THIS LIFE --- WE DON'T RUN IT, WE JUST LIVE IT. BE BRAVE

----------------
This is Celia's story but it could be anybody else's.
.
She's your ordinary person... perhaps your next door neighbor.. or office mate.. or passenger sitting across you in the jeep.. or the person behind you queuing at the cashier's counter.. or one walking beside you, behind you, up ahead on the busy sidewalk or street .. people coming and going.
.
She and life have never agreed on anything. She has her dreams but life sends her different things which take her off the desired path and keeps her busy with stuff that every ordinary mundane person does on this planet tending to needs which, as we all know, dictate priorities.
.
Live, love, work, smile, cry, hate, fear.... or be disappointed, embarrassed, feel sad and lonely, know what it's like to have hopes shattered to the ground, know about rejection and betrayal, know about the helplessness of watching life move along without any help from yourself. And sometimes she even wonders if it ever knows that she wants certain things changed....and pronto!
.
"Oh well, some people have control over their lives and some don't. But life definitely is a hard taskmaster." she would rationalize to herself. But a kindly old priest and good friend of her father, who visited her family one lovely summer's day before her father passed, corrected her with this....
.
"This life.... we don't run it. We just live it. What you see before you is all that you should do or be doing at that moment it is asked of you. It may not be what you want but definitely it is what you need. Set your eyes on the present. Live it though without losing sight of your dreams and goals. It will come in its own allotted time. Understand that you are put there for a reason. Maybe for yourself... maybe for others... maybe for the world or even mother nature... but definitely it is a part of the whole tapestry put together by divine intent. You must do your part. Nobody can or will do it for you. Everybody has his own allotted task. Be you in the present. Bravely."
.
Celia's story doesn't end there. The last time I spoke with her, she was beaming with quiet confidence and joy while still tending to the business of life and living. I asked her for its reason. She replied..... "I am me."
.
I think I understand now.

BE STRONG TO LIVE LIFE

-------------
Do you know why I love my early morning walks? It's because I get to know more about life through it. Oh of course there are also the books... but sometimes out there one gets a lot more of stuff that feeds the mind, heart, and soul. Oh sure, some would say there's nothing special there but ordinary normal mundane puny lives and living. Well, if you stop awhile to think --- our lives, none exempted, are nothing but ordinary puny lives. We eat, work, play, sleep, hurt, cry, laugh, hate, and all the other things found on the emotional scale. And we do this over and over, again and again from sunrise to sundown.
.
Like these three middle-aged ladies I saw outside the gate of a nice house. Ordinary people in an ordinary neighborhood living ordinary lives. One was looking so bored, another looked flustered, and the other couldn't quite decide what to do. And their conversation, in loud ordinary voices which is the trademark of Pinoys huddled in an invigorating conversation, male or female.... trailed down inescapably to my ears. Yup, you guessed right... my radar was tuned-in on the trio. My radar, as you must already know by now, is primed to zero-in on new learning, observation, information, insight, and awesomeness of both living and non-living things... no matter its size, race, color, or creed. What they said caught my attention. To catch more of their chat I stopped, bent down and pretended to tie my shoelaces (both shoes). Kinda lame don't you think? But they were quite oblivious to me. So there!
.
Lady#1:      "Hhaayy... Wala na bang maibibigay sa atin ng buhay kundi puro problema?" --- (Can't life give us something else other than problems?)
.
Lady#2:      "Umasa ka pa! Walang alam pang iba ang buhay kundi ang tambakan tayo ng problema. Heto katatapos lang ng isa... may bago na naman." --- "You kidding me?! Problems are all that life can offer us. One problem finishes.... another crops up!"
.
Lady#3:     "Kayo naman! Hindi naman siguro ganyan. Nakatutok lang kayo kasi sa problema." --- (C'mon, can't be that bad. You're focusing only on problems.)
.
Ladies#1&#2:     "May bago ba!?!"  --- (So what else is new!?!)
.
At that point I didn't wait to hear the reply because I was there long enough and might get noticed by them, so decided to move along.
.
But what I gathered from their chat made me think.............
.
Is that all there is to life really? Problems?
.
Looking back at my own life journey I can say that yes I too have had my share... and new ones do crop up now and then. But that's the same with everybody else.. And problems come in different sizes.. shapes.. color.. and in varying degrees of intensity, force, or severity... rising from a diversity of causes or reasons. It will make you cry.. or anger you.. can be so frustrating, disappointing, irritating.. can arouse depression, self-pity, anxiety, hopelessness, fear, sadness, confusion.. and some seemingly mean and cruel will bash you to the ground utterly defeated. Or so it seems.
.
But life does not stop there. Nor does it end there.
.
You are here. I am here. Problems notwithstanding. What does that tell us?
.
Life may be tough....... but people are tougher.

.

By God's design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRATITUDE AND THANKFULNESS - THE GRACE OF SEEING GOD BEHIND EVERYTHING

 

------------------------------ 

"We don't need more to be thankful for,

we just need to be more thankful."

Author Unknown 

Gratitude as defined is .....
the quality of being thankful;  readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
Thankfulness is .....
warm friendly feelings of gratitude, appreciativeness, gratefulness, gratitude.
.
As you can see, they are close cousins and run on the same engine of appreciation. I still recall what my mother pointed out to me some years ago when I was just a kid in pigtails with a glaring gap up my front teeth... she would say ----
.
"Always be thankful, not only because you have to, but because you see beyond the gift --- to the true Giver of the gift."
.
Thank you is not just a word nor a show of politeness and good manners. It is understanding and seeing far beyond the person standing before you doing the good you receive. Because in truth, he is simply the carrier, conduit, or channel of good and blessings and miracles which a Higher Presence wants to gift you with. Thank you is acknowledging the power of the Divine.
.
And because we also know that the same Higher Being works in ways beyond our limited knowledge, so when things come to us wrapped in awe and magnificence way beyond our human understanding, these entirely and without a doubt point our eyes, minds, and hearts back to Him. Gratitude is the grace of understanding His magnificent work in our ordinary tiny mundane lives.
.
As mom would simply put it --- 'We are simply tools for good in God's loving hands.'
.
On this note, I would like to thank you -- my blogspot family and community -- for being there and tirelessly appreciating what I do. I hope that you enjoy the writing as much as I do writing it.
.
May God bless you and your family with everything good far more than your hearts can hold. In Christ I pray.