The Second Time Around

Ave Maria :-)

Blessings that we fail to recognize come in the form of 'forced' rest - and rest is truest when it involves not just physical rest but more so, resting one's mind, heart and spirit.. letting go even of the things we think make our life more secure - and then Voluntarily... consciously , humbly turning towards the Lord - the Giver of life, the One we call heavenly Father.

You'd think this was the easiest thing to do... in truth it is the hardest.

The more accomplished we are, the older.. the richer, the stronger.. all these crazy adjectives that we think Define us ... these very things when not put in their proper place inside our heart can alienate us from God...

 as tho' in a stubborn trance we make them our demi-gods... our security blankets, our comfort zones..our sources of strength - without which if divested of them we'd be worse than naked literally and figuratively. That has been satan's lie: "You Need All Those Things!" he whispers from time immemorial and many of us have fallen for it :Hook, line and sinker.

How does it happen?

Consider these little scenes in everyday life.... 

1) when we get ill .. especially physically ill.. many are inclined to pop a pill ( guilty din ako, ouch!) ... when it doesn't work, we self-medicate ..what antibiotic shall i buy this this time?..dapat mas malakas! 7 days after---> Oh no..we are still sick.. next step: see a doctor... follow the doctor.. hey why not even go beyond what the doctor recommends, he's too cautious eh...  as long as we have the budget for it tumodo na ... as long as someone will pay hospital bills..as long as health insurance will cover it ... let's use that card for all its worth... book me at the hospital, I'll agree to the surgery... let's get it over and done with..so that I can go back to my normal life..... oh poor soul... when we go this fast auto-response route... how many precious lessons we could miss.

how bout matters of the heart????

 2|)what's happening to our family... why have we become dysfunctional.. so detached.. oblivious to the pain or troubles our loved ones go thru, preferringto not know about it, for fear we will be asked to suffer along ...and these days , nobody wants to suffer... everyone wants a pain-free life.We want to invoke it under Human Rights, women's rights... without taking into account our accountability to the One who made us stewards of this world.that' another topic in itself   

3|)  financial setbacks... perhaps out of a badly needed job.. and for the nth time. We are so tempted to yell at angels as we can't sum up the courage to yell at God and complain..but in fact that is the state of our heart.

when things don't go our way... donot work out..donot flow..donot compute... we don't have to resort to our auto Responses... Our Super-Hero "I know this situation - I -can-cope" attitude... we don't have to always be on Top of the Situation but instead wisely allow everything to come to an invisible halt. Invisible  because it happens inside our mind and heart... it affects our will.

and we instead incline towards the Lord... with our first baby step being JUST SIMPLY quieting down , crying out to God: "Lord God, hear me, help me." and when ready we learn to pause and reflect...to do this more often.

This is so opposite to what we are used to... because sometimes we can only see as far as our nose. Or we have become content to see only what our physical eyes can see. And even then... sometimes even our physical eyesight has been tampered with... conditioned by worldly values so that when we behold things, situations, or people with our eyes we don't see the real worth -- we have become blind to beauty and truth.Sad is it not? To see and yet  to not see. to hear and to not hear... to not understand.

How sublime is the path to growth.. the maturing of our soul.

How fortunate we are that God does not stop to give us opportunities to stop dead in our hazardous tracks and then have timely realizations...before it is too late.

Going back to our little examples above.... as when we get sick ... as when relationships flounder, and we become so estranged with one another ... or when we are experiencing career or financial setbacks.... all of these provide that golden openning for us to remember the God who has breathed His life into us, saved us from our sins and who wants to restore us to glorious friendship with Him.

while God would not stop us from consulting doctors... from trying ways to bridge gaps or to devise remedies to rise from material bankruptcies yet THE PRIMARY STEP IS ALWAYS TO ALLOW THE LORD INTO THE PICTURE.. to include Jesus, to seek his counsel, His blessing, His guidance, His healing... to lift everything to Him to  -- so that our work will yield good results! the best  ever to not take even a single breath unless we realize we breathe through Him.

Barring sinful acts...There is nothing sweeter than being allowed to do the same things, same routine ..to be with the same people.. to keep doing the same work... but with a new heart and new mind. 

How very possible that we have been with our family or friends but not realizing their beautiful traits, their uniqueness... that portion of Jesus in them.

We could even walk the same concrete road in our village and be so grateful for that path... it may sound strange but believe it is possible.

Perhaps our whims and caprices are not attended to : we did not win the lotto, we still have that anthritic pain... there is not enough money for a holiday trip to that idyllic place.... we must still continue doing work /duties whether at home or at the office, our bodies may be conking nevertheless... there is a new found peace and the sweetest joy ever knowing that God loves us.

LOVE IS LOVELIER THE SECOND TIME AROUND..YOU BETCHA God bless you all..te mye 

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and

renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

Make a new heart in me, My God! Create it out of Your Pureness! (2 Cor. 5:17) Make my heart brand new so that it is totally pure and without anything bad. Dear God, make a new and faithful spirit inside of me. Give me Your Holy Spirit that I may be faithful to You in all things!! (John 3:1-21) Have my heart stick to You no matter what comes my way!! The psalmist, who is King David, is asking the loving and merciful God of all to create a perfectly clean heart in him, and to feed and grow his own heart in the Lord.

Create means "make completely new, and sustain". This is the same word used by God in the account of when He created the world in Genesis 1:1.

Pure, means, "to be bright, clean, unadulterated, uncontaminated, fully innocent, holy, moral".

Heart, refers to the center of your being. The Hebrew is used for the feelings, the will and even the intellect.

God, means Elohiym (pronounced el-o-heem). This is the plural form of God, referring to the Trinity. The Trinity is made up of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Elohiym means the Supreme God, the mighty and powerful God Who is Judge. He is the One to Whom we are accountable for all of our thoughts, words, and actions.

Putting them together, "Make and keep in me a new and bright, clean, fully innocent, and holy center of my being. May my feelings, will, and intellect be pure! O Supreme God, Mighty and Powerful Judge over all, I depend upon You to do this, please. For I am accountable to You for all of my thoughts, words, and actions."