Sunday, February 21, 2010

Make Life Easy

7:43 AM 1 Comments
One of the things that my mom had instill to me is the saying "why make it so hard, when it's actually easy?".

I make use of that saying whenever I get hurt or I did something wrong. I figure out that exhausting my self to feel the pain of being hurt because things doesn't go my way or people disappoints me is actually a waste of time. I think it's a waste of time to justify your deeds when you can actually try to listen to other people's reason of why they did such things. I believe that each of us strives hard to be the best that we can be to become a better person. Chances are big that people do something bad not because they wanted to be bad but it's just a result of them not putting their feet on your shoes. It's like if you're B and you wanted to understand A, you have to try to be an A, think like A, so you can empathize with A; but if B failed to be an A, A can try to be a B instead, so it's either they do it or you do it.

It's the same thing whenever I do something wrong, I try my best not to hurt other people but I still hurt them. And I guess, trying to defend my self and telling them not to be hurt because I didn't meant to hurt them is another waste of time. I believe the best thing to do is to accept that I did a mistake, say sorry, let go of hatred, accept the differences and then move on. It is now up to them to do the next thing, which is to forgive you.

It's easy but it takes a lot of courage to do. Pride is a big chunk to swallow at once. I am not an expert of swallowing my pride but I try my best to master that skill. It is helpful. It makes life easier to live. It makes loving other people easier to do.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Pre-lent Fasting and Praying

4:14 PM 1 Comments
How do you prepare for Lent? Or are you doing something in preparation for the Lent?

As for me, I am honestly not sure on how I should prepare for it. I tried to fast from Facebook because it's one of those things that I seem to get addicted with; I know that fasting with it would be a killer. However, since it's the first page that comes out from my url address bar, I had mistakenly opened that site instead of yahoo and seeing that I have new messages is such a huge temptation. It's like as if the red numbers on my notifications were calling me and telling me that I should open it and I was really sweating trying to resist the temptation. My hands were shaking and my feet were trying to walk away while my head remained to be glued on the screen, with my brain trying to figure out who messaged me.
= D I was expecting a reply from my best friend, but yeah, I gave in, replied, chatted and stayed for a while.

Fasting is hard! But, isn't it that it is supposed to be hard? A friend asked me if Lent was the reason for me not eating my dinner yesterday, I said no. Fasting for food is not fasting for me, that would be easy to do and something that I would LOVE to do. I believe that fasting should teach you how to resist temptation. It is in fasting that you can learn how to be still, be strong against the enemy's call, learn how to give up what you value at the moment and refocus your self to God.

I failed the fasting course but I believe that it is not just by fasting that we can prepare ourselves for the lent. Do I sound like I am trying so hard to make an excuse for myself? LOL

Persevering to pray, meditate, say the rosary and read the Bible regularly is my preparation. Just waaay before I decided to fast for something, for the purpose of Lent, I already tried to push my self to do some changes in my time of praying. I guess I mastered the talking-to-Jesus-like-a-friend type of prayer that I felt like I have to step up to the next level. The way I used to pray already makes me feel uncomfortable because it seems like I already did a lot of talking. I can feel something different, it's something that makes me feel guilty because I talk a lot.

I know that I have to be still but boy it is so hard to do! Whenever I try to be still, my mind wanders and then I'll start to say my petitions again. I'd start to whine again and again about this and that, then I'll exhaust myself from talking and thinking that I would be too tired to try to be still. Matthew 6:7 says, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetition, as the heathens do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (KJV).

I decided to do meditation and say the rosary to help me still so I can listen more to God. Saying the rosary is not a "vain repetition" prayer nor it is a prayer to worship other gods, which most of the other Christians say. A "vain repetition" prayer is something that you say to secure God's attention because you think that saying a certain prayer or petition over and over again will assure you of a positive outcome and saying it less will change God's mind.

The rosary is a prayer for meditation. It can help us to be steadfast. It helps our busy hearts and mind to calm down and prepare ourselves to be still in His presence. Saying the rosary, though it seems to be easy because it's a repetition, not a vain repetition just repetition, is still hard to do.

I had encountered more temptations when I say it compare to praying my regular prayers. I used to say the rosary with my family but I chose to say it on my own now because I like my own pace. I can meditate with my own speed. Now that I say it alone I had experienced to become too tired to understand and to contemplate on the words that I say, thus praying the rosary becomes just a blabbing; I also experienced being too lazy that I would think that praying the rosary will take time compared to saying a regular prayer, so I'll just do the latter because it's what I feel to do at the moment and sometimes my mind would be full of things that I know saying the rosary will require me to be focus r or else I will be totally lost in my prayer, so I won't say it.

