Archives for July 2014

I just visited a friend in the hospital and subsequently heard that doctors think she is in a critical condition.  That made me think why do good people need to suffer.

 

Isn’t it that good people need to stay longer on earth so they could help other people to become better? Ah…sometimes indeed life is not fair.

Maybe her suffering will turn her into a near-saint.  Maybe this will cause relationships to heal.

Or maybe like me, it causes people to rethink about themselves, and be more thankful of their own health and lives.  Or maybe it is just that God has other plans that we cannot really fathom.

Let’s take it one at a time.

Maybe this is something that she will really benefit from.

In terms of finally having a peaceful time…she can be alone in the hospital and resting. Or maybe the doctors will be able to cure her long-suffering symptoms that get her in near depression.

Maybe she can be of good cheer to other patients in the hospital.

Next is her situation can bring about having people rethink about how lucky we are to be healthy.

We probably need to take more care of our body, mind and soul.  Not to be abusive and try to be more helpful to others.

Try to be God’s hands to others who need some good cheering.

And then God might really have a grand plan for this.  We know that we are all here for a purpose.

Maybe suffering will lead us more to God.  Or make us dependent less on ourselves and more on Him.

A lot of times I don’t understand.  But I don’t really have to. That is what faith is all about.

Again this whole saga is making me more look inside myself.  Appreciating what I have now and being thankful even on the difficulties that I encounter.

At least I am still alive and there is hope.

Even the events that we see in the headlines nowadays will make you reflect on what is happening to some people.

How some can have different ideologies and not see the goodness of lots of people.  Which makes it sad because then they will not bother to think about the consequences of their actions.

Finally, I hope that my friend will not give up.  Nor do other people with the same condition or even worse condition.

I still believe goodness wins in the end.  We just have to believe and let God help everyone.

Do you ever stop and think of how happy and blessed you are? Pure luck is not the right word.  But it is how people can clearly understand their situation.

For me, it is more of being grateful for whatever we have right now.  I am talking about our health, job, relationships, and all kinds of blessings, whether material or not.

Just today I have seen and heard of some people who are locked in difficult situations.  Some due to their own fault, misconduct or wrong decisions.

Some not of their own making, but brought about by their heredity and genes, home situation and family relationships.

Most of these people somehow feel trapped in their current situations.  They seem lost and not being able to decide on how to get out of the rut.  They do not think they can still change whatever they are experiencing.

But I believe that people are resilient, and we just need to realize that we are made of better stuff.  We are all able to withstand all kinds of pressures, self-imposed or not.

We just have to see how we have a better situation than other people.

So how can we see and realize that we are indeed blessed and happy?

First, if you will count anything, count your blessings.  You are still alive right? Most of the basic things we need to be alive are free…the air, sun, and moon.

Next, if you have a job or a business, you have all the opportunities to earn the other basic necessities of life.

Then, the next higher blessing is in the form of relationships.  It does not matter if you are single or married.  You still are part of a family.

It may or may not be usual. It can be a social family, a religious community or other forms of familial affiliations.

Finally and the best part of all, we have a God who truly loves us regardless of what we have become.  And most important is if we follow His teachings, then we truly belong to His family.

There, you have to be convinced that not all is lost.  But rather, that we already have what it takes to be thankful and graceful by just being alive.  Life is Good…life is a blessing itself.

Let us not waste our time with thinking only of negative things.  Our life is not extended with worrying.  Let us focus more on the positives, smile often, and be happy.

Someone told me before that I am not a success…I beg to disagree.

There are lots of things that I am not…but being successful is truly personal in my opinion.  No one has the right to tell you that you are not.

Not even a higher authority than you, whether at work, school or even at home.

The success of a person depends on his or her own definition of the word.  There are 3 things that I want to focus in the analysis of success: your level of happiness, peace and freedom.

If one is truly happy, who has the nerve to tell the person that he is not successful? Certainly not by me.  If someone can look at me straight in the eye and tell me that whatever the situation they currently have that they are happy, I will agree.

Who cares if the particular situation is not right by me, as long as they are not hurting God or other people, I will be happy for them.  I am not living their life, am I?

Next is peace…tranquility, lack of noise whether internal or external.  I believe that everyone should strive for this.  Peace of our own soul.  Whether it is forgiveness from other people or from God, let us decide to have this.

Let us free ourselves from worry and anxiety of our daily lives. If you are at peace, in my belief, you are truly successful.

The final one is being free…what does freedom mean to you? For me, it is the capacity to think, say and do whatever I want within acceptable bounds.

Otherwise, if I do something morally and ethically unacceptable, I will lose my peace and happiness.  And then I cannot say that I am a success.

Freedom is a costly thing.  You have to be responsible enough to strive for this.  And good enough to share it with others.

There you have it.  My own concept of success.  No one can tell me I am wrong because this is only my opinion.  And what I have tried to live by everyday of my life.  It is not something tied to money.

Although I believe that once you have these, money becomes immaterial.  And more than that, blessings will follow.  And then I can  help more people to have similar forms of success.

And then I can say what other people say: ahhh….happiness.