Does that mean other people weren't blessed? 

If God causes the sun to shine both on the good and the bad, will He withhold His blessings to some and give it only to a few?

Who are we to say that some people are less fortunate than us?

I believe that God pours His blessings upon us all... always.

And maybe, when we say that we are blessed, it is only like saying we have finally found the faith to receive what God is giving us.  Finally, we have recognized God's goodness, and for that, we say that we are blessed! 

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Sometimes we wonder why God had to wait until we're tired and worn out, until we've finally given up before He gives us what we want.

And the answer is that we have made Him wait that long before we allowed Him to carry on His work and give us what it is we've been praying for.

Let us repent therefore.

Repent as in the word "metanoia" which means "a change of mind".

From doing things our own way, let us trust and cooperate with the Spirit
so we may live the full life Jesus has promised us all!

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who uplifts us

and protects us

and provides for everything we need

It is God who loved us first

who showers us with every good thing

we do not even know

All that is required of us

is the faith to believe

that He is there

that He is our Greatest Lover

the source of all that's wonderful

there is in our lives

It is our part to be able to receive

such a love

to rejoice

because we have been called

because we have been found

because we learn

that despite the mundaneness of what we see

we are special

we are cherrised

we are in truth

God's beloved ones.

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distracting us from our true and lasting joys.

Pleasure alone, brought by the senses

cannot make us truly happy.

They accompany us for a while,

but are soon forgotten

and we weep not for loss of their memory.

Pain on the other hand inflicts our soul

and we cry out for justice,

we seek for God's goodness.

What makes us happy then

if not the passions of our flesh?

It is the thought we render

upon whatever sensations that come our way,

the light by which our souls perceive true beauty,

by which love is revealed unto us,

changing us,

etching eternity unto our hearts.

It is thus that pain and pleasure become meaningful

even to be vehicles of good

It is thus when pain

reminds us

of the frailty of our pleasures

and how we should seek the things

that will truly last.

It is thus when the pleasure

of seeing a beautiful rose

sinks deep into our soul,

for then a rose is no longer just a rose,

but a gift most warmly and generously given,

always to remind us

how sweetly

and how strongly

we have been loved.

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imperfect though as they are;

sometimes you wish you can improve them,

that in one way or another

you can somehow make them perfect;

but then you realize

that even if these things happen,

they will no longer be the same ones

that you have loved;

you realize that you love them more

just being the way they were,

with all their flaws

and weaknesses;

you realize that you love

even these flaws

 and one way or another,

such things just blend in

and then you know

what true beauty

really means.

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Then you take his gentle hand
and you allow His peace to flood over you
like a soft cool breeze that touches your heart

And you cry your pain away
and you cry your anger away
and you rest your worries and your anxieties
and you believe that things will be okey

and things will be okey
because love will shine thru once more
because your desires will be crystal clear
because you know what really matters
and there is nothing you can do
to take you away
from the One that matters the most to you

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I myself have asked many questions:

What if these Christians retract their faith in the midst of their tortures, would God be saddened by such a decision?  Is God not saddened seeing them suffer that way?

On the other hand, why do Christians persist in defending their faith?  Is this some legalistic concept of salvation?  Is this some heroic act of defending an invincible All-Powerful God?

The understanding of such conditions depends on the premise one takes.  If one takes the purely logical process, one can't help but think there is really no benefit gained by such Christians from their suffering and that the God they worship is either not really present, or not a loving God at all to be able to allow such inhuman treatment to be inflicted upon the ones He professes to love.

It is only by taking the premise of love that one can have some insight within the hearts of these brave men.   If one sees that these people have really loved God with all their heart, as a lover does, one can understand how they have found in Him something more precious than anything else in their lives.  Losing such a thing is synonymous to losing their lives and living a life apart from Him cannot even be imagined as they have become one with Him, being empty without Him, being lost, being dead.