Fasting is hard. Praying is hard. Temptations are all over the place. The enemy will never allow us to do anything for Him. Good thing we have a great understanding God who will never give up on us. We just have to continue to persevere and even take baby steps in doing what we have to do to be closer to Him. We fast and pray to learn how to be steadfast, to be still, so that the next time He speaks we can easily recognize that it is Him who is speaking and also focused enough to hear everything that He says.

Btw, I saw this picture/news from the Oblate Blog, it's about a dog who prays. If a dog can do it, surely we can do it too! Click here. ;-) Blessings!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Birthday Superman!

11:37 PM 1 Comments

Best Dad

Happy birthday to the best dad I know,
A father I love and respect,
A dad who fulfills all his duties
To teach, to guide, to protect.
If everyone had such a father,
A really good dad like mine,
The world would be so much better,
It would look like God’s own design.

Thank you for everything Dad. You've always been our hero, a great protector and comforter. You're one of my proofs of how much God loves me; He gave me a wonderful father like you. You're my superman and I will always be your little girl. I love you so much Daddy. Happy Birthday!


Saturday, February 13, 2010

I Love Your Love

6:55 PM 0 Comments
I Love Your Love

Sometimes when I feel Your love
as I walk along the busy streets
I'll whisper Your name under my breath
And sometimes I feel Your touch
in the quiet place of my room
I sing Your name in adoration

There are times when I feel like I'm bursting
with your love so strong and so true
and in my heart I feel such a yearning
I want all the world to know to know You love them too


I love Your love gonna shout it out aloud
I love Your love wanna tell the world about it
I love Your love 'cause I found it to be true
and I live to love You too

Tomorrow's Valentine's Day-a day for hearts, a day for love. Even though I believe that every day is a day for hearts, I still think that it's great to have a day that highlights what you feel for a certain person. That's what I want to do, I want to magnify Him. Give glory to His name and praise Him for His unconditional love for me.

People may disappoint us and hurt us but He will never do it us. His love is certain and will never change. He loves us no matter who we are, what we've been through, what we have done, what we are carrying at the moment and even if we neglect to do our part in our relationship with Him.

He's amazing; his love is overwhelming.

My romantic relationships with people made me reflect about His love for me. It made me realize how great God's love is. There were times when I got disappointed with men because I gave standards on what and how they should be towards our relationship. I cried only to realize after exhausting my self that I cried for nothing, it was just because I can't accept who they are, I created hurtful scenes because I was insecure and my pride constantly tells me that I have to be pleased all the time because that's what I want and that's how I think things should be. Don't get me wrong, I believe I was a good girl friend LOL, I always give my best but definitely I have limitations. Men had their limitations. We have limitations not just in our romantic relationships but to every kind of relationships we have with people. We love with conditions. We have this some sort of a gauge on how far we should go in giving when we love.

God's love is indescribable, immeasurable and infinite. It continues to pour over us without ifs and buts.

God will still love us even when we forget to give Him a call; BFs/GFs nags when you forget.

God will open His arms wide to welcome us whenever we return; BFs/GFs will ask you tons of annoying questions formulated because they don't have trust and they doubt the reason why you returned.

God loves us even if we did a lot of mistakes in the past; BFs/GFs will constantly remind you of those mistakes.

God loves us and gives us freedom to do whatever things we would like to do but reminds us that when we do wrong He also gets hurt; BFs/GFs will give you a list of Dos and Don'ts, follow the Dos and you'll have a smooth relationship but do just one Don't and they'll make you feel unloved.

God loves us because He loves us; BFs/GFs has a list of reasons why they do and a change of one of those will be a minus point for you.

LOL I sound bitter but truly I'm not. I just want to make this a fun post for my self and celebrate God's love for me. I'm just amazed how He can accept us despite of our flaws. His love is very humbling. Imagine, He loves us no matter how many times we made Him cry. It's a slap on our face to hate people because they can't be who we want them to be but then we ourselves are not "perfect" to deserve a great love like His.

So the next time you want to fight with your loved ones, friends, family, BFs/GFs or even strangers; think of God's love for you. I am 100% sure that whatever they did to you is just a speck of a dust compared to what you have done to Him when you sum up your sins. Pray for it, forgive and forget, and persevere to follow the way of Christ. It's hard, definitely hard, to do but keep the faith and pray.

Spread the love.
I love you!