Living in a Box (The Family)

Life is worth living for. That's what I have always in my mind. The question is "How worthy life is if you are living in a box?" Not literally living in a box, but look around you, do you think most people are living outside the box? Nope, most of us are living inside the box. Not all but most of us are just living inside a box. No freedom, limited space, uncomfortable and it takes a lot of sacrifice.

I have seen a lot of families whose parents are working abroad, children are living on their own. Parents can afford to provide everything for their children but in return they are suffering from being away from their love ones. It's not wrong to work hard for our children, what's wrong is that parents forget that their children need them more than the money. What's worst when family is not a whole family at all, when children are starting to beg for love to other people and parents choose to separate their ways because love starts to fade in their hearts.

I am a commuter and everyday of my life I have seen families beside the street begging for something to eat. Sometimes I think it's normal but I realized it's not. It become normal for most of us because we used to see them everyday of our life. I am fortunate than them but why it's so hard for me to help them? I am willing to help but I have nothing to help, I have a limited resources to help them. I can share something for them but what's the hardest thing is that I can't even help my own family. I can't help them in the sense that I don't have an idea if they are eating well, are they comfortable, are they having enough money for their daily needs!? It's an irony but it's true.

I'm pretty sure that you are familiar with the word "Buena Familia". They are family who can afford to buy what they want. But do you think these people are the happiest people? I knew some but they are not happy in what they have and what they are. Fighting each other, having problem with their security, working so hard as if they know nothing but money. No love only money. Their happiness is based on their money. They have also limitations and it seems they are living inside the box.

As far as I have observed, whether rich or poor, most of us are living inside the box. Can you ask yourself with these questions and try to reflect it on your own. How can we get out from there? What is there outside the box that we should be aiming for? Is there any something special outside the box? There are so many reasons why should we get out from box of our life because there is life outside that box.

(My personal thanks to Mr. Angelo Javier for allowing me to use his photos. I am using his photos instead of using a family photos is because this is exactly how I want you to picture out life, inside the box, uncomfortable, limited space, happy eyes, contented yet there is pain in the eyes, mysterious and you don't know what it really mean unless you will put yourself how does it feels like inside the box.)

Friendship and Beyond...

This blog post is taken from http://arjhay1726.wordpress.com. It was around 11:00 in the evening to midnight of August 13, 2008 when I wrote this post. Lot of my friends told me that this is one of the best post they ever read. Well maybe it's because the time I write it...it's not only my mind and my hand that write this post but I know I write it from the heart. I just want to share this post in here and hopefully you will like it too.

You have just met somewhere in nowhere, in an unexpected ways, in an unexpected time. In my whole life I never thought of somebody who will came and be my friend for the rest of my life. If I willbe your friend, I will be a friend forever. Sometimes I can can hear from other people saying that life is nothing without money, life is nothing without power, life is nothing without wisdom but for me life is nothing without FRIENDS. I am always saying to myself that I am rich, not with wealth, but I am rich because I have a lot of friends.

All of my friends have different characteristics, they have different point of view in life, they have different social status, they have different interpretation on life itself. There are people who consider their friend as somebody who is more than a family. I don’t know why but mostly of us confide to a friend rather than to a family, I, even myself used to ran to a friend than to my family. I seek more comfort from a friend than to anyone else.

There are people that surround us that criticize the friendship we have invested to a certain person. Sometimes we were prejudged because we are showing something better to a friend. Why do people sometimes questioned the status of friendship you have? Is it not about giving back of something to a friend because he/she has done something good for you? I can even remember a good friend of mine, who shares all the best thing we could have in our lives. We even define friendship as something that only two hearts understand, no need for words to say, only eyes and we can understand.

As we journey our life, we can meet people along the way, people that will hurt us, people that will make us laugh, people that will inspire us and people who will leave some prints in our hearts. These are the people that we met by chance and some of them proved to be a good friend, and from that few we can find a best friend, as time keeps the two soul closer to one another and destined to be friends forever.

Heart of a Child

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.Psalm 73:26

I can't help myself but to cry while watching this video I have found at www.Godtube.com. Lot of people die because of heart problems, some dies because of age, some dies because of lifestyle but how could you imagine a child to suffer because of her own mother? That's painful but God has always a great plan for our lives, He does miracle everyday, sometimes it's so hard to understand these miracles but remember that God is a Powerful God, Almighty God and He can do everything, nothing is impossible with Him.

I can still remember my Aunt who is also suffering Chronic Heart Problem, how she fight her illness, how she suffer and how she die while holding my hand. Literally I was there beside her holding my hand during her last breath. I can see the pain in her eyes, though she can't speak anymore but I can feel the way she held me that she want to go rather than staying alive suffering from her illness.

In this video God is so merciful and loving God that He want this child to experience how beautiful life is. Miracles do happen during the very least time we expect it. God is so great and we should be glad in it. He does miracle to this child and He can do also miracle to us, no matter what kind of diseases we have, what kind of illness we are suffering, cancer, AIDS, even the worst illness you know, He can heal us only if we just believed in Him that He is a living God, a powerful God, an almighty God through His Son Jesus.

God's Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:

"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything." Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

Giving without Spending

I was inspired to write today about GIVING, how to Give and what’s the best thing to give coz early morning today while I’m taking a jeepney going to the office a group of young adult (Badjao) beating their drums and dancing to tune of their beat, they are giving envelopes to ask for some money. I am wondering what’s the best way to give and how to give!?

Matthew 6:2-4 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

The bible says to give secretly as much as possible. It’s not the approval of other people seeing you giving to the needy but it’s the Approval of our Father in Heaven. Personally, I don’t give to these people coz for me I am not giving but I am spending them to live life as it is. They become dependent to people that surrounds them. It’s just like I am spending a certain amount of money for other people to see me giving. It’s very clear that the bible says to GIVE but I believed we can give something aside from money. This is what all about; WE CAN GIVE WITHOUT SPENDING.

Let me first define what is SPENDING and what is GIVING. SPENDING is to pay out, disburse, or expend; dispose of (money, wealth, resources, etc.) while GIVING is to present voluntarily and without expecting compensation.

I can give my smile, I can give advice, I can give comfort, I can give compliment, I can give my prayers and I can give my time without expecting others to pay me for what I did. These are simply an illustration of giving without spending. Those are just simple things but it means a lot for others.

So what’s the best thing to give? I can say, your TIME. Giving your time is the best thing you can give. It’s something that we can’t take it back when we give it, there’s no rewind or fast forward of our time. When a person is about to die, they want their love ones to be there beside them, that’s giving your time. When a person has a problem, all he need is your time to listen to him. If you want to have a piece of mind, just give yourself a little time alone and listen to God. Listen to your heart and He will talk to you when you just shut up your mouth. The question is “How much time you can give?”

The Gift

This post is taken from my other blogpage and I just want share coz it somehow makes a difference in my life. Hopefully I can share some insights that may change also your life.

There are small details in our life that we miss to discover what it really meant for us. It might be small but it means a lot. It might be in a package that we expect less, a gift in a different wrapper, there are things in our life, small things we think useless and we choose to put it in a trash but that might be the big thing we are searching for. This is a story that inspires me to appreciate every gift that is given to me. It might be nothing to others but let us try to discover what’s in it, what’s the essence of that gift to us and how it affects us.

A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and said, “With all your money you give me a Bible?” and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy book.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care things. When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.

He began to search his father’s important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words…PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God’s blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?