Dare We Not Desire?
The older brother is the picture of the man who has lived his entire life from duty and obligation. When the wayward son returns from his shipwreck of desire, his brother is furious because he gets a party and not a trip behind the barn with the broadside of a paddle. He tells his father that he has been had; that all these years he hasn’t gotten a thing in return for his life of service. The father’s reply cuts to the chase: “All that is mine has always been yours.” In other words, “You never asked.”
Rembrandt captures all this powerfully in his now-famous painting The Return of the Prodigal Son. In this painting, the elder brother stands a step above the reunion of father and son. He will not step down, enter in. He is above it all. But who receives redemption? The scandalous message of the story is this: whose who kill desire – the legalists, the dutiful – are not the ones who experience the father’s embrace. The question is not, Dare we desire, but dare we not desire?
(an excerpt from, The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge)
True Love
“One of the great experiences of life is that first experience of being in love and being loved. Of course our parents love us. They have to, or so it seems, and siblings, too. But the first time someone loves us for no other reason that that person has in some way perceived our true beauty, our true lovableness, we float. We are ecstatic. For we have seen in the eyes of the lover something of our own true beauty. The only way we really see ourselves is when we see ourselves reflected back to us from the eyes of one who truly loves us.” (Irene Alexander, Learning Grace by Living Nakedly)
When the time comes that you feel that your lover is the person who has perceived, accepted and embraced your true beauty despite your tons of ugliness, never let go of that opportunity… ’cause you would never know when that same feeling will pass your way again. And if that feeling of ‘being in love’ fades away, don’t get tired of wishing and waiting for it to happen again; just like its Creator, it has its own season of growth, death, and revival. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.
Sonnet 147
My love is as a fever, longing still 
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The uncertain sickly appetite to please.
My reason, the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve
Desire is death, which physic did except.
Past cure I am, now reason is past care,
And frantic-mad with evermore unrest;
My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,
At random from the truth vainly express’d;
For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.
-William Shakespeare
Falling in Love (redefined)
Don’t go crazy looking for love; 
let love search for you.
Relax.
Falling in love is a reaction, not an action.
Let love make the first move. Then you respond.
That is why they say people fall in love.
Falling is effortless; that’s how love should be.
Climbing is tedious; that’s not how love should be.
Let someone melt the ground you stand on so you fall in love.
Don’t climb mountains just to find love.
That’s climbing —or cliff hanging—for love.
Mahirap. (Difficult)
Nakakapagod. (Tedious)
Bihirang magtagumpay. (Rarely Succeed)
-Ed Lapiz
Genuine Masculinity
“To be spiritually masculine, men should know the balance of their receptivity and vulnerability.” -James Nelson
Receptivity refers to the ability to accept feedback and criticisms from other people and being open for development. Vulnerability is one’s skill to accept weakness and the reality that he’s also in need.
Men, your genuine masculinity will never be measured on how huge your muscles are nor how strong you punch… how many girls you date out with nor how many of them cried… how long you hold back your tears nor how good you care for those at risk. But it will be proven on how “gentle” you are to the ones in need regardless or their ages, sexes, and status in your community. Your masculinity will also be tested on how open you are for correction and how long you can commit to a serious relationship. It’s like you are being open to be your true and loving self despite the fact that this hostile world endorses its own definition of masculinity. Try not to be persuaded by it. Be the best and true masculine that you can be! Shalom.
Everyday Deserves a Chance
Happy New Year!
Whether you believe it or not, I just spent my New Year’s eve trying to ignore the loud noise brought by fireworks and loud music. I was in bed trying to fall asleep as if I was not hearing anything (even my mom’s call). I missed the beauty of fireworks and I missed the opportunity to enjoy what life brought me at that moment. All I know, something’s hindering me from celebrating that blessed midnight.
Then as I recall, perhaps it’s because of fear and worry. I must admit that I am really bombarded with the things that I have to accomplish as a professional and as a student. After this week, I will be facing the reality of my loads and deadlines. I am fully aware of everything; however, it’s like my mind is willing to work and finish everything but my body refuses. It’s really a struggle everytime these two are in complete disagreement. With these, doubt starts to linger in my heart, asking me, “Can you finish everything before Monday?” Then fear and worry are working together to put me down.
Nevertheless, it’s just amazing how conscience moves in my life every time I am feeling such negativity. I read a chapter from the book, “Everyday Deserves a Chance” by Max Lucado hoping to gain new insight in this life; and it never failed me.
“An hour is too short, a year too long. Days are the bite-size portions of life, the God-designed segments of life management.” And I agree with this statement. It’s a good thing that God has given as 24-hours to manage… one day at a time. Perhaps, He’s giving us the opportunity to enjoy our day and make it perfect. However, in reality, there are moments when we are missing the opportunity to enjoy a specific day. Max offered the following things for us to keep in mind as we face our day:
1. You no longer have yesterday. Well, it’s true. There’s no chance of sleeping then waking up in the same date, right? Yesterday will always be a yesterday… a portion of our past.
2. You do not yet have tomorrow. Well, this speaks to me a lot. I always worry what will happen in the future and forgetting what lies for me in that moment. Perhaps, it happens to you, as well. You can’t spend tomorrow’s life-benefits today for time will come, you will never have enough for tomorrow.
