Little Infinities

How much one can make out of life? With one sunrise to sundown? Probably not much when all we attempt to do is to make sense out of life in the purview of the hurried routine of accumulating more and achieving more and wanting more. We think that the value of life is measured in the quantity. We confuse quality time with busy schedules and all. But what if life isn't just comprise of 24-hour frantic cycles of self-centered to do lists? That there is actually something more? That YOLO is a myth, and that we're here to last?

Life is made up of moments lived upon the grace of the Divine. It is an experience of God's unending favor. And when life is viewed in the lens of eternity, what we have each sunrise to sundown are little infinities gifted to us by an infinitely loving God.

"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12)

Dreaming big

A warrior dreams big, and acts big to achieve his dreams. Like a vision for something great, a warrior's dream is not only a passing thought or wishful thinking, but it is a road by which he is willing to take no matter how long and difficult. His dreams are part of who he is, fulfilling it is part of his destiny.

Forever Faithful

Disillusioned at best and with no cause to fight for, You have met me in the middle of nowhere to pacify the tensions in my heart and pick me up one more time. One more fight, You said. I took hold of that. Years later, here I am, still fighting strong. All because of grace.

It is still a long way ahead in this journey of faith. But I promise to remain steadfast, to remain faithful, to be true to all that I know about You. And let it be said of me at the end of the day, "well done, my good and faithful servant", because that's who I am. A servant of the one true Master and King.

The beauty in our silence

"We need to pay heed to the many silences in our lives.... each silence has a character of its own. ~Kent Nerburn, "The Eloquence of Silence," Small Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life, 1998

 Life could just get too noisy at times that the essential things get blocked out from human ears. Too much noise--those that distract a person to hear from the inside--could endanger our connection to our inner self and thus render us vulnerable to external tensions of the world. There will be times that silence is the only respite amid the confusion around. Silence is intimidating because of its capacity to make you feel alone, or worst, unaccepted. And many try to veer away from that. But when accepted as a friend who can understand unconditionally, silence becomes power in its own way. It can help you process things without tensions--only internal, and that's a good thing, too--and it can allow you to think without restrictions. Silence, in itself, is power.

"Silence is a source of great strength."  ~Lao Tzu

Shooting stars

Sad, isn't it? That a supposed to be good story would end just like that. How two paths could easily diverge from each other just because one or both were just too profound, or too mysterious to take in. Or even too proud to understand.

It's sad when we ignore the possibility of a wonderful picture just because one little speck of colorless streak of miscommunication happen to smear the still unfolding canvass, not realizing the fact that masterpieces are born not out of perfection but by deliberate and gentle acceptance of imperfections and then have the grace to move ahead.

But maybe we're just one good story that is never meant to happen? Maybe our lives are just too colorful, too intense for each other to be able to connect?

Or maybe we were just two stars that glimmered too brightly against each other, and had collided for one brief sparkling moment and then gone?

Questions

Could it be that the reason why we give so little of our life to the One Who gave so much of His is that we have seen so little, heard so little, learned so little, and experienced so little?

Have we experienced so little grace and so little love and so little forgiveness that we still remain cold and stagnant and just hiding behind religious routines and labels, not really embracing this relationship with a Savior with honest commitment and devotion?

What if His love becomes so real in our lives that we can see Him, hear Him, feel Him, and experience Him and He demands that we abandon our all just to follow Him? Will we take the risk and be reckless for Him?

Will we?

What we are

Perhaps, broken is what we really are. I oftentimes like to think that in this wonderful cosmic drama, we're just debris floating in endless space and wandering aimlessly. With nowhere to go. But I was quite wrong about that, thankfully. I realized that we're not just bits of a broken puzzle but pieces meant for a masterpiece that is beyond our hopelessly limited imagination. We're parts and parcel of a greater whole, of a grander story. We are glorious ruins floating ceaselessly on grace and love of a Savior.

Oh, what wonderful ruins we are!

*******

"Glorious Ruins"

When the mountains fall

And the tempest roars You are with me

When creation folds

Still my soul will soar on Your mercy

I'll walk through the fire

With my head lifted high

And my spirit revived in Your story

And I'll look to the cross

As my failure is lost

In the light of Your glorious grace

Let the ruins come to life

In the beauty of Your Name

Rising up from the ashes

God forever You reign

And my soul will find refuge

In the shadow of Your wings

I will love You forever

And forever I'll sing

When the world caves in

Still my hope will cling to Your promise

Where my courage ends

Let my heart find strength in Your presence

What scares you makes you stronger

Vulnerability is the adventure of the profound. (Photo from the net)

I really wished we are not that too scared to open ourselves up to people and to make them feel they are important to us; to let them know that there's a special place in our life that they could fill. Baring the depths of our soul makes it easy for other people to hurt us; but it would also liberate us. Doing that will make us vulnerable. But life will demand that sometimes. To be vulnerable is scary, but not taking risks is even scarier.

Monsters

(Google image)

It's Nietzsche, the philosopher. The one who believed that God is dead. The one who believed in the Ubermensch--the philosophical concept of the "man is superb" and that man himself is the "higher being". Long before Superman, Ubermensch. Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Today, Nietzsches are everywhere. Far more in today's modern and scientific world. A world slowly traversing in a godless course. Nietzsches who believe that man is invincible, than man is supreme. That our will is sovereign. Loyal disciples of the skeptical search for truth and meaning. Nietzsches who out-rightly deny the existence of a deity, of an all-powerful and all-knowing Being. Their minds not able to fathom that grand majesty.

In their search for what they thought were monsters, they become monsters themselves.

Nietzsche's long dead. And God is alive.

And forever will be.

Beginnings

I like beginnings. The way it reminds me of the limitless possibilities that are there for the taking. I like the way it offers another chance to become better, to leave behind unnecessary luggage that tug you into the past. Beginnings are always a wonderful opportunity to start again, to pick up some fragmented pieces and continue from where you have fallen. You just have to stop at one point, take a detour perhaps, burn some bridges...and just move on. And in every day you find the courage to go forward with all strength, hope, daring and anticipation. And begin again. ©

(Google image)

Ghosts

Maybe ghosts aren't real. And that the only real ghosts are the ones lurking inside of us that we give power to haunt us, like memories or secrets locked up within the chambers of our own soul. Or maybe it's the ghosts of fear and indifference and unmet expectations and broken dreams that torment us, more than anything. Maybe it's the ghosts of our own disillusion. And wanting to break free.

(Google image: This painting by Michael Whelan of a man seemingly disillusioned by so many things is really worth a thousand words. Maybe I can identify with the man in the painting?
Maybe not.)

The Immaculate Inception

In my silence I create thunder,

in my rage I calm the stillness of night,

I am the stars sprinkled in the impeccable sky.

Sprawled beneath the covers

of the glittering palette of the universe

I contain in my palm the eternal reach of time.

(Google image)

Star-crossed Lovers

I still look at the stars

         just to remind myself that once upon a time,
there had been you and me 

                     beneath the glittering sky,
you and me--us making a rhyme.

And because the stars were there,

         I knew it was real,
But tomorrow their flickering lights 

                     will soon fade,
And just like them--the stars--

                you and me and "us" are ephemeral.