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It was kinda embarassing, but I knew the Lord knew my heart and there was no point in hiding anything. I remained true to my feelings, and I asked God for something I've never asked before. I've asked Him to send me a rose, just one. I don't know how it could possibly happen, but I prayed, like a daughter asking something from her dear father. I prayed for a single red rose. I prayed for a small expression of love, a small sign that I am loved, and that I am special as well.

It was a heartfelt prayer, though I never really thought much of it the day after. I guess it was enough for me that I uttered it, and that the Lord heard me. It was already upon God's hands whether to grant the prayer of silly girls like me.

So I went through my activities for the day, attending a seminar in the morning, and meeting my bestfriend afterwards in the afternoon. My friend and I strolled at a mall for a while, and then proceeded to pick up our materials for our upcoming training in Puerto Galera. After picking them up, we tried to find a ride back home. We found it difficult though, and found ourselves trying to find alternative routes.

On our way to EDSA, we chanced upon the Manila Seedling Bank, which we had seen many times before from the outside. A bit curious, we decided to look inside. We were amazed to see such a variety of plants wherever we proceeded. We certainly didn't expect so much there. But it turned out there was even an exhibit at that time from many skilled participants all over the country!

There were plants of all shapes and sizes, of common and rare varieties. There were beautiful flowers everywhere: gerberas, orchids, sunflowers, yellowbells, roses of all colors! Their scent enthralls the senses, their soft and vividly colored petals can't help but delight the eyes. The presentation was just terrific, and it really felt like we've just entered an enchanted garden, far from the harsh activities of men, protected by fairies and elves that guard them night and day.

And suddenly, right in the middle of that garden, I remembered my prayer. My prayer for a single red rose. And I realized, right there and then, that that prayer had been granted far beyond how I expected it to be answered. For right before my eyes lay not just a flower, not just a rose, not just a red rose, not just a bouquet of roses, but hundreds of flowers flourishing, blooming, glorifying the God that answers all of our prayers.

I've only asked for a small emblem of care, but what I received is a mountain of flowers testifying God's immeasurable love for me. I felt so happy. I felt so special and blessed. I believed then that no other girl was able to receive as much that Valentine's Day. No other man could have given as much. But the One who did was the One who loved me, the One who loved me enough to answer that silly prayer for a single lonely rose.

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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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Imagine a world

where you can't bring anything

you ever owned

not one valued possession

not a single penny you can toss

Imagine a world

where titles and status mean nothing

where authority belongs not to you

Imagine a world

where no man stands taller than another

and where beauty comes not only from you

Imagine a world where you can't hide anything

nor busy yourself with things that make you forget

just how empty you are within

how angry

how insecure

or how afraid

Imagine such a world

And then try to  imagine once more

Imagine a world where no one starves

nor longs for shelter

where no one gets sick

and no one ever grows old

Imagine no pain

and no death ever

that would make you weep

a world where you need not

depart from home

from the people you love the most

imagine never having to be alone

Imagine a world

where you are accepted and understood

for who you really are

Imagine you are loved

like you have never been loved before

Imagine such a world

and then open up your eyes

What do you see?

What is it that you truly desire to do?

© Jocelyn Soriano for I Take Off The MASK!, 2007. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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What is the meaning of our life

if we are but a mist that quickly goes away

like a rose that blooms but for a day

What does it matter then that we have

ever passed this way?

Whatever happens

to the smiles we have smiled

to the tears we have cried

Whatever happens

to dreams we dreamt and reached

to failures that turned out bitter-sweet

Whatever happens to raindrops that fell

if thou shall not rise again towards heaven

and be made purer than it has ever been

Whatever happens

O whatever happens

if thy fallen soul

shall not be redeemed

Yea by now I can only pray

I can only believe

that everything is not meaningless

that there is reserved a destiny

even for a withered flower

even for mist that quickly goes away

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 Some of us let these great dreams die, but

others nourish and protect them, nurse them

through bad days till they bring them to

the sunshine and light which come always

-Woodrow Wilson

I recently felt frustrated with my writing, thinking that this wouldn't lead me anywhere, that the work I do may be futile after all.  I have just finished my first novel and yet the hardships don't seem to end there.  I still had to do editings and countless revisions before I could present this work to the world.  And pending that time, you get no applause, no appreciation, no pat on the back whatever, surely no assurance that you're not  crazy doing what you've been doing all along.

But you do have to carry on, to carry your cross alone unto completion.  And the article below from Enoch Tan is such a help in reviving my dwindling motivation.

