are unable to do? It’s bad enough for that person to know that he has failed but to be reminded of it so often really sucks. Gossip and gossiping is a killer. It can hurt. It destroys with just one spoken nasty unkind word, just as easy as that. Well, what’s said about another person may be true or untrue but that’s not our problem. The whole point is why need or bother to talk about it? If it‘s not going to help the other person, just be quiet.

But do speak up about anything and everything which is GOOD, TRUE, NOBLE, WORTHY, and PRECIOUS. For instance -----

-The girl next door who comes home with her pay check with groceries in tow and with her mom’s favorite dish for dinner in her hand. In the rat race of modern pursuits, sometimes those simple endearing homespun values may be pushed far back or even get lost.

-That nondescript guy in his cubicle at the far end of the hall helping you photocopy fifty pages of your boss’s monthly report without your asking him to. Such unselfish and thoughtful gesture is a rare treasure to find in a corporate jungle.

-A friend who volunteered to stay with your sick child in the hospital to have you come home and rest. A friend who doesn’t mind getting involved in your family cares and woes is the real friend we all truly need.

-The vendor who helped push your car stalled in the center of busy traffic onto the safe side of the road. That’s the kind of person who unwittingly restores our trust and faith in the basic goodness of man.

-Or that 70 year old man who nobly lives a life alone and lonely but doesn’t complain; in fact, he is the cheeriest old man in your neighborhood. He puts us to shame with our pointless grumbling and complaining over the difficulties of life and living.

These and many more are what we should look out for, admire, praise, encourage, and extol. Shout it from the roof tops -- Tell everybody how wonderful this or that person is; how he or she made your life comfortable, pleasant, cheery, funny; or how you were encouraged, strengthened, inspired in your darkest moments; or how he made you feel human and worthy when everybody else gave up on you.

Truly we can make a difference in other people’s lives. Not harp on something that breaks up their world and shatters it to pieces. Rather with one that builds up courage, esteem, hope, joy, and faith.

KINDNESS -- that is all it takes to make them look good and feel good. It’s just a simple show of kindness but, believe me, it means the whole world to that person.

(This post I dedicate to all the kind people in my blog life in my blog world – for all the kindness I’ve received in thought, word, and deed. The sketch above is inspired by you. I pray God continue to pour out blessings upon you and your loved ones.)

THINK FROM YOUR HEART - NOT FROM YOUR POCKET

Do you think from your pocket?? - Don't! Because not everything in life has a price tag attached to it. Those things which truly matter in lfe are priceless. You can't buy love, loyalty, courage, hope, faith, family, friendship, wisdom, honesty, devotion, and other magnificent things which give genuine meaning and worth to life people and living. You can't buy a blessing.

Think from your HEART!

YOU CAN ALWAYS, ALWAYS GIVE SOMETHING --EVEN IF IT IS ONLY KINDNESS

If we wait for the perfect moment, the right timing, the worthy persons, or the highest peak of sympathy and compassion we will never get to do anything worthwhile. Big money is available only to a few lucky ones so we all know; popularity or influence sometimes is inherited through family prominence, so not everybody is afforded the opportunity or chance to do something special for a greater number of people on a grand or grander scale. Ordinary people and ordinary lives is what the world is mainly made of. But we all have the same hearts longing to make a contribution changing the world. So we try.. and thus some of us who can afford to try to make things happen by making out huge donations to a favorite charity, sponsor a gala event to highlight a good cause, finance a research project in a specific field such as medicine, education, environment, outer space, science, etc. Fantastic, isn’t it? Wish we could all be that and do all that but it isn’t quite so.

Instead we are this --- the husband and father rushing to work early in the morning, the wife and mother doing the endless chores around the home, and the children doing what children do. Then there’s the mailman delivering the mail, the power guy fixing power lines, the street sweeper, the plumber, the taxi driver, the salesgirl, and lots of others more. Look to our small neighborhoods and watch how life unfolds each day and you will see yourself mirrored in it.

We can give from what we are, who we are, and from what we have where we are. There’s our laughter, our joys, our apple pies, a cup of sugar for the person next door, a helping hand when sought for, or maybe just a friendly smile and some kindness for someone who appears lost. Those don’t cost much…even easier to give. And believe it or not we have them in abundant supply from within ourselves. I remember what mom used to say to me and my kid brother … ‘Anything of and from the heart is far more precious than a checkbook.’ Yup, it’s all right here in the heart. So give!

"How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway... And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!" -- Anne Frank

YOU SEE BUT ARE YOU LOOKING -- YOU HEAR BUT ARE YOU LISTENING

There is nothing so frustrating as to be ignored or misunderstood. But funny we always are and do with each other. As I go about my life and business I’m often told that it’s all that I must do – mind my own business and leave others with theirs.

Are you sure that’s smart? Are you sure that’s compassionate? Are you sure that’s what being human is all about?

