God's Counsel

I firmly believe that I am where I am today because God guided me there.

All the major decisions in my life I have asked God's councel and as far as I'm concerned He has led me to a path that gave me the opportunity to grow and provide for my family's basic needs (a man's got to eat, right?).

I say opportunity because God did not give it to me on a silver platter. I had gone through a lot of hardships to get to where I am now. "Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa." Well, God found merit in my hard work and it did not come overnight. I'm talking about blood, sweat and tears hear brotha! It was a test of faith and persistence.

Anyway, I have come to realize that God does not answer immediately. He bids His time and, well, He's actually got the whole time in the world, right? So I learned to be patient---VERY PATIENT. After all, I am not God's only child. So, I take my place in a very long queue and wait my turn.

As I've mentioned in my previous blog that you need to be attuned to God's signs. I'm sure I'm not one of the favored ones to whom He speaks to directly and He can't be burning bushes in this day and age. Me, I just pray and pray and pray and pray some more until He manifests His wisdom in some form or another.

This morning I had a dream. It's kind of incomprehensible at best. Maybe God realized that I'm really not that intelligent so when I took to the john and reading my book, a quotation struck me. Really? Well, let's see how this pans out...

Burning Bush No More

In this day and age, God no longer has the luxury of burning bushes to talk to his people---lest He wanted to get someone locked up for arson.

God is omnipresent. He is in everyone and everything. He has is Divine Hand in every situation and every event. Hence, when we speak to God during our prayers His answer can be as subtle as the falling of a leaf. The thing is we need to be a believer of His presence for us to be able to catch on to what He is telling us.

I do believe that there is no such thing as consequences. Consequences are God's anonymous interventions in our lives. He can answer our prayers through your friends, family members, co-workers, and even your scheming enemy. The thing is, God does not provide solutions to our problems. He gives us options. In the end---everything will be in our hands. Free will, remember?

However, our relationship with God should not be forged only during times of crisis. He should not just play the helpdesk to our troubles but more importantly He should be the guide in our lives.

Life is not meant to be perfect but everyday is a gift which is why it is called the present. Have faith that God is always watching over us. In each of our burden He walks with us and lifts us up every time we falter. Little that we know---He carries us most of the time.

The Message of Christ's Sacrifice

Love. That is the meaning behind Christ's sacrifice on the cross. God loved us so much that He sacrificed His own Son to cleanse us from our sins and give us another chance to be under His glorious shadow.

It is therefore our purpose as Christians to share the same love to our fellow men---not necessarily having ourselves nailed to the cross---but to give the same unquestioning love to those in need of it.

The cliche "love your enemies" is easier said than done. However, we must always remember that love does come with some degree of sacrifice. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the love. Let us also admit that, enemies not withstanding, they do have their share in making us who we are. The very purpose of their existence in our lives mold our character and make us, hopefully, better individuals.

John Lennon's political slogan "make love not war" should be our state of mind everytime we go about our daily business. Conflict is the anti-thesis of love and should be avoided as much as possible. Getting in conflict with other people will make loving a lot more harder to do. As my boss would say, "why make your life miserable?" Again, easier said than done.

No one is perfect. This is the reason why entertaining the thought of marriage needs to be a real soul searching and mind exhausting activity. Why? Well, binding your self to another person UNTIL DEATH DO YOU PART is a real serious contract stipulation!

Saying YES to the invitation of marriage would mean forever loving that person and all the imperfections that go with him/her. A person may be beautiful or handsome now but time does have its ways of turning things around. Sexy now, fat later. Macho now, pot bellied later. Which is why there is another clause in the marriage contract saying FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE. Man! God's attorney was a real stickler for details!

With LOVE there is HAPPINESS. When there's HAPPINESS there is PEACE.

A Christmas Reflection

During the birth of Jesus, God chose some shepherds to first receive the Good News of our Salvation. Why did God choose the poor to be the first to bear witness to the coming of the Messiah? Then I realized that people only remember to call on God during times of difficulty and tend to forget Him when times are good! God chose the poor shepherds because the birth of the Messiah will give them HOPE.

It is only a couple of hours before Christmas and as we busy ourselves with all the last minute preparations, let us pause for a moment and think of what the meaning of Christmas in our lives sans the noche buena feast and the gifts...

From my family to yours---MERRY CHRISTMAS!