I miss you all po, Nanay Lucy, Nanay Delma, Nanay Lumeng, Nanay Minda. I can imagine all of you seated comfortably at the back row in the worship hall, on your designated white monoblock chairs with arm rest and foam. You always seem to have that special glow of contentment in your faces.
Your presence brings delight to the church. You may not know it, but just being there reminds us of… continue reading..
When a person smile at us, we smile back. When we bump our head, we say “Ouch” as we rub it with our fingers. A file of laundry, a crying child, a burnt dish for lunch. These are stimuli. Our responses to all sorts of stimuli that confront us every day, may determine the quality of our lives. Do we complain to see a flooded floor, or do choose to respond calmly, by taking it as a challenge on how to clean it fast and easy.
Stimulus is anything that creates a response. A file of laundry is stimulus, a flooded floor, a burnt dish for lunch, an exciting game show, a screaming child, a frowning face of a neighbor. How we will respond to a particular stimulus will determine the quality of our lives. Do we complain to see a flooded floor or do we to take it as a challenge how to clean it fast and easy.
Making choices may not be a problem, but sometimes it not as easy. A frien invited you to a rare occasion of celebrating her 60th birthday, but hubby also asked you to… continue reading..
Painters can express their innermost feelings in a canvass. A bowl of fruits can be viewed and painted differently – depending on the painter’s perspective. Painting is a challenging profession or hobby. Not many get into it.
Yet all people can be painters in the Canvass of Life. Every morning when we wake up, we are handed a canvass, an easel, a set of brush and tubes of paints of various colors. We don’t need to know the techniques of painting. We don’t even need a subject. The choice of color is up to us. We can choose happy colors like yellow, pink and green,… continue reading..
Daniel 1:8 “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine that he drank. Therefore, he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.”
Christians are surrounded by temptations. But just like Daniel, we should resolve not to defile ourselves with sins surround us. Avoidance of sin is a process as we can see from what Daniel did.
We might think that quarantine is a miserable state. Yet many have chosen to make the best out of this confinement by being productive. For instance, instead of indulging in Netflix, these moms in my neighborhood flex their arms and instantly become business persons selling variety of foods online from roasted chicken to vege-balls, from choco chips to doughnuts. Others offer delivery of fruits, vegetables, meat, and poultry. An enterprising guy thought of delivering bread every Wednesday. These people not only make money but also spice-up the redundant menus of people in isolation.
With much time in hand, closets and drawers become organized, and… continue reading..
In this quarantine period, it is easy to lounge around, do nothing but eat, watch Netflix, and eat some more.
Time is time, whether we are in quarantine or not. Time has not lengthened just because we have nothing to do, and time seems long. As Christians, we need to be more on guard of our time. It is still 24 hours, no more, no less.
The key to leading ourselves is self-management, according to John Maxwell in his book, Leadership Gold. Taking some lessons from that book, we can lead ourselves to be productive even in this quarantine… continue reading..
Flowers are fascinating! They refresh and delight the eyes. Even wildflowers are beautiful to behold. We see them in open fields, on the sidewalk… along roadsides. But some flowers grow on rocks and cliffs, on crevices or rotten tree trunks. In these unpleasant places, the beauty of flowers is magnified.
Virtues are like flowers. They make people beautiful in the sight of God and men. Often, these are easily exercised in favorable conditions. For instance, it is not hard to be generous to an equally generous person. It is easy to love when you are loved in return. It is easy to be patient when… continue reading..
The morning has just begun. Mom is beginning to notice that a bird is singing every 5:30 in the morning while she is praying. She looked at the window and noticed the sky in its awesome glow as if it was greeting her a pleasant morning. The flowers in the front yard are all in bloom because now she has more time to water the plants. It’s been two weeks – this quarantine period – and it is still uncertain how long it will last.
She left her husband in his very rare extended sleep and went straight to the kitchen. “What will… continue reading..
“Sinabi sa kanya ni Hesus, ‘Hindi ba sinabi Ko sa iyo, na kung ikaw ay sasampalataya, ay makikita mo ang kaluwalhatian ng Diyos.”Juan 11:40
Hindi maunawaan ni Maria at Marta kung bakit naantala ang pagdating ng Panginoong Hesus. Kaya’t kanilang nasabi, “Panginoon, kung narito Ka sana, hindi sana namatay ang kapatid ko” (Juan 11:21, 32). Maaaring ganito ang kanilang iniisip, “Panginoon, hindi namin maunawaan kung bakit hindi ka agad dumating at hinayaan Mong mamatay ang taong Iyong minamahal. Ngayon huli na ang lahat dahil patay na si Lazaro!”