Smart is smart when you know that everything a person does stands connected to his neighbor or to the next person beside him, stranger or not. You can’t just go around brandishing your brand of living, speech, or behavior not caring who gets bumped or knocked down by your shadow as you pass it by. The day or moment, or on a larger scale as the world, does not center on you --- alone. It is composed of zillions of other creatures of life which share the center stage with you. They too matter as you do. They’ve got their own stories to tell and deserve to be heard. They’ve got their own ambitions or dreams and deserve to pursue it. They’ve got their desires, passions, and love and deserve to feel or express it. They’ve got their own share of sorrows and pain and deserve to be comforted and cared for. They are so much you – as you are so much them. Understanding this is being smart.

‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ So you think that a miserable-looking man in ragged clothes dirty mien, roaming the streets begging for a penny does not concern you. Or a middle-aged guy looking out through the bars of his lonely cell is his just reward and that makes you feel safe. Or when thousands go hungry in a country far away is the fault of their lousy government and not yours. Or that the pedophile pouncing on young innocent victims is alright just as long as he doesn’t swoop down on your territory or your own brood. Oh but that concerns you – everything that is wrong whether it touches you directly or not – will concern you because it has the potential to hurt or harm you. But you have the power to change things if you want to. You may not be the government with all the resources in your hands nor a billionaire who can send off plane loads of food to Africa but you are you with your one voice, pair of hands, and a mind and heart that thinks and feels rightly when the time is come for it. You can with your one voice try to shift the eyes of the world to the plight of your poor world neighbors. You can point your finger to the instruments of evil threatening our families, communities, and the world. You can pack food and clothes and give it to the poor man on the street. It won’t take much to show compassion for another human being. All it takes is a mind and a heart which cares… truly cares.

If you think that you are given life to do as you wish, the answer is no. Yes, we do mind our days with jobs we work at from 9 to 5 24/7, get married, raise families, send children to school but that’s not all there is to life and living. There’s more entwined there because you stand connected to the world outside too that will surely engage your fullest capacity, ability, or talent if you look hard and listen well. And that does not simply operate in your own small circle of family or close friends although it can begin there. It’s a huge expanse which covers your community, to people you’ve never seen before in your whole life, and to the world at large. One voice or one small step or one lighted candle can lead to bigger and better things for a greater number of people.

Do what you can with what you are and what you have to shape lives, to bring hope, to tell your brothers regardless of race, color or creed that you see and are looking, that you hear and are listening. That is what being human is all about. And may you be blessed a hundredfold for it.

LESSON 8 - TREASURE THE GOOD AND SPECIAL PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE

In the hustle and bustle of living, many people cut across our way or breeze down our territory for some known or unknown reason. Perhaps God knows why or perhaps for something which the Universe conspires to cause in our life. In my small world there are such people but… I’m excluding the junk man, the newspaper boy, the mailman, the power guy, the phone guy, the water guy, and the wash woman who comes twice a week to do the laundry. Maybe include too the neighbors to that list because they simply are there meaning that they function as neighbors, period. But on second thought, that is purpose too, isn’t it? :-D

Well, let’s leave that and now come to the interesting part. I say interesting because it’s out of the ordinary run of everyday life and things. Sometimes a very special event makes its way to your door. But and this is the best part…. This is carried on the shoulders of a very special person. This someone who isn’t a person you get to see everyday or ordinarily deal with in the times of your life --- except for this one special moment or moments.

Through the years there have been individuals with that special quality. Men and women, old and young, rich and poor – makes no matter because it’s not the looks, position, wealth, or education that brought them to that very special spot. Whether that person is well endowed with such material attribute or attributes, still it won’t make a dent nor add to what has already effectively and superbly transpired.

I’m talking about KIND HEARTS and GENEROUS SOULS.

Need I say more? I think you get the idea.

What I want to say is – cherish these good people in your life. They’re like moonbeams and starry skies that take your breath away or gorgeous flowers in bloom which can brighten up any landscape anytime of day or a Christmas wish in summer when everybody else has stored their Christmas stockings away. They can bring both a smile and a tear to your eyes… and still feel very happy bout it. They present you with new hope, new dreams, new faith, and new joys. What they do somehow creates a bridge to that something which you find hard to achieve in the midst of a brewing ‘storm’. In a huge manner it restores your trust and confidence in life and people as a whole – the goodness therein which on some occasions seem to be quite obscure and vague. It’s that goodness which is being battered and buried deep beneath a mounting pile of rubble and garbage heaped on it by men and women of changing values in changing times. Intrinsic goodness is now passé. Smart and shrewd is ‘in’ they say. But I say goodness is still smart and shrewd with the right and genuine intention, honest motivation or reason, and cause. And some persons have a very special way with it. Luckily quite a good few have come my way through the years and recently.

I remember as a kid, my mom would say pointing out an extraordinary character…. ‘Remember that person well, he is good. Ask God to bless him!’ (Or ‘her’) That certainly would stir up my curiosity making me ask mother ‘why’. Then she would tell me, now I know. The name or names are forever etched in my heart that’s for sure. And indeed I have shot bullet prayers to Heaven asking God to bless them a hundredfold. I believe that as I pray – God repays.