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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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?

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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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I am a tree

sprouting forth and reaching out

for the glorious sunny sky

strengthening my stance

drawing forth life

from the warm womb of the ground

bearing forth what fruit

i may offer to all

giving my shade

to those who may want to rest awhile

Not all men may notice me

when they pass by

not all may taste the fruit

that i have whole-heartedly offered

nor avail of the shade

of my embrace

and yet  i stand

and yet i stand

for a tree remains to be a tree

though no one comes to rest in thee

its arms remain wide open

its fruit renewed always in their season

its gaze always before the sky

smiling

knowing

standing firm

where God has appointed thee

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I do not know what happens after death
of whether the soul remains awake
of whether soul and body awaits
to be awakened in the last day

I do not know what judgment looms before us
or what mercies await us in our Father's
loving arms

I only believe in this -
that death can be likened unto sleep
and that it is in the nature
of life to go on

night may come
but day comes as well to awaken
winter may fall
yet spring comes again
whence flowers bloom into their full blossom

I only believe in this-
that perfect love casts away all fear
and therefore, there is no fear in love

Glady and peacefully then
can I sleep
Joyfully and sweetly then
can I wait for the morning
 

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1. THE RICH

Because the rich will have bought the idea of positivism to the extreme to the extent that they have learned to focus only on themselves and their needs, excluding everyone else that may get in the way of their perfectly established lives. The rich would have become indifferent, already possessing everything they thought they needed to live their lives to the full.

2. THE POOR

Because the poor would have thought of himself as being unloved, comparing himself to the rich one whom heaven has blessed far beyond the necessities he prayed for.  He would have lost his hope or grudgingly accepted his lot.  The poor would have grown a rage that consumes all of his soul.

3. THE RELIGIOUS

The remaining people who claim to be religious would have become the self righteous judgmental people who neither understands the poor nor prays for the awakening of the rich.  The religious would judge the poor and the rich for their sins, but see not the dust in their own eyes.

There may soon come a time when all these would come to be, when the hearts of people have grown so cold as to forget the most important thing of all... authentic love.

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Yet have you noticed how many people today find no more satisfaction in the simplest activity of all?  We get anxious with our vacant hours and we try to fill our days with as much activity as we can just so we can avoid that time when we have nothing to do but be with ourselves.

I recently had colds and it necessitated a leave from work as well as a leave from the many activities I enjoy, including writing.  How I prayed that it be over, how I desired to get back to my normal routine.  But the body it seems, knows when to go on and when to take a pause, when to wake up, and when to get some time to sleep.  It's the rhythm of life, the ebb and flow, the natural course of nature that keeps everything in balance, and that makes everything fresh and renewed.

But why the unnatural response from many of us?  Why the difficulty in surrendering to rest?

1.   We've lost our ability to wait.

The modern times have provided us with so many tools and gadgets we need that make our life easier.  It has enabled us to do things in an INSTANT, in a single click of a button.  We do things real FAST! 

Rest is waiting.  It is downtime, a healing time both for the body and the spirit.  We just couldn't accept the fact that we are not after all as perfect and as powerful as we thought we could be, that we can be on the go 24/7 much as we wanted to.

2.  We've lost our ability to trust.

Rest and healing is doing nothing necessarily active on our part, but trusting that our body knows what it is doing to repair itself, to grow, maybe even to be better than before.  We believe that only our conscious efforts can accomplish something, and if we're not doing anything therefore, we're already doomed!  We don't trust anybody, not even our own body when we know we are not consciously in control.

3.  We've lost our ability to receive.

Our culture has impressed upon us the necessity to give; giving is a concrete sign of being alive, of being of value.  When we are not able to give or to do anything productive, we quickly lose our self esteem.  Our self worth is so connected in doing what we do, that when we're unable to do anything, we feel empty and worthless inside.

We  do not realize that receiving is also an integral part of being.  Receiving is actively cooperating to the one healing us, actively acknowledging that we are worthy of help, of being assisted in times when we couldn't help ourselves.  Receiving is honoring ourselves as being worthy of notice and honoring others as being able to endow upon us something that is an important part of themselves.  Receiving, like giving, is being able to share and be a channel of the flow of life.

I've learned that even times of sickness and unproductiveness can teach us something.  I've learned that in times like that, it's quite okey to wait, to trust the way of life, and to receive healing from the God who never abandons us whether we're living our lives energetically, or whether we're merely trying to while away our time sneezing and teary eyed in the comfort of our cozy beds.

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