Creating from Void is Source of All Creation

www.mindreality.coom

We are taught to look at the success capability of people based on their track record, proven systems and past achievements. Those criteria help us to know how their level of qualification in the work that they do. It may seem like a good way to base our judgments of a person’s success ability upon, but the problem occurs when we use that same way to judge our own success ability. When we do not have those criteria or are inadequate in them, we disqualify ourselves from creating what we desire to.

Using past achievements to determine success ability alone is flawed. Confidence should be based upon the idea that  you are capable of doing something, not because you have already done it. If confidence comes from having already done something, then you probably would never even get started. All successful people did not have all those past achievements to base their success ability upon when they first started. The only thing that they needed to qualify themselves to act was their desire to do so.

Every new achievement and advancement that you see in the physical world first did not exist at all. There was no existing model to duplicate or prove the certainty of its success. It began as an idea in the mind of the inventor or the creator. In fact, all things in creation first existed as ideas alone. Everything exists as pure potentiality. It is through the field of pure potential that processes spring forth to manifest physical things. This is the essence of success, it is based on potential and not on achievement.

When you first start out on your path to success, you have nothing to show. All you have is an idea or a concept. You may question who are you to express such a thing when there are many others who are more qualified to do so. But the truth is that you are not the one creating anything. It is the idea or the concept that is seeking to express itself through you. You are here to be a channel for the work of God to manifest through you. Therefore it is not about being qualified but it is about being chosen.

There is a logos by which everything is created. All matter is energy in-formation. It is the logos or information that in-forms the formless energy what form to take. Logos is the foundation of all that is. The inner world creates the outer world. Knowing this truth liberates you to create from nothing. If you can conceive and believe it, you can achieve it. Everything is created by thought, therefore whatever you think you can do, you already have what it takes to succeed. Your thought is already the achievement.

Your actions do not create anything. Actions only serve to bring into manifestation what thought has already created. If you think success, you have already succeeded. Your actions will be subconsciously guided into producing success. If you think failure, you have already failed. Your actions will be subconsciously guided into producing failure. Past success does not equate future success, neither does past failure equal future failure. Every act is a new beginning and is directed by the thoughts you hold.

Everything that you observe in the visible world is only an appearance. It is only energy held into form by intention. So what you are really seeing is nothing at all. It is the emptiness of all things that is the spiritual essence. Out of the void everything springs forth and when something is dissolved, it returns to a state of pure potential, ready to take on another form when consciousness wills it to. The void is the source of all creation and when you create from that space, you can create anything and everything.

When you seek to create something new, there is no proven system or achievement to base your credibility upon. If we base our creation on what’s already been done before, then we will only create more of the same things. It is those that break free from the tried and tested in order to try new and unproven things that are able to find better ways of doing things. Security confines people to the same old results. It is the realm of uncertainty where alternate possibilities exist. It’s where there are no limits.

Knowing that your thoughts are your basis for success is what gives you the power to talk about success when you don’t have success, and to talk about wealth when you don’t have wealth. The entire world was spoken into existence at the beginning of time. It begins with pure faith and expressing the things you believe in. Your thought  is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Your creation already exist in the invisible world and is not any less tangible than the visible world.

Who is to say that you cannot be a success coach when you do not have success to qualify you as one? Who is to say that you cannot be a wealth consultant when you do not have wealth to qualify you as one? Who is to say you cannot do anything at all when you do not have past achievements to qualify to do so? There are people who may say so, but you do not have to abide by the rules and limitations set by them. They base creation on achievement but the true origin of all creation is based on desire.

So seek to do what your heart desires to do without needing permission from anyone. Have no rules and no limitations about what you will or will not do. The extent that you free yourself from limitation is the extent that you will be wealthy. The desire that you have within you is the direction of the universe working in you. Allow the work of the universe to express itself through you and you will see the creation create itself through you. You’ll find that who you are is infinite, unbounded and capable of all things.

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Life is not at all a game of accumulating everything you need and maintaining a certain level of happiness, for happiness after all cannot be maintained.  Life is a constant flow, of touching and growing and moving on.  Life is either experienced or not, in joy and in sadness, in anger and in despair.  Those who choose not its sorrows choose not its happiness as well; and those who choose not to live fully choose only to crumble and to die.  - www.itakeoffthemask.com

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Herein is the secret to the fullness of life - that one be born again, and again, and again...  :-) - www.itakeoffthemask.com

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