3. Live in it. Give your today a chance. Live in it. If the Lord has given us a 24-hour day to manage, manage it well. Make your day perfect in your own expectation. Do it everyday and imagine what will happen for the rest of the year…. amazing, isn’t it?
May the song of the psalmist be the song of our hearts every single day… “This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Have a perfect day ahead! Shalom.
Yesterday’s Junks
But if I let these dreams die,
If I lay down all my wounded pride,
If I let these dreams die,
Will I find that letting go lets me come alive?
So empty my hands, fill up my heart
Capture my mind with You (Tenth Avenue North, Empty My Hands)
Life is a game. We find joy in every triumph thus will make us pursue more victories. The more victories we have, the more pride we achieve. However, alongside, we can also learn sadness in every lost battle and whether we accept it or not, we hate to lose. Who wants it, by the way? That’s why people are trying so hard to win over their yesterday’s junks.
Nevertheless, we cannot hold on to these “junks” forever for once in our life, we have to let go of these so that we can hold another opportunity to win. But what can we do if all the people around tell us to give up or to stand up and push us to take revenge? One thing I’ve learned from this life: we cannot allow people dictate the course of our life. But what we can do is to fix our eyes on Jesus who leads us and makes our faith complete (Hebrews 12:2).
In this game of life, one thing is necessary that is, we should know whose voice we’re listening to.
We Will Be Faithful
Faith is the thing that proves on what we cannot see.
Faith is the one who is keeping us connected to the Father.
We must not lose faith and remember God in everything we do
and we just need to be faithful to God and God will always finish His work in us.
God will finish what He started in our life we just need to entirely entrust everything to Him, for our hearts belong only to Him…
“There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” -Philippians 1:6
Eternal Love For Us
God LOVED us so much to the Point of Giving His own Son to Die for us… to the point of Considering us Worthy to be saved and Loved! God Loved us For He was so kind of Saving us! God Gave us the gift that requires no return; a gift that is Free for us to receive and not be rejected!
Before we were born Christ loved us first! God gave us an eternal love that we can never forget!
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” -John 3:16
Strength in Sorrow
You will enter into strength through sorrow. Sorrow is not the object; it’s simply the canal that the object comes though. Anytime you have sorrow, it is a sign that God is trying to get something through you and to you.
For every struggle in your life, God accomplishes something in your character and in your spirit. No matter what kind of pain you are holding, you have to release it just like a mother giving birth to a child. Pain doesn’t fall on its own. It’s got to be released. The same thing with us… we have to release the pain and get the promise that the Lord has prepared for us. But we can never claim that promise if we are too busy keeping and suppressing the pain inside us. Just let it go.
The past hurts; the pain is genuine. However, you must learn to get in touch with something other than your pain. If you do not have desire, you won’t have the tenacity to resurrect. Desire will come back. After the pain is over, desire follows, because it takes desire to be productive again.
-T.D. Jakes, author of Woman, Thou Art Loosed!
Priceless
Brown Penny
I WHISPERED, ‘I am too young,’
And then, ‘I am old enough’;
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
‘Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair.’
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.
O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.
Just a Wild Thought
“Sometimes, all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.”
While I was walking home from work, my eyes were captivated by the wide, gray sky then, a wild thought came up to me, “Perhaps, this is what love does to people. Despite the fatigue that one experiences from a whole day’s activity, a call from a beloved person quenches that kind of temporary loss of strength. A simple gesture of kindness coming from a special someone eases the groaning soul that seeks love and affection. And, a usual question like, “How’s your day?” from your loved one gives you another kind of might that rejuvenates your thirsty being…”
Then I smiled, bowed my head, and whispered, “Perhaps, this kind of love is what I need.”
Precious Gem
“Trust will take time to rebuild – and it may never be rebuilt.” (Tom Holladay)
Trust is one of the gems that we treasure a lot…
So be careful on handling it. For once it is destroyed, you will find it too difficult to regain, too complex to hold, and too dangerous to give.
Mercy
“The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice bless’d:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”
(William Shakespeare)
Choose to Forgive
Forgiveness is the greatest expression of mercy that you can show to another, particularly to the person who has hurt you a lot.
Just a little exercise: Think of the GREATEST error that you commit against God.
WHY? (You may ask…)
“The strength to forgive someone else can only be found in the truth that you have been forgiven by God.” (Tom Holladay) You have been forgiven by God, completely and faithfully. Now, it’s your choice: keep that grudge to the bottom part of your heart OR learn to let it go and experience a new sensation of peace.
Remember: “If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13, NCV)
Stop Hypocrisy
“Take the road that leads to the freedom of a life without secrets, a life where you know that people love you for who you are, not for who you’re pretending to be.” -Tom Holladay
“Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired…” (Matthew 6:1 NLT)
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil. Cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9 NIV)
The Gift of Love
“Many feel lonely because, in spite of their effort to love and be loved, their love is rejected.
This loneliness is often self-created. These people may be claiming as a right what can only
come to them as a gift.” -Paul Tillich
To love and be loved is not a right that anyone could claim. Rather, it is a gift that anyone can receive.
Road to Love
“To know love, one must know pain, union requires separation.
You have never failed in love; your pain has prepared the road to know complete love.” -D.S.
“Fear not the pain of others, fear not the pain you may feel, fear not fear.
Fear not the love that is there, in you and for you.”
The Power of Choice
“When choosing, you are the master of your choice.
After choosing, you are the servant of it.”
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