Now as to the reason why God does not intervene in this matter (apart from spiritual Grace), there are such Laws that even God cannot break and will not break, seeing the better good that will arise out of it all.

It might be beneficial to first review what causes suffering in the world:

• sickness of imperfect body
• death of others due to imperfect body
• pain inflicted by sin of others
• pain inflicted by sin of self

In other words, suffering is caused by imperfect body and soul, by SIN that brings about death. 

Now how to remedy it?

• Sickness and death eradicated thru resurrection, by way of being born into the new incorruptible body Paul mentioned in the Bible.
• Emotional pain caused by others relieved thru forgiveness and total surrender to the God.

Now, going back as to why couldn't God intervene more

• As to remedying sin, Love cannot be forced
• As to remedying physical death, it would be a curse to give immortality to those who have not learned of love.

What might happen if He does intervene?

• God stops us from getting sick
• God stops us from dying when attacked by others
• God stops us from sinning
• God stops others from sinning against us

As a result, the world we know today will no longer be the same kind of world.  Freewill shall no longer be.  God would dictate everything and we succumb to the level of a slave or a robot instead of a lover who can freely respond to His love.

This world is not yet perfect.  This isn't heaven yet.  Ours is a world of duality, of both light and darkness, of love and hate, of bliss and suffering, and of the many choices in between.   God can surely pull out the weeds, as the Gospel says, but He will not do so for fear of pulling out even the good wheat, of the many good things this world can accomplish for our eternal soul.  In patience then do we wait and in joy do we live for the moment given us here, growing in virtue and in love, shining forth what little light we can give, until the seasons of the earth are over, and the night shall be no more.

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Very few realize what burdens geniuses carry their whole lives - what of Van gogh, of Edgar Allan Poe, of the mathematician John Nash?

Very few realize how hard it might have been to constantly manage and control that great power that they possess, to undertake it all alone, ostracized by the society that fails to understand them intellectually, and to sympathize with them as normal human beings who also need to be understood and to belong.

 People may not realize the efforts that they made in order to reach out.  On the other hand, people may look at them as snobs who can get by on their own and need not anyone else to fellowship with their whole life.  Others may even envy them and shy away from taking their company for fear that they might lose their self esteem in their presence.

Indeed, the greater the power given, the greater also is the cross and the task of harnessing it to the full.  May God help us all attain our full potentials, and may He help us find good friends who can lend us a warm hand along the way.

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We can't love like that.  Our love, however good is still conditional.  We want something in return because we are not perfect, and we try to get from others what we lack.

That is the reason Jesus gave us two commandments, why we needed to love God first.  In truth, it is a command to allow God to love us, to be so embraced and ensured that we couldn't ask for anything more.  In that way only can we love others truly as God has loved us.

That kind of love is therefore not waiting for any condition or reward.  That love is also not boastful, self righteous or looking down upon another person because it knows that whatever love it can give has come not from itself but from God, like the moon reflecting only the light cast upon it by the sun.

It is hence our first duty to seek God's love, to know, to believe, to feel, to be enveloped in the Light of God's marvellous compassion.  All else that follows are but mere expressions of our gratitude for the priceless gift we have received.

Whenever I feel injured or angry against another, it is most likely because I felt unloved at that time and the solution is not to continue seeking it from the person concerned but from God Himself.

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it's so easy to forget

and so difficult to keep watch

and to stay awake

So many things

distract us and bombard us

with temptations and lies

we sooner or later accept as truth

and allow to dominate even our subconcious minds

Passions, tastes, excitement,

hobbies, competition, entertainment,

things that entrance us

making us believe they're the only thing there is

To such a life

even sorrow is a gift

if it could awaken us

if it could help us realize

these are not the end of all our hopes

Declare then this paradox

and see that none can ever have complete

happiness in the present life

For to follow the way of comfort all the way,

one must succumb to forgetfulness

and thus suffer later in one's path

On the other hand,

to follow the way of wakefulness

one must carry his cross

so as not to let the flame of love

die out from his heart

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